Juan
Diego was born in Cuautlitlán – today part of Mexico City – in the year
1474 and given the name "Cuauhtlatoatzin" or "Eagle that speaks". He
was a gifted member of the Chichimeca people, one of the more culturally
advanced indigenous groups living in the Anáhuac Valley.
In
1524, at fifty years of age, Juan Diego was baptized with his wife Maria
Lucia by one of the first Franciscan missionaries to arrive in Mexico,
Fray Pedro de Gante. His religious fervor, his simple artlessness, and
his respectful but gracious demeanor are among his defining
characteristics. It is said that after their baptism, he and his wife,
inspired by a sermon on the virtue of chastity, mutually decided
to embrace this evangelical counsel by living celibately afterwards.
After the 1529 death of his wife, Juan Diego moved to be near his aged
uncle Juan Bernardino in Tolpetlac. Thereafter, the pious widower was in
the habit of walking to the Franciscan mission at Tlatelolco for
religious instruction and to perform his religious duties. His frequent
journeys took him close by the hill at Tepeyac.
At daybreak on
Saturday, December 9, 1531, Juan Diego was on his way to morning Mass as
usual, when he suddenly heard the exquisite sound of many birds
singing. The beautiful melody came from higher up the hill, and thinking
himself transported to heaven, his whole being attracted by the sound,
he let it draw him up the Tepeyac. When the birdsongs suddenly ceased,
he heard his name called in his native Náhuatl language and he beheld a
beautiful young maiden. She called him to come closer and Juan Diego,
“filled with admiration for the way her perfect grandeur exceeded all
imagination,” prostrated himself in her presence. With unutterable
sweetness, she revealed her identity to him “… the ever-virgin Mary,
Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He
created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and
Earth.” She asked him to go to the bishop in Mexico City, Don Fray Juan
de Zumárraga, and to request in her name that a shrine be built at
Tepeyac, where she promised to pour out abundant graces upon those who
invoked her.
After some difficulty in gaining admission to the
bishop, the humble messenger recounted the marvels he had witnessed and
delivered the lady’s message. However, the prelate’s response was
discouraging and Juan Diego left downcast and disappointed.
The
Queen of Heaven was waiting for him at the top of Tepeyac on his return
that evening, and casting himself down he told her of his heart’s sorrow
at meeting with incredulity on the part of the bishop and adds: “I beg
you, my Lady, Queen, my little girl, to have one of the nobles who are
held in esteem, one who is known, respected, honored, [have him] carry,
take your dear breath, your dear word, so that he will be believed.
Because I am really [just] a man from the country, I am a [porter’s]
rope … a man of no importance: I myself need to be led, carried on
someone’s back. That place you are sending me to is a place where I’m
not used to going or spending any time in, my little Virgin, my Youngest
Daughter, my Lady, Little girl.”
With great gentleness, she
tells him that he is the one that must carry out this commission. And
Juan Diego promises that he will return to the bishop the following day
with her request.
Despite the obstacles posed by the bishop’s
attendants, Juan Diego was again admitted into his presence. Don Juan de
Zumárraga questioned the Indian kneeling before him thoroughly but
remained unmoved by the man’s account. Not on his word alone would he
believe, he told him, a sign must be given to prove that the apparition
was indeed from heaven.
Undaunted by the prelate’s request, he
returns to Tepeyac to convey it to Our Lady, who asks him to return in
the morning that she might give it to him. During the night, however,
Juan Diego’s sick uncle worsens and it is clear that he is dying.
Shortly after midnight, his nephew sets off for Tlatilolco to summon one
of the priests that he might confess and prepare for death.
Not
wanting to meet the beautiful Lady, who would surely want to send him
to the bishop with the “proof” he had requested, he hurried along, set
on his task. But the Queen of Heaven came down to meet him and gently
chiding him she asked, “What is happening, youngest and dearest of all
my sons? Where are you going, where are you headed?” Humbling himself
before her, he told her of his uncle’s grave illness and his need for a
priest to assist him. She assured him that the illness was not grave and
that he had nothing to fear on that account. Her solicitude filled him
with joy and consolation: “Am I not here, I, who am your mother? Are you
not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy?
Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do
you need something more? Let nothing else worry you, disturb you; do not
let your uncle’s illness pressure you with grief, because he will not
die of it now. You may be certain that he is already well…” And, as they
later found out, his uncle became well at that very moment.
Full
of confidence, Juan Diego begged her to send him immediately to the
bishop with the sign she had promised. The Blessed Mother told him to
climb the hill and to pick the flowers that he would find there. He
obeyed, and although it was winter time and the frost at that time of
year was very harsh, he found flowers of many kinds, in full bloom.
Astonished, he cut and gathered the fragrant blossoms and took them to
Our Lady who carefully arranged them in his mantle – the rough-woven
“tilma” worn by his people – and told him to take them to the bishop as
"proof". When he opened his tilma to show the bishop the profusion of
blooms, the flowers fell to the ground, and there remained impressed
upon his cloak an image of the Blessed Mother, the apparition at
Tepeyac.
With the Bishop's permission, Juan Diego lived the rest
of his life as a hermit in a small hut near the chapel where the
miraculous image was placed for veneration. Here he cared for the church
and the first pilgrims who came to pray to the Mother of Jesus. He died
in 1548 and was buried in the first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of
Guadalupe. He was beatified on May 6, 1990 by Pope John Paul II in the
Basilica of Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Mexico City and canonized by him
on July 31, 2002.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
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