Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of Mary’s most well-known titles. On December 9, 1531, Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill (now México City). Three days later, on December 12, Juan Diego received a miraculous sign from the Virgin Mary. On this same day, centuries later, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

Learn more about the history of this Marian apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego, St. (Pope) John Paul II’s apostolic visits to México City, and how we can celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe today. 

The Marian title of Our Lady of Guadalupe comes from the sixteenth-century apparition of Mary to an indigenous, poor man by the name of Juan Diego. According to the Vatican News, we know the story of this Marian apparition by way of the scholar Antonio Valeriano, who wrote it in the same native language as Juan Diego, Nahuatl (an Aztec language). 

On December 9, 1531, Mary appeared to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill, encouraging him to go to his bishop, Fr. Juan de Zumárraga, to ask him to build a chapel in the very place of her appearance. Bishop Zumárraga didn’t believe Juan Diego, asking for proof that Mary had appeared to him. 

So Juan Diego journeyed back to Tepeyac Hill, and Mary appeared to him again. She told him to gather a bouquet, even though it was winter, and present them to the bishop. Holding the flowers in his tilma (cloak), Juan Diego returned to Bishop Zumárraga. 

The original tilma can be found in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, built atop the very same hill where Mary appeared to Juan Diego, who was canonized in 2023. Today, the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from St. Juan Diego’s tilma is found in art and churches worldwide. 

Who is Our Lady of Guadalupe?

Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Catholic title of the Virgin Mary, harkening back to the Marian apparition to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill (now outside of México City). 

In Spanish, she is known as Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or La Virgen de Guadalupe. “Our Lady” is a title given to Mary, signifying respect and recognition of her as our Mother. “Guadalupe” refers to the place in México in which Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of México, as well as the “Patroness of the Americas.” This being said, the devotion to Our Lady is celebrated all over the world. 

Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531 on Tepeyac Hill (now México City). 

Mary famously told St. Juan Diego in his native language of Nahuatl (the language of the Aztec empire),

“Listen, put it into your heart, most little of my sons: let nothing frighten or grieve you, let not your heart be disturbed, do not fear any sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within the folds of my mantle, held safely in my arms? Do you need anything more? Let nothing else worry you or disturb you.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe represents hope, a renewal of faith, God’s acceptance of all people, and His preferential option for the poor. Like other times in Church history, the roses of this Marian apparition symbolize Mary’s immaculate heart. 

When the bishop asked St. Juan Diego for a “sign” of Mary’s appearance, Mary sent St. Juan Diego to the bishop with roses in his tilma (cloak). Then, when St. Juan Diego opened his tilma to present them to the bishop, his tilma had been miraculously imprinted with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

St. Juan Diego’s original tilma hangs in la Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in México City. Around 20 million pilgrims journey to see and pray alongside the tilma annually, making the Basilica the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world. 

The Feast of St. Juan Diego is December 9, the day when Mary first appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill. St. (Pope) John Paul II beatified St. Juan Diego in 1990 and later canonized him in 2002. 

We celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, when St. Juan Diego’s tilma was miraculously imprinted with her image. 

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated worldwide, though the country of México has a special devotion to her. This Marian apparition was a renewal of the faith that the Spaniards had brought, though at times in cruelty, to the Americas earlier in the sixteenth century; she spoke to St. Juan Diego in his native language.