LOS ANGELES — Jorge Duron brought a bouquet of flowers to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe because he said she always guides him and his family and takes care of them.
Duron was one of many Catholics who visited images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego, which have been blessed by the pope, at Winnetka. The images are making a tour through cemeteries and parishes throughout the tri-county archdiocese of Los Angeles. The tour of the images started on Catalina Island on Oct. 22, and at every stop, they are honored with dancing, music and prayer.
Duron said it is an opportunity to ask for blessings and miracles. He typically asks for protection over his family. The sacred images are an exact digital reproduction of the originals kept at the basilica in Mexico City.
Our Lady of Guadalupe first introduced herself as the Mother of God and the mother of all humanity when she appeared on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico in 1531. An indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, saw a glowing figure on the hill. After she had identified herself to him, Our Lady asked that Juan build her a shrine in that same spot, in order for her to show and share her love and compassion with all those who believe.
Afterwards, Juan Diego visited Juan de Zumárraga, who was Archbishop of what is now Mexico City. Zumárraga dismissed him in disbelief and asked that the future Saint provide proof of his story and proof of the Lady’s identity.
Juan Diego returned to the hill and encountered Our Lady again. The Virgin told him to climb to the top of the hill and pick some flowers to present to the Archbishop. Listen to our report
Winter bloom
Although it was winter and nothing should have been in bloom, Juan Diego found an abundance of flowers of a type he had never seen before. The Virgin bundled the flowers into Juan’s cloak, known as a tilma. When Juan Diego presented the tilma of exotic flowers to Zumárraga, the flowers fell out and he recognised them as Castilian roses, which are not found in Mexico.
What was even more significant, however, was that the tilma had been miraculously imprinted with a colorful image of the Virgin herself.
Tilma
This actual tilma, preserved since that date and showing the familiar image of the Virgin Mary with her head bowed and hands together in prayer, represents the Virgin of Guadalupe. It remains perhaps the most sacred object in all of Mexico.
The story is best known from a manuscript written in the Aztec’s native language Nahuatl by the scholar Antonio Valeriano. It was written sometime after 1556.
Over 20 million people visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe each year, now situated on the very same hill on which she appeared.
In 1990, Pope Saint John Paul II visited Mexico and beatified Juan Diego. 10 years later, in the year 2000, he was declared a Saint.
