Under Her Mantle

Image taken from https://www.osvnews.com/2023/12/12/our-lady-of-guadalupe-encourages-me-to-be-an-authentic-model-of-faith/

By: Rosanna M.

Date: December 12, 2024

While visiting Mexico City on a pilgrimage in 2014, I bought a large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but I almost did not bring it home. I had become very ill at the end of my trip and was unable to think clearly. As we were leaving our hotel room, my roommate on the trip noticed a poster tube by the chest of drawers, and asked me if I knew what it was. Oh yes! Thank you! That was my image of Guadalupe that I had wanted for so many years. The image is a photographic replica of the Guadalupan Tilma reproduced on canvas and authenticated by the former Archbishop of Mexico City.

One of the first things I do each morning is that I greet Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe with a quick prayer, asking for her intercession for my needs and the needs of others. I find great comfort having her in my home, and I often feel her blessings. Some who are critical of what they call “Mary worship” may not understand my relationship with her. It is more complex than I can relay here, but I will say that I do not worship Mary, nor do other Catholics. We venerate her, which means we revere her due to her holiness. It is somewhat like admiring the image of a loved one in a family photo. You love the person but you do not worship them, as worship is due to God alone.

II.

I first saw an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe when I was 18, and I was immediately drawn to it. I fell away from the Catholic faith for a period of time and was not concerned much with Mary. As I learned more about the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac Hill, I slowly came back to the faith. I wanted very much to travel to Mexico City to visit the Shrine there. I was supposed to travel to Mexico on a few occasions but some obstacles always interfered.

In 2014, I finally was able to go on pilgrimage with a group from Los Angeles called Manto de Guadalupe (“Mantle of Guadalupe” in English). They were excellent hosts, and I met many women from differing nations, mostly from Latin America, some of whom have become friends over time. I also went on a second pilgrimage with them to the Guadalupe Basilica in 2015. This second trip also involved visits to Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, which were important sites for the Mexican Cristero War in the 1920s (mentioned below).

In the summers of 2017 and 2018, I attended two conferences at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin. This Guadalupe shrine is not as known as the one in Mexico but they are connected to one another. There were two particular lectures which stood out for me, among many great ones.

In 2017, Christopher Check of Catholic Answers spoke about Our Lady of Guadalupe’s intercession with the Cristero fighters in Mexico (1926-1929), who were trying to regain their rights to freely practice their Catholic religion under a brutal government led by President Plutarco Calles. This event was dramatized in the 2012 film”For Greater Glory” (1). There is much we in modern society can learn from this history.

In 2018, I attended a lecture by Monsignor Eduardo Chavez, an expert on Guadalupe and published author, who revealed many lesser known facts about the Tilma. The supposedly simple image has a complex depth of meaning that was immediately relevant to many people of different nations when first seeing it.

All four of my Guadalupan trips were life-changing for me and I am forever grateful that I had the opportunity to go. I believe that Our Lady of Guadalupe helped make it happen. My old passport was even issued on her feast day of December 12.

III.

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is very common in Catholic churches, even here in town. I was especially touched when I saw this image in several churches on my travels in other locales. While all images of Mary are beautiful in their own way, the Guadalupan image seems still more special. It is considered to be an icon due to its rich symbolism.

The Guadalupan image is considered to be an Acheiropoieta, meaning “not made by human hands”(the Shroud of Turin is another one) (2). Scientific study cannot determine how the image was formed. While there is paint on the image due to later retouching, the image itself is not painted and holds many unique properties that continue to inspire awe in researchers.

IV.

The Guadalupe story is very rich and powerful, and can only be briefly shared here. Our Lady appeared to 57-year-old St. Juan Diego, born Cuauhtlatoatzin (“talking eagle”), a member of the Chichimeca people who lived in the Anáhuac Valley, part of Mexico City today. The Chichimecas were one of the more culturally advanced peoples of the region, who were conquered by the more powerful Aztecs (3). The Aztecs kept the smaller nations under control due to their brutal regime, and offered blood sacrifices of their victims of minority nations to appease their gods. Our Lady of Guadalupe, therefore, is the patron saint of indigenous people and also of the pro-life movement (4).

Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego on four consecutive days, December 9 to 12, 1531, on Tepeyac Hill, where the old Church is still located and the modern Basilica is seated at the foot of the mountain today. On the old Church calendar, December 9 was the feast of the Immaculate Conception. On the Aztec calendar, this time was seen as a period of renewal and rebirth of the nation as one of their gods Quetzalcōātl would return from the east (5). In 1531, a number of natural events such as earthquakes, a solar eclipse, and the appearance of Haley’s comet, led many indigenous people to believe the world was about to end (6).

Our Lady first appeared to Juan Diego on the 9th as he was coming to the top of Tepeyac hill, headed towards his catechesis. He heard lovely singing, and then a woman gently call him by a diminutive of his name. She asked him to deliver her message to Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, asking him to build a church on that spot. He went but was not received immediately, and once meeting the Bishop, Zumarraga was suspicious of the request. Juan Diego returned on the second day to Tepeyac to tell Mary that he was not successful, asking her to petition someone more noble than himself to relay this message. Mary confirmed that she could ask others but that she had chosen him. Juan Diego returned to Bishop Zumarraga the next day and the bishop requested that he provide evidence of the apparition. The bishop had men secretly follow Juan Diego back as he went to meet Our Lady again, but they saw nothing extraordinary and reported back that Juan Diego was a fraud or a sorcerer. Mary assured Juan Diego that he would succeed in his mission (7).

On December 12, Juan Diego’s beloved uncle became gravely ill, and he decided to miss his visit with Mary. As there was need for a priest to hear his uncle’s confession, Juan Diego set out to get one, avoiding the usual path where he would meet her. Our Lady still met him on the detour and he asked for her forgiveness, explaining his situation. Mary listened and then spoke:

Listen, put it into your heart, my youngest son, that what frightened you, what afflicted you, is nothing; do not let it disturb (you). . . . Am I not here, I who have the honour to be your Mother? Are you not in my shadow and under my 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? (8).

The Virgin told Juan Diego that his uncle would recover. She also told him to go to the top of Tepeyac to pick the flowers growing there and collect them in his tilma. They were Castilian roses which were not in season nor native to the region, but native to the original home of the bishop. Mary rearranged the flowers in his tilma and then told him not to open his tilma until he reached the bishop’s office. Juan Diego again was not received immediately but did eventually see the bishop, kneeling before him as he opened the tilma and repeated the Virgin’s request. The flowers tumbled to the floor, leaving the Bishop and onlookers in wonder as the image on the tilma was exposed. The tearful Zumarraga was immediately convinced, inviting Juan Diego to stay in his home and asking for the tilma to be placed in his private chapel. He also begged Our Lady’s forgiveness for not immediately heeding to her request to build her church (9).

The tilma is a larger cloak covering that Juan Diego wore over his clothing, which had many practical uses and cultural significance. It is woven from maguey (agave cactus) fibres, with two separate panels that are sewn loosely with a maguey thread; the seam goes down the centre of the tilma alongside the left of Our Lady’s face and hands (10). The maguey fabric should have disintegrated within a few years but it has lasted nearly five centuries (11). Infra-red studies showed that the image of Mary on the tilma does not evidence brush-strokes from painting, although the angel and the moon at Mary’s feet and the bottom of the image do have some paint. Chemistry analysis of the image shows that the image was not created with either animal, vegetable, or mineral pigments (synthetic pigments did not yet exist) and scientists have not been able to identify the nature of the coloured portions of

the image. Visitors to the Church have noted that the tilma shows clear, vibrant colours as you go farther away from the image, but the colours fade, almost disappearing, as one gets nearer (12). In 1778, nitric acid was accidentally spilled on the tilma by a workman who was polishing the frame of the image. This caused staining on the upper right portion but did not otherwise affect the fabric or the image (13). In 1921, a revolutionary opposed to Our Lady’s presence in Mexico, planted twenty-nine sticks of dynamite hidden in a bouquet of flowers presented underneath the image. The dynamite exploded, destroying much of the church and nearby area — including bending a brass crucifix on the altar (still seen in the Church today) — but the Guadalupe image was unharmed (14).

The Guadalupe image is that of a Meztiza woman, with both Indigenous and European features, with a long tunic and mantle, typical of the dress of women in the Holy Land two millennia ago. Her hair is visible under her mantle, straight and parted in the middle, which symbolized her virginity. On her long, rose-coloured tunic are several gold, heart-shaped flowers, which later study confirmed correspond to the locations of specific volcanoes and mountains in Mexico. The quincunx flower, a native glyph of the jasmine flower, placed over her abdomen represents both the mountain of Tepeyac, and the child King in her womb. It was immediately recognized by many natives as a symbol for new life. She also wears a black sash or cingulum around her waist, which represents her pregancy. She is both virgin and mother. She wears a small, gold, encircled-cross broach at her neck, which means she is sacred, as is a holy temple. Golden borders on the edges of her mantle, dress and cuffs

symbolize her royalty (15). Her left knee is forward under her tunic, showing her humility before God (16), and her hands are clasped in prayer as she gazes Downward.

Mary’s teal mantle is covered with gold stars which are organized in constellations representative of the night sky of December 12, 1531, just before dawn. However, the viewpoint is that as seen from the heavens and not from earth (17). The constellations themselves have several meanings, much more than can be discussed here, but I would recommend further reading listed below. The teal colour indicated she was a queen in native culture (18). Our Lady’s image is surrounded by a luminous glow representing the sun. Iconographers and scholars of the tilma have recognized Mary in this image as the woman of Revelations 12:1 (19): “And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (20).

Ophthalmologists who have studied the eyes of Mary in the tilma have remarked that they appear to be like living human eyes. There is a triple reflection in the eyes of microscopic images of Juan Diego and those in the room with him when he presented the tilma to Bishop Zumarraga (20).

Mexican Guadalupe researcher Fernando Ojeda Llanes did an extensive study of the positions of the stars and flowers on the tilma. He postulated that when the tilma is placed horizontally and the key points of the image are placed on a musical scale, the notes produce an ethereal melody (21). The music of the tilma has been performed by a number of Classical musicians, including Harpa Dei, who added lyrics from the conversation that occurred between St. Juan Diego and Our Lady (22) as was recorded in the Nahuatl text of 1556 about the apparitions, El Nican Mopohua (23).

VI.

After former Augustinian monk Martin Luther published his 95 theses in 1517 (24), the Protestant Reformation saw approximately five million European Catholics leaving the Catholic faith. In just ten years after the 1531 apparition in Mexico, an estimated nine million Indigenous and Mestizo converts in the New World came to the Catholic faith through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City receives approximately 20 million visitors each year, with pilgrims coming from many nations, making it the largest Marian Shrine in the world (25). But why would this be? Why is Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe so important to all these visitors?

Mary is given the titles of Advocate and Mediatrix, which means she is an intercessor and mediator in the salvation given by her Son Jesus. Jesus gave her many graces which she shares with those for whom she intercedes. In Catholic teaching, she is especially important in this role in the latter days of the world. Non- Catholic criticism commonly questions whether there is another mediator with God the Father other than Jesus Himself. They quote 1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (26.) The papal document Lumen Gentium #62 (1964) expands on this teaching:

This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and cultics, until they are led into the happiness of their true home. . . . This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator.

For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. . . . The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. It knows it through unfailing experience of it and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more intimately adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer (27).

Mary is subordinate to Jesus Christ. She works with and for Jesus in interceding for us. We are taught that He listens to her requests. To put it another way: Jesus was a faithful Jew, and what good and faithful son does not listen to and revere his mama? But Jesus was not just a good son, nor just a good Jew, nor just an enlightened teacher, nor just an inspired prophet. Catholics believe he is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. His mother Mary, then, while not herself a goddess to be worshipped, and as one who has suffered greatly for the love of her Son and her God, would also hold a place of prominence in the teachings of the Church. She would have a very high dignity, and she would be a powerful advocate for those who come to her. Everything she does leads us to her Son and to the Holy Trinity.

VII.

I am very grateful to Mary for my conversion back to the Catholic faith in my adult years, the Mary I met most often in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. What I first saw years ago as a pretty image on a holy card shown to me by a skateboarder in California, and then I encountered as a somewhat kitschy cultural symbol in my undergrad anthropological studies, I later discovered is a beautiful image with considerable depth of meaning. I learned to love her and what she represents.

I only know a little of what the image of the Guadalupe Tilma offers to us, and it is very rich with significance for a faith that is equally so. Through a seemingly simple image, Mary communicated so much to so many different people who were in need of the message of her Son. As much as we do know about the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe, there is so much that we may still learn in time. Fear not, our mother will help us. She will lead us to Him. May Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede for us, especially in these trying times.

REFERENCES:

1. “For Greater Glory: The True Story of the Cristiada.” Dos Corazones Films and NewLand Films, 2012.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566501/

accessed: 9 December 2023.

2. “Acheiropoieta.” Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acheiropoieta

accessed: 9 December 2023.

3. “Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548)”

https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20020731_juan-diego_en.html

Accessed: 9 November 2024.

4. Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, A Handbook on Guadalupe. New Bedford, MA: The Academy of the

Immaculate, 1997. 135.