MEXICO CITY – For centuries, when December arrives, there has been a feeling that unites Mexicans in the country and abroad, which includes those who profess different faiths or even those who recognize themselves as non-believers: love for the Virgin of Guadalupe .
Known as the “Patroness of America”, the faith inspired by the “Morenita del Tepeyac” brings some six million faithful to visit her sanctuary in Mexico City every December 12.
In fact, with an annual registration of more than 20 million people, the famous Villa de Guadalupe is the most visited Marian sanctuary in the world, second only to Saint Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican.
What inspires that all-proof devotion? Here are five of the reasons:
1. NATIONAL IDENTITY
Since 1519, after the arrival of the Spanish in what would be New Spain (today Mexico), the Virgin of Guadalupe became the indisputable figure that gave origin and cohesion to what would be the nascent Mexicanness.
The Mother of God replaced pre-Hispanic gods in which Catholicism did not believe and, in a supposedly loving way, the figure of the goddess Tonatzin -our revered little mother, in Nahuatl- was replaced by the Guadalupana.
2. APPEARANCES BREAK BARRIERS
According to traditional accounts, the Virgin Mary, in her dedication to Santa María de Guadalupe, appeared to the Indian Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the Tepeyac hill and ordered him to tell the Bishop of Mexico, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, to erect a temple.
The apparitions began on December 9, 1531 and there were three more before Zumárraga believed in the sign that La Morenita had sent him: her image embodied in Juan Diego’s cloak, where he had kept dozens of roses.
A Mexican scientist found a melody in the image of the Guadalupana.
3. THE FIRST MIRACLES
The signal sent by the Virgin of Guadalupe through Juan Diego was accompanied by the first of her miracles: the recovery of the health of the humble indigenous man’s uncle, Juan Bernardino.
In addition, the image on the tilma that the Mexican Catholic Church preserves in perfect condition and has been subjected to various tests to show that it was not the product of human hands.
4. IDENTIFICATION AND BELONGING
The Virgin of Guadalupe was not and is not the same as the virgins venerated in Europe and she soon became a figure close to her people: her brown skin was similar to that of most of the inhabitants of this land.
In addition, being the representation of a pregnant woman, she positioned herself as the mother of all those who seek her protection and comfort. The devotion to the Guadalupana is such that it translates into the Catholicism of Mexicans: at least 90.3 million of the 126 million inhabitants of Mexico consider themselves Catholic, according to the 2020 Census of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi)
Virgin of Guadalupe Mexico
5. SUPPORT FROM THE VATICAN
The fame and miracles attributed to the Virgin of Guadalupe soon reached the ears of the Vatican, which replied and gave its consent to begin pilgrimages to the first sanctuary built in her honor. The first pilgrimage made in her honor dates from the 16th century, and the first pope to speak about her was Urban VIII, who in 1644 established December 12 as the date to celebrate her.
Benedict XIV designated her as the “patron saint of New Spain” and in 1910, Pius X extended his reign to Latin America, although it was John Paul II who called her the “patron saint of America”, according to from faith.
Pope Francis, on his last trip to Mexico, went to the Villa de Guadalupe and prayed in privacy next to the image of the Virgin.
Five reasons for devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexicans