View source for Our Lady of Guadalupe

{{Short description|Marian apparitions in December 1531}}
{{About|the Mexican Marian title|the Spanish Marian title|Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox Catholic apparition
|name         = Our Lady of Guadalupe
|image        = Virgen de guadalupe1.jpg
|size         = 
|location     = [[Tepeyac]] Hill, [[Mexico City]]
|date         = December 9–12, 1531 [[Old Style|O.S.]]<br />(December 19–22, 1531 [[New Style|N.S.]])
|witness      = {{ubl | [[Juan Diego]] | [[Juan Bernardino]] }}
|type         = [[Marian apparition]]
|approval     = October 12, 1895 ([[canonical coronation]] granted by [[Pope Leo XIII]])
|venerated_in = {{indented plainlist|
*[[Catholic Church]]
*Lutheran Churches of [[Evangelical Catholic]] churchmanship<ref name="Johnson2015"/> 
*Anglican Churches of [[Anglo-Catholicism|Anglo-Catholic]] churchmanship{{cn|reason=Instagram is [[WP:RS/P|not a reliable source]]|date=September 2025}}}}
|shrine       = [[Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe]], Tepeyac Hill, [[Mexico City]], Mexico
|attributes=A pregnant woman, eyes downcast, hands clasped in prayer, clothed in a pink tunic robe covered by a [[cerulean]] mantle with a black sash, emblazoned with eight-point stars; eclipsing a blazing sun while standing atop a darkened crescent moon, a [[cherub]]ic angel carrying her train
|patronage={{indented plainlist|
*Mexico City (1737)
*[[New Spain]] (1754 by [[Pope Benedict XIV]])
*[[Ponce, Puerto Rico]] (1757)
*[[Philippines]] (July 16, 1935)
*[[Latin America]] (October 12, 1945)
*Mexico and [[the Americas]] (2000 by [[Pope John Paul II]])
*[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu|Cebu]] (2002 by [[Ricardo Vidal|Cardinal Ricardo Vidal]])
}}
|full_name={{indented plainlist|
*''Empress of the Americas''
*''Patroness of Latin America''
*''Queen of Mexico''
}}
|feast_day=December 12
}}
'''Our Lady of Guadalupe''' ({{langx|es|Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe}}), also known as the '''Virgin of Guadalupe''' ({{langx|es|Virgen de Guadalupe}}), is a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Titles of Mary, mother of Jesus|title]] of the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] associated with four [[Marian apparition]]s to [[Juan Diego]] and one to his uncle, [[Juan Bernardino]] reported in December 1531, when the Mexican territories were part of the [[Spanish Empire]].

A venerated image on a cloak (''[[Tilmàtli|tilmahtli]]'') associated with the apparition is enshrined in the [[Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe]] in [[Mexico City]].

[[Pope Leo XIII]] granted a decree of [[canonical coronation]] for the image on 8 February 1887. The rite of coronation was executed by the former [[Archbishop of Mexico]], [[Próspero Alarcón y Sánchez de la Barquera]] on 12 October 1895. [[Pope Paul VI]] raised the shrine to the status of [[Minor Basilica]] via his Pontifical decree titled ''Sacra illa Ædes'' on 6 October 1976. It is the most-visited Catholic shrine in the world, and the world's third most-visited sacred site.<ref>[http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-most-visited-sacred-sites "World's Most-Visited Sacred Sites"]. ''Travel and Leisure''. January 2012</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/ZSHRINE.HTM |title=Shrine of Guadalupe Most Popular in the Worldv|work=Zenit |date=June 13, 1999 |access-date=June 12, 2009 |archive-date=May 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507205237/http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/ZSHRINE.HTM |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Description of Marian apparitions ==
[[File:Dibujo Escudo de Armas de México.jpg|thumb|left|Preliminary drawing of the Mexican Coat of arms, {{circa|1743}}.]]
[[File:El Rostro de la Virgen.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail of the face, showing the discoloration on the top part of the head, where a crown was present at some point, now obscured by an enlarged frame for unknown reasons.]]
According to the ''Nican Mopohua'', included in the 17th-century ''[[Huei tlamahuiçoltica]]'', written in [[Nahuatl]], the Virgin Mary appeared four times to [[Juan Diego]], a [[Chichimeca|Chichimec]] peasant, and once to his uncle, [[Juan Bernardino]]. The first apparition occurred on the morning of Saturday, December 9, 1531 ([[Julian calendar]], which is December 19 on the [[Proleptic Gregorian calendar|(proleptic) Gregorian calendar]] in present use). Juan Diego experienced a [[vision (spirituality)|vision]] of a young woman at a place called the Hill of [[Tepeyac]], which later became part of [[Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City|Villa de Guadalupe]], in a suburb of [[Mexico City]].<ref name="interlupe">English translation of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20071022042328/http://www.interlupe.com.mx/nican-e.html ''Nican Mopohua''], a 17th-century account written in the native Nahuatl language.</ref>

According to the accounts, the woman, speaking to Juan Diego in Nahuatl, his [[first language]] and the language of the former [[Aztec Empire]], identified herself as the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary, "mother of the very true deity"]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sousa |first1=Lisa |author-link1=Lisa Sousa |author-last2=Poole |author-first2=Stafford |author-link2=Stafford Poole |author-last3=Lockhart |author-first3=James |author-link3=James Lockhart (historian) |year=1998 |title=The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's ''Huei tlamahuiçoltica'' of 1649 |series=UCLA Latin American studies, vol. 84; Nahuatl studies series, no. 5 |location=Stanford & Los Angeles, California |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]], [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] Latin American Center Publications |isbn=0-8047-3482-8 |oclc=39455844 |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofguadalupe84lass/page/64 |pages=65 }}</ref> She was said to have asked for a church to be erected at that site in her honor.<ref name="interlupe" />

Based on her words, Juan Diego then sought the [[Archbishop of Mexico City]], [[Juan de Zumárraga]], to tell him what had happened. Not unexpectedly, the Archbishop did not believe Juan Diego. Later the same day, Juan Diego saw the young woman again (the second apparition), and she asked him to continue insisting.<ref name="interlupe" />

The next day, Sunday, December 10, 1531, in the [[Julian calendar]], Juan Diego spoke to the Archbishop a second time. The latter instructed him to return to Tepeyac and to ask the woman for a truly acceptable, miraculous sign to prove her identity. Later that day, the third apparition appeared when Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac; encountering the same woman, he reported to her the Archbishop's request for a sign, which she consented to provide on the next day (December 11).<ref>This apparition is somewhat elided in the ''Nican Mopohua'' but is implicit in three brief passages (Sousa et al., pp. 75, 77, 83).  It is fully described in the ''Imagen de la Virgen María'' of Miguel Sánchez published in 1648.</ref>

On Monday, December 11, however, Juan Diego's uncle fell ill and he was obliged to attend to him. In the early hours of Tuesday, December 12, as Juan Bernardino's condition deteriorated, Juan Diego journeyed to [[Tlatelolco, Mexico City|Tlatelolco]] in search of a [[Catholic priest]] to hear Juan Bernardino's confession and help minister to him on his deathbed.<ref name="interlupe" />

To avoid being delayed by the Virgin and ashamed at having failed to meet her on Monday as agreed, Juan Diego chose another route around Tepeyac Hill, yet the Virgin intercepted him and asked where he was going (fourth apparition); Juan Diego explained what had happened and the Virgin gently chided him for not having made recourse to her. In the words which have become the most famous phrase of the Guadalupe apparitions and are inscribed above the main entrance to the Basilica of Guadalupe, she asked "¿No estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?" ("Am I not here, I who am your mother?"). She assured him that Juan Bernardino had now recovered and told him to gather flowers from the summit of Tepeyac Hill, which was normally barren, especially in the cold of December. Juan Diego obeyed her instruction and he found [[Rosa damascena|Castile roses]], not native to Mexico, blooming there.<ref name="interlupe" />

According to the story, the Virgin arranged the flowers in Juan Diego's ''[[tilmàtli]]'' or cloak, and when Juan Diego opened his cloak later that day before Archbishop Zumárraga, the flowers fell to the floor, revealing on the fabric the image of the Virgin.<ref name="interlupe" />

The next day, December 13, Juan Diego found his uncle fully recovered as the Virgin had assured him, and Juan Bernardino recounted that he also had seen her after praying at his bedside (fifth apparition); that she had instructed him to inform the Archbishop of this apparition and of his miraculous cure; and that she had told him she desired to be known under the title of "Guadalupe".<ref name="interlupe" />

The Archbishop kept Juan Diego's mantle, first in his private chapel and then in the church on public display, where it attracted great attention. On December 26, 1531, a procession formed to transfer the miraculous image back to Tepeyac Hill where it was installed in a small, hastily erected [[chapel]].<ref>The date does not appear in the ''Nican Mopohua'', but in Sanchez's ''Imagen''.</ref> During this procession, the first miracle was allegedly performed when a native was mortally wounded in the neck by an arrow shot by accident during some stylized martial displays performed in honor of the Virgin. In great distress, the natives carried him before the Virgin's image and pleaded for his life. Upon the arrow being withdrawn, the victim fully and immediately recovered.<ref>The procession and miracle are not part of the ''Nican Mopohua'' proper, yet introduce the ''Nican Mopectana'' that immediately follows the ''Nican Mopohua'' in the ''Huei Tlamahuiçoltica''.</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Mb-guadalupe extremadura.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura|Virgin of Guadalupe]] in Monastery of Guadalupe, in [[Cáceres, Spain|Cáceres]], [[Extremadura]], Spain, illustrating the example of a black Madonna.]]
===Origin in Guadalupe, Spain===
{{main|Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura}}
The shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in [[Guadalupe, Cáceres]], in [[Extremadura]], Spain, was the most important of the [[shrines to the Virgin Mary]] in the medieval [[Kingdom of Castile]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ldysinger.stjohnsem.edu/@themes/mariology/05_extremadura.htm |title=Dysinger, Luke. "The Virgin Mary in Art", St. John's Seminary, Camarillo |access-date=August 17, 2020 |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022004436/http://ldysinger.stjohnsem.edu/@themes/mariology/05_extremadura.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is one of the many [[Black Madonna]]s in Spain and is revered in the [[Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe]], in the town of Guadalupe, from which numerous Spanish conquistadors stem.

The most popular etymology of the name "Guadalupe" is from the Arabic "Wadi" (river) and the Latin word "lupus" (wolf). Some find it unlikely that Arabic and Latin would be combined in this way, and suggest as an alternative the Arabic "Wadi-al-lub", signifying a river with black stones in its bed.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stoudemire |first=Sterling A. |date=March 1978 |title=Santiago, Guadalupe, Pilar: Spanish Shrines/Spanish Names |url=https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/871/870 |journal=[[Names (journal)|Names]] |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=17 |doi=10.1179/nam.1978.26.1.9 |access-date=January 2, 2024|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The shrine houses a statue reputed to have been carved by [[Luke the Evangelist]] and given to Archbishop [[Leander of Seville]] by [[Pope Gregory I]]. According to local legend, when Seville was taken by the [[Moors]] in 712, a group of priests fled northward and buried the statue in the hills near the [[Guadalupe (Spain)|Guadalupe River]].<ref name="Representations">{{cite book |author-last=Hamling |author-first=Anna |editor-last=Shabliy |editor-first=Elena |title=Representations of the Blessed Virgin Mary in World Literature and Art |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2017 |location=Lanham, Maryland  |page=34 |chapter=Chapter 2: Comparative Study of the Image of the Black Madonnas of Spain, Poland, and Mexico |isbn=978-1-4985-5434-3}}</ref>

At the beginning of the 14th century, the Virgin appeared one day to a humble cowboy named Gil Cordero who was searching for a missing animal in the mountains.<ref name=texas>[http://swco.ttu.edu/medieval/OurLadyofGuadalupe.html "Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain", ''Our Lady in the Old World and New'', Medieval Southwest, Texas Tech University]</ref> Cordero claimed that Mary had appeared to him and ordered him to ask priests to dig at the site of the apparition. Excavating priests rediscovered the hidden statue and built a small shrine around it which became the great Guadalupe monastery.<ref name="Representations" />

===Origin in Mexico===
[[File:Nican-mopohua.jpeg|thumb|left|upright|''[[Nican mopohua]]'']]
[[File:Estandarte de Hernán Cortés 1521-1528.jpg|thumb|left|The banner of the Mexican conquistador [[Hernán Cortés]] from the year 1521, which was kept within the Archbishop's villa during the time of the Guadalupe apparitions]]
Following the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire|Conquest]] in 1519–1521, the Marian cult was brought to the Americas and Franciscan friars often leveraged [[syncretism]] with existing religious beliefs as an instrument for evangelization. What is purported by some to be the earliest mention of the miraculous apparition of the Virgin is a page of parchment, the ''[[Codex Escalada]]'' from 1548, which was discovered in 1995 and, according to investigative analysis, dates from the sixteenth century.<ref>Castaño, Victor Manuel: coordinador general, "Estudio físico-químico y técnico del códice 1548", Colección Privada Herdez (1997); ''Ciencia Hoy'', "La detectivesca ciencia de los documentos antiguos: el caso de códice 1548", (a) April 29, (b) May 6, and (c) May 13, 2008</ref> This document bears two pictorial representations of Juan Diego and the apparition, several inscriptions in [[Nahuatl]] referring to Juan Diego by his Aztec name, and the date of his death: 1548, as well as the year that the then named Virgin Mary appeared: 1531. It also contains the [[glyph]] of [[Antonio Valeriano]]; and finally, the signature of Fray Bernardino de Sahagun which was authenticated by experts from the [[Banco de Mexico]] and [[Charles E. Dibble]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Códice 1548 o 'Escalada' |url=http://basilica.mxv.mx/web1/-apariciones/Documentos_Historicos/Mestizos/Codice_1548.html |publisher=Inigne y Nacional Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108213938/http://basilica.mxv.mx/web1/-apariciones/Documentos_Historicos/Mestizos/Codice_1548.html |archive-date=January 8, 2015 |language=es}}</ref> Historians [[Alberto Peralta]] and [[Stafford Poole]] questioned the authenticity of the document.<ref name="Deerskin">{{cite web |last=Peralta |first=Alberto |year=2003 |title=El Códice 1548: Crítica a una supuesta fuente Guadalupana del Siglo XVI |url=http://www.proyectoguadalupe.com/apl_1548.html |work=Artículos |publisher=Proyecto Guadalupe |access-date=December 1, 2006 |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209082837/http://www.proyectoguadalupe.com/apl_1548.html |archive-date=February 9, 2007}}, {{cite journal |last=Poole |first=Stafford |author-link=Stafford Poole| date=July 2005 |title=History vs. Juan Diego |journal=The Americas |volume=62 |pages=1–16|doi=10.1353/tam.2005.0133|s2cid=144263333 }}</ref>{{sfn|Poole|2006|pp=133-136}}

A more complete early description of the apparition occurs in a 16-page manuscript called the ''[[Nican mopohua]]'', which has been reliably dated in 1556 and was acquired by the New York Public Library in 1883. This document, written in Nahuatl, tells the story of the apparitions and the supernatural origin of the image. It was probably composed by a native Aztec man, Antonio Valeriano, who had been educated by Franciscans. The text of this document was later incorporated into a printed pamphlet which was widely circulated in 1649.{{sfn|Brading|2001|pp=117–118, 359}}<ref name="leon"/><ref name="Burrus S. J. 1981">{{Cite journal|title=The Oldest Copy of the Nican Mopohua |first=Ernest J. |last=Burrus S. J. |journal=Cara Studies in Popular Devotion |publisher=Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (Georgetown University) |volume=II, Guadalupan Studies |issue=4 |location=Washington D.C. |year=1981 |oclc=9593292 }}</ref><ref name="O'Gorman 1991">{{Cite book|title=Destierro de sombras : luz en el origen de la imagen y culto de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Tepeyac|first=Edmundo |last=O'Gorman |publisher=Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |year=1991 |language=es |isbn=968-837-870-4 |location=Mexico}}</ref>

In spite of these documents, there are no known 16th century written accounts of the Guadalupe vision by the archbishop [[Juan de Zumárraga]].<ref>Robert Ricard, ''The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico''. Translated by Lesley Byrd Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press 1966, p. 188.</ref> In particular, the canonical account of the vision features archbishop Juan de Zumárraga as a major player in the story, but, although Zumárraga was a prolific writer, there is nothing in his extant writings that can confirm the indigenous story.<ref name =":4">{{cite book |title=Nuevos testimonios históricos guadalupanos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bl-2NnvV50QC&dq=%22Benito+Ju%C3%A1rez%22+%22Virgen+de+Guadalupe%22+%2211+de+agosto+de+1859%22&pg=PA1448|last1=de la Torre Villar|first1=Ernesto|last2=Navarro de Anda|first2=Ramiro|publisher=Fondo de Cultura Económica|location=México, D.F.|page=1448|year=2007|access-date=May 25, 2013|isbn=978-968-16-7551-6}}</ref>

The written record suggests the Catholic clergy in 16th century Mexico were deeply divided as to the orthodoxy of the native beliefs springing up around the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with the [[Franciscan order]] (who then had custody of the chapel at Tepeyac) being strongly opposed to the outside groups, while the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] supported it.<ref>Ricard, ''Spiritual Conquest'', p. 189.</ref>

The main promoter of the story was the Dominican [[Alonso de Montúfar]], who succeeded the Franciscan Juan de Zumárraga as archbishop of Mexico. In a 1556 sermon Montúfar commended popular devotion to "Our Lady of Guadalupe", referring to a painting on cloth (the tilma) in the chapel of the Virgin Mary at Tepeyac, where certain miracles had also occurred. Days later, Fray Francisco de Bustamante, local head of the Franciscan order, delivered a sermon denouncing the native belief and believers. He expressed concern that the Catholic Archbishop was promoting a superstitious regard for an indigenous image:{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=60}}

{{quote|The devotion at the chapel&nbsp;... to which they have given the name Guadalupe was prejudicial to the Indians because they believed that the image itself worked miracles, contrary to what the missionary friars had been teaching them, and because many were disappointed when it did not.}}

Archbishop Montúfar opened an inquiry into the matter at which the Franciscans repeated their position that the image encouraged idolatry and superstition, and four witnesses testified to Bustamante's statement that the image was painted by an Indian, with one witness naming him "the Indian painter Marcos".{{sfn|Poole|1995|pp=60–62}} This could refer to the Aztec painter [[Marcos Cipac de Aquino]], who was active at that time.<ref>{{Skeptoid|id=4201|number=201|date=April 13, 2010|title=The Virgin of Guadalupe|access-date=June 22, 2017}}</ref><ref>J. Nickell, "Image of Guadalupe: myth – perception". ''Skeptical Inquirer'' 21:1 (January/February 1997), p. 9.</ref>  A document called {{lang|es|italic=no|"Informaciones 1556"}} and published in 1888 states that on September 8, 1556, the feast of the Nativity of Mary, at the end of the sermon that Bustamante gave in the chapel of San José in the convent of San Francisco in Mexico, Bustamante attacked Archbishop Montúfar for having, according to the former, encouraged a devotion that had arisen around an image "painted yesterday by the Indian Marcos".<ref>Smith, Jody Brant. 1983. ''The Image of Guadalupe: Myth of Miracle?'' Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 21.</ref><ref>Joe Nickell. 2005. ''Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation''. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. p. 189.</ref><ref>Jacques Lafaye (1987). ''Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe: The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness, 1531–1813''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 241. This source states that the image was of "recent origin" in 1556.</ref>

Prof. Jody Brant Smith, referring to Philip Serna Callahan's examination of the tilma using infrared photography in 1979, wrote: "if Marcos did, he apparently did so without making a preliminary sketches – in itself then seen as a near-miraculous procedure&nbsp;... Cipac may well have had a hand in painting the Image, but only in painting the additions, such as the angel and moon at the Virgin's feet."<ref>Jody Brant Smith (1994). ''The image of Guadalupe''. Mercer University Press. p. 73.</ref>

Ultimately Archbishop Montúfar, himself a Dominican, decided to end Franciscan custody of the shrine.<ref>Francis Johnston (1981). ''The Wonder of Guadalupe''. TAN Books. p. 47</ref> From then on the shrine was kept and served by diocesan priests under the authority of the archbishop.<ref>Ricard, ''Spiritual Conquest'', p. 190.</ref> Moreover, Archbishop Montúfar authorized the construction of a much larger church at Tepeyac, in which the tilma was later mounted and displayed.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Beezley |editor-first1=William H. |editor-last2=Meyer |editor-first2=Michael C. |year= 2010 |title=The Oxford History of Mexico |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |page=157 |isbn=978-0-19-973198-5}}</ref>

In the late 1570s, the Franciscan historian [[Bernardino de Sahagún]] denounced the cult at Tepeyac and the use of the name "Tonantzin" or to call her Our Lady in a personal digression in his ''General History of the Things of New Spain'', also known as the "[[Florentine Codex]]":

{{quote|At this place [Tepeyac], [the Indians] had a temple dedicated to the mother of the gods, whom they called Tonantzin, which means Our Mother. There they performed many sacrifices in honor of this goddess ... And now that a church of Our Lady of Guadalupe is built there, they also called her Tonantzin, being motivated by those preachers who called Our Lady, the Mother of God, Tonantzin. While it is not known for certain where the beginning of Tonantzin may have originated, but this we know for certain, that, from its first usage, the word refers to the ancient Tonantzin. And it was viewed as something that should be remedied, for their having [native] name of the Mother of God, Holy Mary, instead of Tonantzin, but {{lang|es|Dios inantzin}}. It appears to be a Satanic invention to cloak idolatry under the confusion of this name, Tonantzin. And they now come to visit from very far away, as far away as before, which is also suspicious, because everywhere there are many churches of Our Lady and they do not go to them. They come from distant lands to this Tonantzin as in olden times.<ref>Bernardino de Sahagún (1982). ''Florentine Codex: Introduction and Indices''. Translated by Anderson, Arthur J. O. and Dibble, Charles. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p. 90.</ref>}}

Sahagún's criticism of the indigenous group seems to have stemmed primarily from his concern about a [[syncretism|syncretistic]] application of the native name ''Tonantzin'' to the Catholic Virgin Mary. However, Sahagún often used the same name in his sermons as late as the 1560s.<ref>L. Burkhart (2001). ''Before Guadalupe: the Virgin Mary in early colonial Nahuatl literature.'' Austin: University of Texas Press.</ref>

===First printed accounts in Mexico===
[[File:Virgin of Guadalupe - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|Painting ''Virgin of Guadalupe'', {{circa|1700}}, at the [[Indianapolis Museum of Art]], featuring a crown on the Virgin's head, later removed.]]
[[File:Wikimania 2015 photo no. 059 by Sebastian Wallroth CC-BY-SA-3.0.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|The new (left) and old basilica church.]]
One of the first printed accounts of the history of the apparitions and image occurs in ''[[Image of the Virgin Mary Mother of God of Guadalupe|Imagen de la Virgen Maria, Madre de Dios de Guadalupe]]'', published in 1648 by [[Miguel Sánchez (priest)|Miguel Sánchez]], a diocesan priest of Mexico City.{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=5}}

Another account is the [[Codex Escalada]], dating from the sixteenth century, a sheet of parchment recording apparitions of the Virgin Mary and the figure of Juan Diego, which reproduces the [[glyph]] of Antonio Valeriano alongside the signature of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún. It contains the following glosses: "1548 Also in that year of 1531 appeared to Cuahtlatoatzin our beloved mother the Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. Cuahtlatoatzin died worthily"<ref>{{cite web|title=Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe|url=http://basilica.mxv.mx/web1/-apariciones/Documentos_Historicos/Mestizos/Codice_1548.html|website=basilica.mxv.mx|access-date=December 5, 2017}}</ref>

The next printed account was a 36-page tract in the Nahuatl language, ''[[Huei tlamahuiçoltica]]'' ("The Great Event"), which was published in 1649. This tract contains a section called the ''[[Nican mopohua]]'' ("Here it is recounted"), which has been already touched on above. The composition and authorship of the ''Huei tlamahuiçoltica'' is assigned by a majority of those scholars to [[Luis Laso de la Vega]], vicar of the sanctuary of Tepeyac from 1647 to 1657.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sousa |first1=Lisa |author-link1=Lisa Sousa |author-last2=Poole |author-first2=Stafford |author-link2=Stafford Poole |author-last3=Lockhart |author-first3=James |author-link3=James Lockhart (historian) |year=1998 |title=The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's ''Huei tlamahuiçoltica'' of 1649 |series=UCLA Latin American studies, vol. 84; Nahuatl studies series, no. 5 |location=Stanford & Los Angeles, California |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]], [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] Latin American Center Publications |isbn=0-8047-3482-8 |oclc=39455844 |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofguadalupe84lass/page/42 |pages=42–47 }}</ref>
Nevertheless, the most important section of the tract, the ''[[Nican Mopohua]]'', appears to be much older. It has been attributed since the late 1600s to [[Antonio Valeriano]] (c. 1531–1605), a native Aztec man who had been educated by the Franciscans and who collaborated extensively with [[Bernardino de Sahagún]].{{sfn|Brading|2001|pp=117-118, 359}}
A manuscript version of the ''Nican Mopohua'', which is now held by the New York Public Library,<ref>[http://www.nypl.org/blog/2014/04/17/nican-mopohua Story of the manuscript], as was told by Thomas Lannon, assistant curator of the New York Public Library. A digital scan of the manuscript is available [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/ed672de0-934d-0131-b36b-58d385a7b928 here].</ref>
appears to be dated to c. 1556, and may have been the original work by Valeriano, as that was used by Laso in composing the ''Huei tlamahuiçoltica''. Most authorities agree on the dating and on Valeriano's authorship.<ref name="leon">{{Cite book|title=Tonantzin Guadalupe : pensamiento náhuatl y mensaje cristiano en el "Nicān mopōhua" |first=Miguel |last=León-Portilla |author2=Antonio Valeriano |publisher=Colegio Nacional: Fondo de Cultura Económico |location=Mexico |year=2000 |language=es |isbn=968-16-6209-1 }}</ref><ref name="Burrus S. J. 1981"/><ref name="O'Gorman 1991"/> According to the skeptic and investigator of the paranormal, [[Joe Nickell]], if the main source, the ''[[Huei tlamahuiçoltica]]'', was published in 1649, the legend it narrates date to after that time.<ref>Joe Nickell and John F. Fischer, The Image of Guadalupe: A Folkloristic and Iconographic Investigation, Skeptical Inquirer, (1985) vol. 9, 243-255, at 245-246.</ref>

On the other hand, in 1666, the scholar [[Luis Becerra Tanco]] published in Mexico a book about the history of the apparitions under the name {{Lang|es|Origen milagroso del santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe}}, which was republished in Spain in 1675 as {{Lang|es|Felicidad de Mexico}}.{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=144}} In the same way, in 1688, Jesuit Father Francisco de Florencia published ''La Estrella del Norte de México'', giving the history of the same apparitions.{{sfn|Poole|2006|p=7}}

Two separate accounts, one in Nahuatl from Juan Bautista del Barrio de San Juan from the 16th century,<ref>Anales de Juan Bautista Folio 6r</ref> and the other in Spanish by [[Servando Teresa de Mier]]<ref>Cartas Sobre la Tradición de Ntra. Sra. de Guadalupe de México, Servando Teresa De Mier 1797 p. 53</ref> date the original apparition and native celebration on September 8 of the [[Julian calendar]], but the latter also says that the Spaniards celebrate it on December 12 instead.<ref>{{cite book |last=Poole |first=Stafford |author-link=Stafford Poole |date=2017 |title=Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531–1797 |place=Tucson |publisher=University of Arizona Press |page=222|edition=Revised }}</ref>

According to the document ''[[Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666]]'', a Catholic feast day in name of Our Lady of Guadalupe was requested and approved, as well as the transfer of the date of the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe from September 8 to December 12, the latest date on which the Virgin supposedly appeared to Juan Diego. The initiative to perform them was made by Francisco de Siles who proposed to ask the Church of Rome, a Mass itself with allusive text to the apparitions and stamping of the image, along with the divine office itself, and the precept of hearing a Catholic Mass on December 12, the last date of the apparitions of the Virgin to Juan Diego as the new date to commemorate the apparitions (which until then was on September 8, the birth of the Virgin).<ref name="1666-1">{{cite book |last1=Vera |first1=Fortino Hipólito |title=Informaciones sobre la milagrosa aparicion de la santisima Virgin de Guadalupe, recibidas en 1666 y 1723 |date=1889 |publisher=Imp. católica |oclc=682107928 |language=es |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/20909165.html }}{{page needed|date=September 2022}}</ref>

In 1666, the Church in México began gathering information from people who reported having known Juan Diego, and in 1723 a formal investigation into his life was ordered, where more data was gathered to support his veneration. Because of the ''Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666'' in the year 1754, the [[Sacred Congregation of Rites]] confirmed the true and valid value of the apparitions, and granted celebrating Mass and Office for the then Catholic version of the feast of Guadalupe on December 12.<ref name="1666-2">[http://www.enciclopedicohistcultiglesiaal.org/diccionario/index.php/GUADALUPE;_Informaciones_jur%C3%ADdicas_de_1666 Guadalupe; Informaciones jurídicas de 1666] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208155310/http://www.enciclopedicohistcultiglesiaal.org/diccionario/index.php/GUADALUPE;_Informaciones_jur%C3%ADdicas_de_1666 |date=December 8, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://luxdomini.net/_gpe/contenido1/guadalupe_1666.htm |title=Informaciones de 1666 |access-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-date=January 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105223538/http://luxdomini.net/_gpe/contenido1/guadalupe_1666.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

These published accounts of the origin of the image already venerated in Tepeyac, then increased interest in the identity of Juan Diego, who was the original recipient of the prime vision. A new Catholic Basilica church was built to house the image. Completed in 1709, it is now known as the Old Basilica.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vicaría de Guadalupe. Antecedentes históricos. Antigua Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe |url=http://www.arquidiocesismexico.org.mx/Vicaria%20de%20Guadalupe.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722225945/http://www.arquidiocesismexico.org.mx/Vicaria%20de%20Guadalupe.html |access-date=November 17, 2021|archive-date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref>

===The crown ornament===
[[File:Virgen_de_Guadalupe_con_las_cuatro_apariciones_(Juan_de_Sáenz)_Detalle_(01).JPG|thumb|left|upright|Virgen de Guadalupe con las cuatro apariciones by Juan de Sáenz (Virgin of Guadalupe with the four apparitions by Juan de Sáenz), {{circa|1777}}, at the [[Museo Soumaya]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/virgen-de-guadalupe-con-las-cuatro-apariciones-y-una-vista-del-santuario-del-tepeyac/TwHJIBpVfLoRXg|title=Virgen de Guadalupe con las cuatro apariciones y una vista del Santuario de Tepeyac|website=[[Google Arts & Culture]]}}</ref>]]
The image had originally featured a 12-point crown on the Virgin's head, but this disappeared in 1887–88. The change was first noticed on February 23, 1888, when the image was removed to a nearby church.{{sfn|Poole|2006|p=60}} Eventually a painter confessed on his deathbed that he had been instructed by a clergyman to remove the crown. This may have been motivated by the fact that the gold paint was flaking off of the crown, leaving it looking dilapidated. But according to the historian [[David Brading]], "the decision to remove rather than replace the crown was no doubt inspired by a desire to 'modernize' the image and reinforce its similarity to the nineteenth-century images of the Immaculate Conception which were exhibited at Lourdes and elsewhere... What is rarely mentioned is that the frame which surrounded the canvas was adjusted to leave almost no space above the Virgin's head, thereby obscuring the effects of the erasure."{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=307}}

A different crown was installed to the image. On February 8, 1887, a [[Papal bull]] from [[Pope Leo XIII]] granted permission a [[Canonical Coronation]] of the image, which occurred on October 12, 1895.<ref>''Enciclopedia Guadalupana'', p. 267 (vol. II)</ref>

=== 20th century ===

Since then the Virgin of Guadalupe has been proclaimed "Queen of Mexico", "Patroness of the Americas", "Empress of Latin America", and "Protectress of Unborn Children" (the latter two titles given by [[Pope John Paul II]] in 1999).<ref name="mariologia.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.mariologia.org/aparicionesguadalupeespanol09.htm |title=Virgen de Guadalupe |publisher=Mariologia.org |access-date=August 13, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426045240/http://www.mariologia.org/aparicionesguadalupeespanol09.htm |archive-date=April 26, 2012 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/629932/Our-Lady-of-Guadalupe Britannica.com]</ref>

On November 14, 1921, a bomb hidden within a basket of flowers and left under the tilma by an anti-Catholic [[secularist]] exploded and damaged the altar of the Basilica that houses the original image, but the tilma was unharmed. A brass standing crucifix, bent by the explosion, is now preserved at the shrine's museum and is believed to be miraculous by devotees.{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=314}}{{sfn|Poole|2006|p=110}}

==The beatification of Juan Diego==
[[File:Eternal father painting guadalupe.jpg|thumb|An 18th-century [[hagiographic]] painting of [[God the Father]] fashioning the image.]]
Under Pope John Paul II the move to [[beatification|beatify]] Juan Diego intensified. John Paul II took a special interest in non-European Catholics and saints. During his leadership, the [[Congregation for the Causes of Saints]] declared Juan Diego "venerable" (in 1987), and the pope himself announced his beatification on May 6, 1990, during a Mass at the [[Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe]] in Mexico City, declaring him "protector and advocate of the indigenous peoples", with December 9 established as his feast day.<ref name="Saragoza">{{cite book |last1=Saragoza |first1=Alex |title=Mexico Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-34948-5 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v49ppkhgtjMC&q=Antonio+of+Tlaxcala+beatified&pg=PA95 |language=en}}</ref>

At that time historians revived doubts as to the quality of the evidence regarding Juan Diego. The writings of bishop [[Juan de Zumárraga|Zumárraga]], into whose hands Juan purportedly delivered the miraculous image, did not refer to him or the event. The record of the 1556 ecclesiastical inquiry omitted him, and he was not mentioned in documentation before the mid-17th century. In 1996 the 83-year-old abbot of the [[Basilica of Guadalupe]], [[Guillermo Schulenburg]], was forced to resign following an interview published in the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] magazine ''Ixthus,'' in which he was quoted as saying that Juan Diego was "a symbol, not a reality", and that his canonization would be the "recognition of a cult. It is not recognition of the physical, real existence of a person."<ref>[http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/archives/1999Dec/232dec7,vol.10,no.232txt/dec7nv4.htm ''Daily Catholic''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016064856/http://dailycatholic.org/issue/archives/1999Dec/232dec7,vol.10,no.232txt/dec7nv4.htm |date=October 16, 2007 }}, December 7, 1999, accessed November 30, 2006</ref> In 1883 [[Joaquín García Icazbalceta]], historian and biographer of Zumárraga, in a confidential report on the Lady of Guadalupe for [[Bishop]] Labastida, had been hesitant to support the story of the vision. He concluded that Juan Diego had not existed.<ref>''Juan Diego y las Apariciones el pimo Tepeyac'' (Paperback) by Joaquín García Icazbalceta {{ISBN|970-92771-3-8}}</ref>

In 1995, Father Xavier Escalada, a Jesuit whose four volume Guadalupe encyclopedia had just been published, announced the existence of a sheet of parchment (known as ''[[Codex Escalada]]''), which bore an illustrated account of the vision and some notations in Nahuatl concerning the life and death of Juan Diego. Previously unknown, the document was dated 1548. It bore the signatures of Antonio Valeriano and Bernardino de Sahagún, which are considered to verify its contents. The codex was the subject of an appendix to the Guadalupe encyclopedia, published in 1997.<ref name = "Deerskin"/>{{Pages needed|date=February 2024}}{{sfn|Poole|2006|pp=131-133}} Some scholars remained unconvinced, one describing the discovery of the Codex as "rather like finding a picture of St. Paul's vision of Christ on the [[road to Damascus]], drawn by St. Luke and signed by St. Peter."{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=58}}

== Marian title ==
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Virgin of Guadalupe - Isidro Escamilla - overall.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|''Virgin of Guadalupe'', September 1, 1824. Oil on canvas by Isidro Escamilla at the [[Brooklyn Museum]].]]
[[File:Pintura_2_Antigua_Basílica_de_Guadalupe.jpg|thumb|left|Oath of the board 1737 by [[Felix Parra]].]]
In the earliest account of the apparition, the ''[[Nican Mopohua]]'', the Virgin of Guadalupe tells Juan Bernardino, the uncle of [[Juan Diego]], that the image on the tilma is to be known as ‘the Perfect Virgin, Holy Mary of Guadalupe.’<ref>[http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/nahuatl/nican/nican7.html "Nican Mopohua: Here It Is Told,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121153308/http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/nahuatl/nican/nican7.html |date=November 21, 2011 }}, p. 208, UC San Diego</ref>

There have been various efforts to find a pre-Hispanic origin in the cult, including attempts to find a [[Nahuatl]] etymology to the name. The first theory to promote this Nahuatl origin was that of Luis Becerra Tanco.<ref name="Chavez Eduardo 2009, p. 205">Anderson Carl and Chavez Eduardo, ''Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love,'' Doubleday, New York, 2009, p. 205</ref> In his 1675 work ''Felicidad de Mexico'', Becerra Tanco said that Juan Bernardino and [[Juan Diego]] would not have been able to understand the name Guadalupe because the "d" and "g" sounds do not exist in [[Nahuatl]].<ref name="Chavez Eduardo 2009, p. 205" />

He proposed two Nahuatl alternative names that sound similar to "Guadalupe", ''Tecuatlanopeuh'' {{IPA|nah|tekʷat͡ɬaˈnopeʍ|}}, which he translates as "she whose origins were in the rocky summit", and ''Tecuantlaxopeuh'' {{IPA|nah|tekʷant͡ɬaˈʃopeʍ|}}, "she who banishes those who devoured us."<ref name="Chavez Eduardo 2009, p. 205"/>

Ondina and Justo González suggest that the name is a Spanish version of the Nahuatl term, ''[[Coatlaxopeuh|Coātlaxopeuh]]'' {{IPA|nah|koaːt͡ɬaˈʃopeʍ|}}, which they interpret as meaning "the one who crushes the serpent", and that it may seem to be referring to the feathered serpent [[Quetzalcoatl]]. In addition, the Virgin Mary was portrayed in European art as crushing the [[Serpent (Bible)|serpent]] of the Garden of Eden.<ref>González, Ondina E. and Justo L. González, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8TO3FpclI-gC ''Christianity in Latin America: A History''], p. 59, Cambridge University Press, 2008</ref>

Sahagún claimed that the Aztecs had previously worshiped the goddess [[Tonantzin]] (sometimes identified with [[Coatlicue|Coatlícue]] or [[Cihuacoatl]]) at Tepeyac. He believed that the shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe allowed them to continue their worship of Tonantzin, since they neglected other Marian shrines to come to Tepeyac.{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=83-84}}

The theory promoting the Spanish origin of the name says that:
* [[Juan Diego]] and Juan Bernardino would have been familiar with the Spanish "g" and "d" sounds since their baptismal names contain those sounds.
* There is no documentation of any other name for this [[Marian apparition]] during the almost 144 years between the apparition being recorded in 1531 and Becerra Tanco's proposed theory in 1675.
* Documents written by contemporary Spaniards and Franciscan friars argue that for the name to be changed to a native name, such as ''Tepeaca'' or ''Tepeaquilla,'' would not make sense to them, if a Nahuatl name were already in use, and suggest the Spanish ''Guadalupe'' was the original.<ref name="Chavez Eduardo 2009, p. 205"/>

==Venerated image and Diego's ''tilma''==
=== Description ===
[[File:Miguel_Cabrera_-_Altarpiece_of_the_Virgin_of_Guadalupe_with_Saint_John_the_Baptist,_Fray_Juan_de_Zumárraga_and_Juan_Diego_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|thumb|The altar image of Our Lady of Guadalupe with [[St. John the Baptist]], [[Juan de Zumárraga]] and [[St. Juan Diego]] by [[Miguel Cabrera (painter)|Miguel Cabrera]].]]
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is of a life-sized, dark-haired, olive-skinned young woman, standing with her head slightly inclined to her right, eyes downcast, and her hands held before her in prayer. She wears a pink dress ornamented with a floral design, a dark ribbon tied above her waist, and a blue-green mantle over all. The mantle is edged with gold and has golden stars throughout. She stands on a crescent moon, which is supported by an angel with eagle wings. She is surrounded by a golden sunburst.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Jody Brant |title=The Image of Guadalupe: Myth or Miracle? |date=1983 |publisher=Doubleday & Company, Inc. |location=Garden City, New York |isbn=0-385-15971-4 |page=3 |url=https://archive.org/details/imageofguadalupe0000smit}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Moffitt |first1=John F. |title=Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Painting, the Legend and the Reality |date=2006 |publisher=McFarland and Company, Inc. |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-2667-6 |page=23 |url=https://archive.org/details/ourladyofguadalu00moff}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Carl |last2=Chávez |first2=Eduardo |author1-link=Carl A. Anderson |title=Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love |date=2009 |publisher=Doubleday Religion |location=New York |isbn=978-0-385-52772-9 |pages=34–35 |url=https://archive.org/details/ourladyofguadalu0000ande}}</ref>

The tilma now measures approximately {{convert|1.72|by|1.07|m|in}},{{sfn|Chávez|2006|p=19}} though sources vary by a few centimeters, and it shows signs of having been trimmed from the original size. It is made of two pieces of fabric sewn together with cotton thread.<ref name="Peterson 2002">{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Jeanette Favros |title=Creating the Virgin of Guadalupe: The Cloth, the Artist, and Sources in Sixteenth-Century New Spain |journal=[[The Americas (journal)|The Americas]] |date=April 2005 |volume=61 |issue=4 |page=573n3 |doi=10.1353/tam.2005.0091 |jstor=4490973 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4490973}}</ref> There is a large crack running vertically through the middle of the image, as well as smaller horizontal cracks, caused by the image being folded at some point.<ref name="Gomez interview"/>

The image is currently housed in a golden frame above the main altar of the [[Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe]] in [[Mexico City]], where it has been since the new basilica was completed in 1976.<ref>{{cite book |author1=National Geographic Society |title=Sacred Places of a Lifetime |date=2008 |isbn=978-1-4262-0336-7 |page=205 |url=https://archive.org/details/sacredplacesofli0000unse_d8q7/page/204/mode/2up}}</ref>

===Symbolism===
The iconography of the Virgin is fully Catholic:<ref name="McMenGuad2006">{{cite journal |year=2006 |title=Our Lady of Guadalupe and Eucharistic Adoration |journal=Numismatics International Bulletin
|author=McMenamin, M. |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=91–97}}</ref> Miguel Sánchez, the author of the 1648 tract ''Imagen de la Virgen María'', described her as the [[Woman of the Apocalypse]] from the [[New Testament]]'s [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 12:1, "clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." She is described as a representation of the Immaculate Conception.{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=58}}

<section begin=Alleged corruption in the Catholic Church transclusion/>Virgil Elizondo says the image also had layers of meaning for the [[indigenous people of Mexico]] who associated her image with their [[polytheistic]] deities, which further contributed to her popularity.<ref name="elizondo" >Elizondo, Virgil. ''Guadalupe, Mother of a New Creation.'' Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1997</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/news/education-life/6538-a-short-history-of-tonantzin-our-lady-of-guadalupe|title=A short history of Tonantzin, Our Lady of Guadalupe|website=Indian Country News|language=en-gb|access-date=March 4, 2019|archive-date=March 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043309/https://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/news/education-life/6538-a-short-history-of-tonantzin-our-lady-of-guadalupe|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her [[blue-green]] [[Robe|mantle]] was the color reserved for the divine couple [[Ometecuhtli]] and [[Omecihuatl]];<ref>[http://www.utpa.edu/dept/lrgvarchive/virgen.html UTPA.edu], "La Virgen de Guadalupe", accessed November 30, 2006</ref> her [[Belt (clothing)|belt]] is interpreted as a sign of [[pregnancy]]; and a cross-shaped image, symbolizing the cosmos and called ''[[Nahui Ollin|nahui-ollin]],'' is inscribed beneath the image's sash.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mUBk8mPCLOsC&q=nahui-ollin&pg=PT54 ''Tonantzin Guadalupe''], by Joaquín Flores Segura, Editorial Progreso, 1997, {{ISBN|970-641-145-3|978-970-641-145-7}}, pp. 66–77</ref> She was called "mother of maguey",<ref name="taylor">{{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=William B.|title= Drinking, Homicide, and Rebellion in Colonial Mexican Villages|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford|year=1979 |isbn=9780804711128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgJcIJE3amsC&q=Guadalupe}}</ref> the source of the sacred beverage [[pulque]].<ref name="whatis">{{cite web |title= What is Pulque? |url= https://delmaguey.com/pulque/ |website= Del Maguey: Single Village Mezcal |access-date= October 13, 2020 |df= mdy-all |archive-date= October 16, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201016073741/https://delmaguey.com/pulque/ |url-status= dead }}</ref> Pulque was also known as "the milk of the Virgin".<ref name="bushnell">{{Cite journal|last=Bushnell|first=John|title=La Virgen de Guadalupe as Surrogate Mother in San Juan Aztingo|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=60|issue=2|page=261|year=1958|doi=10.1525/aa.1958.60.2.02a00050}}</ref> The rays of light surrounding her are seen to also represent [[Agave americana|maguey]] spines.<ref name="taylor" />

===Technical analyses===
[[File:Our Lady of Guadalupe.JPG|thumb|The original ''tilma'' of [[Juan Diego]], which hangs above the high altar of the Guadalupe Basilica. The suspended crown atop the image dates back to its [[Canonical Coronation]] on October 12, 1895. The image is protected by bulletproof glass and low-oxygen atmosphere.]]
The image and ''tilma'' have been examined numerous times over the years.

====Capitular inquiry====
In 1662, [[Canon (title)#Secular canons|canons]] of the cathedral in Mexico City began the process of asking for a proper liturgy for Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. As part of this request, Rome asked for a canonical investigation into the apparitions. The canons carried out this investigation from 1665 to 1666,{{sfn|Poole|1995|pp=128-129}} including an examination of the image in March 1666.{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=142}}

On March 13, 1666, seven painters examined the image, accompanied by the [[viceroy]] and several clerics. The painters unanimously agreed that it was "impossible that any artist could paint and work something so beautiful, clean, and well-formed on a fabric which is as rough as is the ''tilma''",{{sfn|Chávez|2006|p=24}}{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=142}} and that the image must therefore be miraculous. They also noted the degree of preservation of the image and ''tilma'', and that the ''tilma'' had not been prepared for painting.{{sfn|Chávez|2006|p=25}}

On March 28, three members of the ''protomédico'' of New Spain also examined the image. They also noted how well-preserved the image was given the local climate, and saw this as evidence of the image's supernatural origin.{{sfn|Chávez|2006|p=26}} In contrast, the silver of the moon and the gold on the sunburst, which had both been added to the original, were faded.{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=142}}

====Cabrera====
On April 30, 1751, a group of eight painters headed by [[José de Ibarra]] were allowed to examine the image. On April 15, 1752, one of the painters, [[Miguel Cabrera (painter)|Miguel Cabrera]], was again allowed access to the image in order to create three copies.{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=169}}{{sfn|Chávez|2006|p=27}} In 1756, Cabrera published his account of the image, approved by the other painters, entitled ''[[Maravilla Americana]]''.{{sfn|Chávez|2006|p=27}}

Like the previous report, Cabrera noted the preservation of the image despite the climate. He said that the ''tilma'' was two pieces of cloth sewn together, and that it felt soft, probably made of ''ayate'' fibers rather than the coarser ''maguey'', as others had claimed. He discovered signs of four different painting techniques which he claimed had never been used in combination before. He said that the image had not been [[sizing|sized]], and thus the image could be seen through the back of the cloth, though all but a small portion of the back was covered with silver at the time.{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=170-171}}{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=204-205}}

====Bartolache====
In 1787, another group of painters examined the image at the request of {{interlanguage link|José Ignacio Bartolache|es}}, a doctor and mathematician. They confirmed Cabrera's opinion that the fabric of the ''tilma'' was not coarse, but determined that it was of palm fibers. Contrary to Cabrera, however, they claimed that the image had been [[sizing|sized]] beforehand, and was not visible from behind; however, four years later, two of the painters claimed that they had never seen the back of the image and did not know if it had been sized.{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=205}} The artists came to the conclusion that the parts of the image that were original were of divine origin, though they noted that there were some touch-ups that were clearly the work of human hands, the first study to so note.{{sfn|Poole|1995|p=205}}{{sfn|Chávez|2006|p=27}}

====Flores Gómez====
Art restorer José Antonio Flores Gómez was hired by the abbot of the basilica to work on the image in 1947 and 1973. In a 2002 interview with the magazine ''[[Proceso (magazine)|Proceso]]'', he spoke about his experience. He noted that he had not been required to keep silent about his work, but had done so of his own accord.<ref name="Gomez interview">{{cite magazine |last1=Vera |first1=Rodrigo |title=Un restaurador de la guadalupana expone detalles técnicos que desmitifican a la imagen |trans-title=A restorer of the Guadalupana exposes technical details that demystify the image |magazine=[[Proceso (magazine)|Proceso]] |issue=1343 |date=July 27, 2002 |url=https://www.proceso.com.mx/187951/un-restaurador-de-la-guadalupana-expone-detalles-tecnicos-que-desmitifican-a-la-imagen |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213172733/https://www.proceso.com.mx/187951/un-restaurador-de-la-guadalupana-expone-detalles-tecnicos-que-desmitifican-a-la-imagen |archive-date=December 13, 2016 |language=es}}</ref>

When he examined the image in 1947, he saw a large crack in the paint running vertically through the middle of the image, as well as some smaller horizontal cracks, which he thought were caused by the image having been folded. He also saw signs that others had touched up the image at various points. The necessity of touching up the image convinced him that it was of human origin.<ref name="Gomez interview"/>

Like others, Flores Gómez noted the softness of the ''tilma'', which seemed to him more like cotton than the rougher agave traditionally claimed. He also said that the paints used in the image came from natural pigments, such as from the [[cochineal]].<ref name="Gomez interview"/>

====Callahan and Smith====
In 1981, Philip Serna Callahan and Jody Brant Smith examined the image under infrared light, a [[Infrared#Art conservation and analysis|common technique]] in art analysis. They were unable to find any trace of sizing or sketching underneath the paint. They concluded that, while there had been additions to and touch-ups of the image, which were in a poor state, there was no explanation for the original parts of the image or their preservation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rodriguez |first1=Jeanette |title=Our Lady of Guadalupe: Faith and Empowerment among Mexican-American Women |date=1994 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin, Texas |isbn=0-292-77061-8 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fwtjf64nn6AC}}</ref>

====Sol Rosales====
In 1982, [[Guillermo Schulenburg]], abbot of the basilica, hired José Sol Rosales of the [[Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura]] to study the image. Sol Rosales thought that the ''tilma'' was made of linen and hemp, and not either agave or cotton. Contrary to previous claims, he said that the fabric had been prepared with white paint before the image had been painted. He saw several different styles of [[tempera]] throughout the image. He held that the paints were made from various natural pigments, and further noted that all of these pigments were commonly available in 16th-century Mexico. Like Flores Gómez, Sol Rosales saw various touch-ups and repainting throughout the image.<ref name="Rosales study">{{cite magazine |last1=Vera |first1=Rodrigo |title=El análisis que ocultó el Vaticano |trans-title=The analysis that the Vatican hid |magazine=Proceso |issue=1333 |date=May 18, 2002 |url=https://www.proceso.com.mx/187569 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401145956/https://www.proceso.com.mx/187569 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |language=es}}</ref>

Sol Rosales concluded that the image was of human origin. He claimed that others, like Cabrera, had had similar findings, but concluded that the image was divine due to social pressures.<ref name="Rosales study"/> Sol Rosales and his team were supervised during the investigation by Schulenburg and others. Schulenburg sent the results of this study to the Vatican, cautioning against the canonization of Juan Diego.<ref name="Gomez interview"/>

====Studies on the eyes====
Several studies have examined the eyes of the image. The authors of these studies claim that they have found images in the eyes corresponding to the people believed to have been present when Juan Diego opened his ''tilma'' before the bishop. The eyes are also claimed to contain [[Purkinje images]] exactly where they would be expected to be found in living eyes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Jody Brant |title=The Image of Guadalupe: Myth or Miracle |date=1983 |publisher=Doubleday & Company, Inc. |location=Garden City, New York |isbn=0-385-15971-4 |pages=79–83 |url=https://archive.org/details/imageofguadalupe0000smit}}</ref>

Critics of these studies liken the figures to inkblots and [[pareidolia]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nickell |first1=Joe |title=The Science of Miracles: Investigating the Incredible |date=2013 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, New York |isbn=9781616147419 |page=32 |url=https://archive.org/details/scienceofmiracle0000nick}}</ref>

==Cultural significance==
{{stack begin}}
[[File:Alegoría de la declaración pontifica del patronato Guadalupano sobre la Nueva España, anónimo novohispano, S. XVIII.jpg|thumb|''Allegory of the papal declaration in 1754 by pope [[Benedict XIV]] of Our Lady of Guadalupe patronage over New Spain in the presence of the viceroyal authorities''. Anonymous (Mexican) author, 18th century.]]
[[File:LA Cathedral Lady of Guadalupe statue.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Reliquary in the [[Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels]] in [[Los Angeles]], United States, containing a fragment of the tilma of [[Juan Diego]].]]
{{stack end}}
Juan Diego's tilma has become Mexico's most popular religious and cultural symbol and has received widespread ecclesiastical and popular veneration. In the 19th century it became the rallying cry of the Spaniards born in America, in what they denominated 'New Spain'. They said they considered the apparitions as legitimizing their own indigenous Mexican origin. They infused it with an almost messianic sense of mission and identity, thereby also justifying their armed rebellion against Spain.<ref name = "Poole">Poole, Stafford. ''Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531–1797'' (1995)</ref><ref name = "Taylor">Taylor, William B., ''Shrines and Miraculous Images: Religious Life in Mexico Before the Reforma'' (2011)</ref>

===Symbol of Mexico===
[[File:Casta_Painting_by_Luis_de_Mena.jpg|thumb|left|[[Luis de Mena]], [[Virgin of Guadalupe]] and [[castas]], 1750, a frequently reproduced painting, uniquely uniting the image Virgin and a depiction of the [[casta]] system.]]
''Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe'' became a recognized symbol of Catholic Mexicans. [[Miguel Sanchez (writer)|Miguel Sánchez]], the author in 1648 of the first published account of the vision, identified Guadalupe as ''Revelation's'' [[Woman of the Apocalypse]], and said:

<blockquote>... this New World has been won and conquered by the hand of the Virgin Mary&nbsp;... who had prepared, disposed, and contrived her exquisite likeness in this, her Mexican land, which was conquered for such a glorious purpose, won that there should appear so Mexican an image.{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=58}}</blockquote>

Throughout the Mexican national history of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Guadalupan name and image have been unifying national symbols; the first [[President of Mexico]] (1824–1829) changed his name from José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix to [[Guadalupe Victoria]] in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe.<ref name="krauze"/> Father [[Miguel Hidalgo]], in the [[Mexican War of Independence]] (1810), and [[Emiliano Zapata]], in the [[Mexican Revolution]] (1910), led their respective armed forces with Guadalupan [[flag]]s emblazoned with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Galeano |first=Eduardo |title=Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent |date=January 1997 |isbn=978-0853459910 |pages=46}}</ref> In 1999, the Church officially proclaimed her the ''Patroness of the Americas'', the ''Empress of Latin America'', and the ''Protectress of Unborn Children''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T9beDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT988|title=The Oxford Handbook of Music and World Christianities|date=2016|isbn=9780190614171|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor1=Jonathan M. Dueck|editor2=Suzel Ana Reily|page=988}}</ref>

In 1810, [[Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla]] initiated the bid for Mexican independence with his ''[[Grito de Dolores]]'', with the cry "[[Death]] to the [[Spaniards]] and long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!" When Hidalgo's mestizo-indigenous army attacked [[Guanajuato]] and [[Morelia|Valladolid]], they placed "the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was the insignia of their enterprise, on sticks or on reeds painted different colors" and "they all wore a print of the Virgin on their hats."<ref name="krauze" >Krauze, Enrique. Mexico, Biography of Power. A History of Modern Mexico 1810–1996. HarperCollins: New York, 1997.</ref> After Hidalgo's death, leadership of the revolution fell to a [[mestizo]] priest named [[José María Morelos]], who led insurgent troops in the Mexican south. Morelos adopted the Virgin as the seal of his [[Congress of Chilpancingo]], inscribing her feast day into the [[Chilpancingo]] constitution and declaring that Guadalupe was the power behind his victories:

<blockquote>New Spain puts less faith in its own efforts than in the power of God and the intercession of its Blessed Mother, who appeared within the precincts of Tepeyac as the miraculous image of Guadalupe that had come to comfort us, defend us, visibly be our protection.<ref name="krauze" /></blockquote>

[[Simón Bolívar]] noticed the Guadalupan theme in these uprisings, and shortly before Morelos's execution in 1815 wrote: "the leaders of the independence struggle have put [[fanaticism]] to use by proclaiming the famous Virgin of Guadalupe as the queen of the patriots, praying to her in times of hardship and displaying her on their flags... the [[veneration]] for this image in Mexico far exceeds the greatest reverence that the shrewdest prophet might inspire."{{sfn|Brading|2001|p=58}}

In 1912, [[Emiliano Zapata]]'s peasant army rose out of the south against the government of [[Francisco Madero]]. Though Zapata's rebel forces were primarily interested in [[land reform]]—"tierra y libertad" ('land and liberty') was the [[slogan]] of the uprising—when his peasant troops penetrated [[Mexico City]], they carried Guadalupan banners.<ref>Documentary footage of Zapata and Pancho Villa's armies entering Mexico City can be seen at [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_wAoEqeHKU YouTube.com], Zapata's men can be seen carrying the flag of the Guadalupana about 38 seconds in.</ref> More recently, the contemporary Zapatista National Liberation Army ([[EZLN]]) named their "mobile city" in honor of the Virgin: it is called Guadalupe Tepeyac. EZLN spokesperson [[Subcomandante Marcos]] wrote a humorous letter in 1995 describing the EZLN bickering over what to do with a Guadalupe statue they had received as a gift.<ref>Subcomandante Marcos, [https://web.archive.org/web/20000523012900/http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/ezln/marcos_virgin_mar95.html Flag.blackened.net], "Zapatistas Guadalupanos and the Virgin of Guadalupe" March 24, 1995, accessed December 11, 2006.</ref>

===Mexican culture===
Harringon argues that: The Aztecs... had an elaborate, coherent symbolic system for making sense of their lives. When this was destroyed by the Spaniards, something new was needed to fill the void and make sense of New Spain&nbsp;... the image of Guadalupe served that purpose.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harrington |first1=Patricia |title=Mother of Death, Mother of Rebirth: The Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |date=1988 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=25–50 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/LVI.1.25 |jstor=1464830 }}</ref>

According to the traditional account, the name of Guadalupe, as the name was heard or understood by Spaniards, was chosen by the Virgin herself when she appeared on the hill outside Mexico City in 1531, ten years after the Conquest.<ref>[http://www.sancta.org/nameguad.html Sancta.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071029110356/http://www.sancta.org/nameguad.html |date=October 29, 2007 }}, "Why the name 'of Guadalupe'?", accessed November 30, 2006</ref>

Guadalupe continues to be a mixture of the cultures which blended to form Mexico, both racially and religiously,<ref name="guide">Elizondo, Virgil. [http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Dec1999/feature2.asp AmericanCatholic.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026060338/http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Dec1999/feature2.asp |date=October 26, 2007 }}, "Our Lady of Guadalupe. A Guide for the New Millennium" St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online. December 1999; accessed December 3, 2006.</ref> "the first [[mestiza]]",<ref>Lopez, Lydia. "'Undocumented Virgin.' Guadalupe Narrative Crosses Borders for New Understanding." Episcopal News Service. December 10, 2004.</ref> or "the first Mexican",<ref name="king"/> "bringing together people of distinct cultural heritages, while at the same time affirming their distinctness."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Connor |first1=Mary |title=The Virgin of Guadalupe and the Economics of Symbolic Behavior |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |date=1989 |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=105–119 |doi=10.2307/1387053 |jstor=1387053 }}</ref> As [[Jacques Lafaye]] wrote in ''Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe'', "as the Christians built their first churches with the rubble and the columns of the ancient [[Paganism|pagan]] temples, so they often borrowed pagan customs for their own [[cult]] purposes."<ref name="lafay" >Lafaye, Jacques. ''Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe. The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1976</ref> The author Judy King asserts that Guadalupe is a "common denominator" uniting Mexicans. Writing that Mexico is composed of a vast patchwork of differences—linguistic, ethnic, and class-based—King says "The Virgin of Guadalupe is the rubber band that binds this disparate nation into a whole."<ref name="king" >{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Judy |title=La Virgen de Guadalupe - Mother of all Mexico |url=https://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1404-la-virgen-de-guadalupe-mother-of-all-mexico/ |work=MexConnect |date=May 29, 2020 }}</ref>
The Mexican novelist, [[Carlos Fuentes]], once said that "you cannot truly be considered a Mexican unless you believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe."<ref>Demarest, Donald. "Guadalupe Cult&nbsp;... In the Lives of Mexicans." p. 114 in ''A Handbook on Guadalupe'', Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, eds. Waite Park MN: Park Press Inc, 1996</ref> [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Literature laureate]] [[Octavio Paz]] wrote in 1974 that "The Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments and defeats, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the [[National Lottery for Public Assistance|National Lottery]]."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Paz |first1=Octavio |chapter=Foreword |pages=ix–xxii |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWJJua4aoGcC&pg=PR9 |editor1-last=Lafaye |editor1-first=Jacques |title=Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe: The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness, 1531–1813 |date=1987 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-46788-7 }}</ref>

==Veneration==
[[File:Santa Fe, NM USA - Santuario De Guadalupe (The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe) - panoramio.jpg|thumb|[[Santuario de Guadalupe]] is the oldest church in the United States dedicated to the [[Virgin of Guadalupe]].]]
The shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage destination in the world. Over the Friday and Saturday of December 11 to 12, 2009, a record number of 6.1&nbsp;million pilgrims visited the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the apparition.<ref name="zenit.org">[http://www.zenit.org/article-27841?l=english Znit.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113113813/http://www.zenit.org/article-27841?l=english |date=November 13, 2011 }}</ref>

Religious imagery of Our Lady of Guadalupe appears in Roman Catholic parishes, especially those with Latin American heritage.<ref name="Johnson2015">{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Maxwell E.|title=The Church in Act: Lutheran Liturgical Theology in Ecumenical Conversation|year=2015|publisher=Fortress Press|language=en|isbn=978-1451496680|page=187}}</ref> <section end=Alleged corruption in the Catholic Church transclusion/>In addition, due to the growth of [[History of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States|Hispanic communities in the United States]], religious imagery of Our Lady of Guadalupe has started appearing in some [[Lutheran]], [[Anglican]], and [[Methodist]] churches.<ref name="Johnson2015"/>

The Virgin of Guadalupe is considered the Patroness of Mexico and the Continental Americas; she is also venerated by Native Americans, on the account of the devotion calling for the conversion of the Americas.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Our-Lady-of-Guadalupe-patron-saint-of-Mexico | title=Our Lady of Guadalupe &#124; Description, History, & Facts &#124; Britannica }}</ref>

Due to Mary's appearance as a pregnant mother and her claims as mother of all in the apparition, the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]], under this title is popularly invoked as ''Patroness of the Unborn'' and a common image for the [[Pro-Life]] movement.<ref name="hli">{{cite web |title=The Patroness of the Unborn: Our Lady of Guadalupe |url=https://www.hli.org/about-us/our-lady-of-guadalupe-patroness-of-the-unborn/ |website=Human Life International |date=December 13, 2012 |access-date=November 28, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/k/knots-in-marys-garments.php | title=Knots in Mary's Garments : University of Dayton, Ohio }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://goanchurches.info/saint/our-lady-of-guadalupe/ | title=Goan Churches &#124; Information on all Churches in Goa }}</ref>

===Pontifical approbations===
* [[Pope Benedict XIV]], in the [[papal bull]] ''Non est Equidem'' of May 25, 1754, declared Our Lady of Guadalupe patroness of what was then named "New Spain", corresponding to Spanish Central and Northern America, and included liturgical texts for the [[Catholic Mass]] and the Roman [[Breviary]] in her honor.<ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Turner |author-first1=Victor |author-link1=Victor Turner |author-link2=Edith Turner (anthropologist) |author-last2=Turner |author-first2=Edith |title=Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture |year=1978 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |page=79 |isbn=9780231157919}}</ref>
* [[Pope Leo XIII]] granted a decree of coronation towards the original Mexican relic on February 8, 1887,{{sfn|Poole|2006|p=59}} which was carried out on October 12, 1895.{{sfn|Poole|2006|pp=81-82}}
* [[Pope Pius X]] declared her patroness of the [[Republic of Mexico]] on June 16, 1910, via decree ''Gratia quae'', signed and notarized by Cardinal [[Rafael Merry del Val]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-x/la/apost_letters/documents/hf_p-x_apl_19100616_gratiae-quae.html |title= Gratiae, quae |author= Pope Pius X |author-link= Pope Pius X |date= June 16, 1910 |language= la |access-date= June 28, 2022 }}</ref> 
* [[Pope Pius XII]] mentioned the venerated image via public radio address honoring its fiftieth anniversary of coronation on October 12, 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/es/speeches/1945/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19451012_guadalupe-mexico.html |title= Radiomensaje de Su Santidad Pío XII a los fieles mexicanos en el 50 aniversario de la coronación canónica de la Virgen de Guadalupe |author= Pope Pius XII |author-link= Pope Pius XII |date= October 12, 1945 |language= es |trans-title= Radio message of His Holiness Pius XII to the Mexican faithful on the 50th anniversary of the canonical coronation of the Virgin of Guadalupe |access-date= March 20, 2022 }}</ref> 
* [[Pope Paul VI]] granted the image a [[Golden Rose]] on March 20, 1966, and consigned it to Cardinal [[Carlo Confalonieri]] as his [[Papal legate|legate]], who presented it at the Basilica on May 31, 1966.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/es/speeches/1966/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19660531_rosa-oro.html |title= Radiomensaje del Santo Padre Pablo VI con motivo de la entrega de la Rosa de Oro a la Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe |author= Pope Paul VI |author-link= Pope Paul VI |date= May 31, 1966 |language= es |trans-title= Radio message of the Holy Father Paul VI on the occasion of the presentation of the Golden Rose to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe |access-date= March 22, 2022 }}</ref>
* [[Pope John Paul II]]:
** Visited her shrine on January 27, 1979, on his first trip as pope.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Dherbier |editor1-first=Yann-Brice |editor2-last=Verlhac |editor2-first=Pierre-Henri |title=Pope John Paul II: A Life in Pictures |date=2005 |publisher=powerHouse Books |isbn=1-57687-265-3 |page=100 |url=https://archive.org/details/popejohnpauliili0000unse/mode/2up}}</ref> He was the first pope to visit the shrine.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Feeney |first1=Robert |title=Mother of the Americas |date=1993 |publisher=Aquinas Press |isbn=0-9622347-2-9 |page=56 |edition=Second |url=https://archive.org/details/motherofamericas0000feen/mode/2up}}</ref> He visited again in 1990, 1999, and 2002.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hardon |first1=John |author1-link=John Hardon |title=Catholic Dictionary |date=2013 |publisher=[[Image Books]] |isbn=978-0-307-88634-7 |page=200 |edition=Updated 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MsufgDEL1oC}}</ref>
**On May 12, 1992, he dedicated a namesake chapel within the grottoes under [[Saint Peter's Basilica]] at the [[Vatican City|Vatican]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/2006/tiene-virgen-de-guadalupe-lugar-unico-en-el-vaticano.html |title=Tiene Virgen de Guadalupe lugar único en el Vaticano |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=March 13, 2007 |website=[[El Siglo de Torreón]] |access-date=December 24, 2023 |language= Spanish |trans-title= The Virgin of Guadalupe has a unique place in the Vatican}}</ref> 
** On September 28, 2002, he included the liturgical celebration of this Marian title in the [[General Roman Calendar]] as an optional [[memorial (liturgy)|memorial]] for December 12.<ref>{{cite book |title=Notitiae |author=Sacred Congregation for Sacraments and Divine Worship |author-link=Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments |volume=451-452 |page=197 |date=2004 |url=http://www.cultodivino.va/content/cultodivino/it/rivista-notitiae/indici-annate/2004/451-452.html |access-date=December 21, 2023 |language=latin |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222022507/http://www.cultodivino.va/content/cultodivino/it/rivista-notitiae/indici-annate/2004/451-452.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Pope Francis]]:
** Granted the image a second [[Golden Rose]] via Cardinal [[Marc Ouellet]] for presentation at the Basilica on November 18, 2013.<ref>{{cite web |work=Catholic News Agency |date=November 22, 2013 |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/28500/pope-francis-sends-golden-rose-to-our-lady-of-guadalupe |title=Pope Francis sends golden rose to Our Lady of Guadalupe |access-date=March 25, 2015}}</ref> 
** Granted a new golden crown to the image during his apostolic visit to the Basilica on February 13, 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aleteia.org/2016/02/14/pope-caps-first-day-in-mexico-visiting-with-our-lady-of-guadalupe/ |title=Pope Caps First Day in Mexico Visiting With Our Lady of Guadalupe |last=Burger |first=John |date=February 14, 2016 |publisher=Aleteia |access-date=December 21, 2023}}</ref>

== In political movements ==
[[File:Guadalupano.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|alt=Guadalupan flag|The revolutionary banner carried by [[Miguel Hidalgo]] and his insurgent army during the [[Mexican War of Independence]].]]
Due to her association as a crusader of social justice, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been utilized as a symbol across regions&nbsp;to advance political movements and mobilize the masses. For instance, the image has most notably been utilized in [[Mexican War of Independence|Mexico's Independence]] movement in the early 19th century, the [[United Farm Workers|United Farm Worker]] Movement in the U.S. in the 20th century and in contemporary political causes like immigration.<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Cano |first=Gustavo |date=April 15, 2004 |title=The Virgin, the Priest, and the Flag: Political Mobilization of Mexican Immigrants in Chicago, Houston, and New York |location=Chicago |conference=62nd Annual Conference of the [[Midwest Political Science Association]] |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9nx130m2 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

In Mexico's Independence, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe became associated with the movement after Father Miguel Hidalgo rallied and united insurgents under her banner. In fact, the first president of the Mexican republic, José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, who was heavily involved in Mexico's Independence war, changed his name as to [[Guadalupe Victoria]] as a sign of devotion.<ref>Espinosa, Gastón, and Mario T. García. 2008. ''Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture''. Duke University Press.</ref><ref name=":0">Galvez, Alyshia. 2010. ''Guadalupe in New York: Devotion and the Struggle for Citizenship Rights Among Mexican Immigrants''. NYU Press.</ref>

In the [[United Farm Workers]] Union (UFW), its leader, [[Cesar Chavez]], was a devout Catholic who drew on his religious beliefs to demand for better wages and labor practices for farm workers in the U.S.<ref name=":1">Stephen R Lloyd-Moffet. “Holy Activist, Secular Saint: Religion and the Social Activism of César Chávez.” ''Mexican American Religions'', Duke University Press, 2008. ''berkeley.primo.exlibrisgroup.com'', {{doi|10.2307/j.ctv11smnj0.8}}.</ref> He incorporated his religious beliefs in the movement by holding masses in the picket lines and prayers before meetings, and leading a pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento in 1966 during [[Lent]].<ref name=":1" /> Similarly to Mexico's Independence movement, the famous pilgrimage in 1966 that drew national attention to the cause was lead&nbsp;under a banner with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thurber |first=Dani |title=Research Guides: A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States: 1962: United Farm Workers Union |url=https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/united-farm-workers-union |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=guides.loc.gov |language=en}}</ref>

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is also present in the contemporary political discussion on immigration. Artists like [[Ester Hernandez]] and [[Consuelo Jimenez Underwood]] embed or reimagine her image on artworks that comment on immigration politics. For instance, Ester Hernandez's screen print titled ''Wanted'' (2010) and&nbsp;Consuelo Jimenez Underwood's&nbsp;''Sacred Jump'' (1994) and ''Virgen de los Caminos'' (1994).<ref>Román-Odio, Clara. “Globalization and Chicana Politics of Representation.” ''Sacred Iconographies in Chicana Cultural Productions'', Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 99–117. ''berkeley.primo.exlibrisgroup.com'', {{doi|10.1057/9781137077714_5}}.</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />

== In popular culture ==
[[File:Retablo final, Francisco Díaz de León, 1928.jpg|thumb|''Retablo final'' by [[Francisco Díaz de León]], 1928.]]
[[File:Tepeyac (versión restaurada).webm|thumb|left|thumbtime=30:23|''Tepeyac'' from 1917 is the oldest movie about the apparitions of Guadalupe.]]

===Literature and film===
One notable reference in literature to the image and its alleged predecessor, the Aztec Earth goddess [[Tonantzin]], is in Sandra Cisneros' short story "Little Miracles, Kept Promises", from her collection ''Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories'' (1991). Cisneros' story is constructed out of brief notes that people give Our Lady of Guadalupe in thanks for favors received, which in Cisneros' hands becomes a portrait of an extended Chicano community living throughout Texas. "Little Miracles" ends with an extended narrative (pp.&nbsp;124–129) of a feminist artist, Rosario "Chayo" de León, who at first did not allow images of La Virgen de Guadalupe in her home because she associated her with subservience and suffering, particularly by Mexican women. But when she learns that Guadalupe's shrine is built on the same hill in Mexico City that had a shrine to Tonantzin, the Aztec Earth goddess and serpent destroyer, Chayo comes to understand that there's a deep, syncretic connection between the Aztec goddess and the Mexican saint; together they inspire Chayo's new artistic creativity, inner strength, and independence. In Chayo's words, "I finally understood who you are. No longer Mary the mild, but our mother Tonantzin. Your church at Tepeyac built on the site of her temple" (128).<ref>Cisneros, Sandra. "Little Miracles, Kept Promises." ''Woman Hollering Creed and Other Stories''. New York: Random House, 1991. 116–129.</ref>
The image and its alleged apparition was investigated several times, including in the 2013 documentary ''The Blood & The Rose'', directed by Tim Watkins.<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q127689082|title=The Blood & the Rose}}</ref>

===Visual arts===
Drawing on the significance of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Chicano culture, many Chicano artists revere her image and visually reimagine the religious figure within a feminist and contemporary context.<ref>Lara, Irene. 2008. “Tonanlupanisma: Re-Membering Tonantzin-Guadalupe in Chicana Visual Art.” ''Aztlán'' 33(2): 61–90.</ref><ref>Román-Odio, Clara. ''Sacred Iconographies in Chicana Cultural Productions''. 1st ed. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Print.</ref><ref name=":2">Pérez, Laura Elisa. ''Chicana Art : the Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities''. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. Print.</ref> In addition to being a religious symbol, some Chicano artists view Our Lady of Guadalupe as an empowering feminist icon and a proclamation of Indigenous pride. However, these re-envisioned artworks have encountered controversy, as many artists have faced intense backlash from Catholic groups who view these artworks as "disrespectful and irreverent".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Hollis |date=April 4, 2001 |title=Depiction of the Virgin of Guadalupe Stirs Objections |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-04-ca-46460-story.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> One of the most famous controversies was sparked by [[Alma López|Alma López's]] ''Our Lady'' digital collage, which later led to a book titled ''Our Lady of Controversy: Alma López's Irreverent Apparition''.<ref>Gaspar de Alba, Alicia, Alma López, and Alma Lopez. 2011. ''Our Lady of Controversy: Alma López's Irreverent Apparition''. Austin: University of Texas Press.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 12, 2016 |title=Our Lady of Guadalupe is a powerful symbol of Mexican identity |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/our-lady-guadalupe-powerful-symbol-mexican-identity-n694216 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=NBC News |language=en|author-first1=Raul A. |author-last1=Reyes}}</ref> Chicano artists such as [[Yolanda López]], [[Alma López]], [[Margarita “Mita” Cuaron|Margarita 'Mita' Cuaron]], [[Ester Hernandez|Ester Hernández]], and [[Consuelo Jimenez Underwood]], among others, have used Our Lady of Guadalupe's portrait to explore themes of repression, feminine strength, and to uplift women.<ref>Blackwell, Maylei. “WOMEN WHO MAKE THEIR OWN WORLDS: THE LIFE AND WORK OF ESTER HERNÁNDEZ.” ''Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era'', edited by Dionne Espinoza et al., University of Texas Press, 2018, pp. 138–58. ''JSTOR'', http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/315583.11 .</ref><ref>LaDuke, Betty. “Yolanda Lopez: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes.” ''Feminist Studies'' 20, no. 1 (1994): 117–30. {{doi|10.2307/3178436}}.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Mexico|Catholicism|Christianity}}
* [[Acheiropoieta]]
* [[Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe|Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe]]
* [[List of churches dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe]]
* [[Lord of Miracles of Buga]]
* [[Mariology]]
* [[Miracle of the roses]]
* [[Codex Cumanicus]]
* ''[[Huei tlamahuiçoltica]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{notelist-ua|30em}}

=== Works cited ===
* {{cite book |last=Brading |first=D. A. |author-link=David Brading |date=2001 |title=Mexican Phoenix: Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition Across Five Centuries |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-80131-1|url=https://archive.org/details/mexicanphoenixou00dabr/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last1=Chávez |first1=Eduardo |title=Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego: The Historical Evidence |translator-last1=Treviño |translator-first1=Carmen |translator-last2=Montaño |translator-first2=Veronica |date=2006 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. |isbn=978-0-7425-5104-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CEM6yxXP9YAC}}
* {{cite book |last=Poole |first=Stafford |author-link=Stafford Poole |date=1995 |title=Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531–1797 |place=Tucson |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=0-8165-1526-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/ourladyofguadalu0000pool/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last=Poole |first=Stafford |author-link=Stafford Poole |date=2006 |title=The Guadalupan Controversies in Mexico |place=Stanford, California |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-5252-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IgnDSA8LgbYC}}

==Further reading==

===Primary sources===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Miguel Cabrera (painter)|Cabrera, Miguel]], ''Maravilla americana y conjunto de raras maravillas ... en la prodigiosa imagen de Nuestra Srs. de Guadalupe de México'' (1756). Facsimile edition, Mexico City: Editorial Jus 1977.
* [[Cayetano de Cabrera y Quintero]], ''Escudo de armas de México: Celestial protección de esta nobilissima ciudad de la Nueva-España Ma. Santissima en su portentosa imagen del Mexico Guadalupe''. Mexico City: Impreso por la Viuda de don Joseph Bernardo de Hogal 1746.
* ''The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's "Huei tlmahuiçoltica" of 1649''. edited and translated by Lisa Sousa, Stafford Poole, and James Lockhart. Vol. 84 of UCLA Latin American Center Publications. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1998.
* Noguez, Xavier. ''Documentos Guadalupanos''. Mexico City: El Colegio Mexiquense and Fondo de Cultura Económia 1993.
{{div col end|2}}

===Secondary sources===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* Sister Mary Amatora, O.S.F.. ''The Queen's Portrait: The Story of Guadalupe'' (1961, 1972) {{ISBN|0682474681}} (Hardcover) {{ISBN|0682474797}} (Paperback) (Hymn To Our Lady Of Guadalupe p.&nbsp;118.)
* [[David Brading|Brading, D.A.]], ''Mexican Phoenix: Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition across Five Centuries''. New York: Cambridge University Press 2001.
* Burkhart, Louise. "The Cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico" in ''South and Meso-American Native Spirituality'', ed. Gary H. Gossen and [[Miguel León-Portilla]], pp.&nbsp;198–227. New York: Crossroad Press 1993.
* Burkhart, Louise. ''Before Guadalupe: The Virgin Mary in Early Colonial Nahuatl Literature''. Albany: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies and the University of Texas Press 2001.
* {{cite journal |last1=Cline |first1=Sarah |title=Guadalupe and the Castas |journal=Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos |date=August 1, 2015 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=218–247 |doi=10.1525/mex.2015.31.2.218}}
* {{cite news |last1=Deutsch |first1=James |title=A New Way to Show Your Devotion in Mexico City: Wear a T-Shirt |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/new-way-show-your-devotion-mexico-city-wear-t-shirt-180967464/ |work=Smithsonian Magazine |date=December 11, 2017}}
* Elizondo, Virgil. ''Guadalupe, Mother of a New Creation''. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1997
* Lafaye, Jacques.  ''Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe: The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness, 1532–1815''. Trans. [[Benjamin Keen]]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1976.
* Maza, Francisco de la. ''El Guadalupismo mexicano''. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica 1953, 1981.
* {{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Jeanette Favrot |title=The Virgin of Guadalupe: Symbol of Conquest or Liberation? |journal=Art Journal |date=December 1992 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=39–47 |id={{ProQuest|223311874}} |doi=10.1080/00043249.1992.10791596}}
* Peterson, Jeanette Favrot. ''Visualizing Guadalupe: From Black Madonna to Queen of the Americas''. Austin: University of Texas Press 2014.
* {{cite journal |last=Poole |first=Stafford |date=July 2005 |title=History Versus Juan Diego |journal=The Americas |volume=62 |number=1 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1353/tam.2005.0133 |s2cid=144263333}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sánchez |first1=David A. |title=From Patmos to the Barrio: Subverting Imperial Myths |date=2008 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1-4514-0589-7}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=William B. |title=The Virgin of Guadalupe in New Spain: an inquiry into the social history of Marian devotion |journal=American Ethnologist |date=February 1987 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=9–33 |doi=10.1525/ae.1987.14.1.02a00020 |jstor=645631}}
{{div col end|2}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.theladyofguadalupemovie.com/ ''Lady of Guadalupe'' film], Directed by Pedro Brenner, 2021
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/in_pictures/3321581.stm NEWS.BBC.co.uk], BBC photo essay of December 12 festivities in [[San Miguel de Allende]], [[Guanajuato|Gto]].
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07043a.htm "Shrine of Guadalupe"] on the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''

{{Our Lady of Guadalupe}} 
{{Virgin Mary}}
{{Madonna styles}}
{{Roman Catholicism in Mexico}}
{{Mexico topics}}
{{New Spain}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Roman catholic approved apparitions}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Our Lady of Guadalupe| ]]
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