Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Wed, Dec 12, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog: Kindness, Isaiah 40, Psalms 103, Matthew 11:28-30, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe Mexico


Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog:

Kindness, Isaiah 40, Psalms 103, Matthew 11:28-30, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe Mexico

Good Day Bloggers!  Happy Advent!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013

P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.

The world begins and ends everyday for someone. The "Armageddon" is a pagan belief inspired by the evil one to create chaos and doubt in God. Trust in God, for He creates, He does not destroy and only God knows the hour of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ's second Coming, another chance at eternal salvation.  Think about how merciful God truly is as he keeps offering us second chances. He even gives the evil one a multitude of chances to atone. Simply be prepared by living everyday as a gift: Trust in God; Honor Jesus Mercy through the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist; and Utilize the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have flaws but we also all have the gift knowledge and free will as well, make the most of it. Life on earth is a stepping to our eternal home in Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...

"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012


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December 2, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:

Dear children, with motherly love and motherly patience anew I call you to live according to my Son, to spread His peace and His love, so that, as my apostles, you may accept God's truth with all your heart and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you. Then you will be able to faithfully serve my Son, and show His love to others with your life. According to the love of my Son and my love, as a mother, I strive to bring all of my strayed children into my motherly embrace and to show them the way of faith. My children, help me in my motherly battle and pray with me that sinners may become aware of their sins and repent sincerely. Pray also for those whom my Son has chosen and consecrated in His name. Thank you." 


November 25, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:

“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call all of you to renew prayer. Open yourselves to Holy Confession so that each of you may accept my call with the whole heart. I am with you and I protect you from the ruin of sin, but you must open yourselves to the way of conversion and holiness, that your heart may burn out of love for God. Give Him time and He will give Himself to you and thus, in the will of God you will discover the love and the joy of living. Thank you for having responded to my call.” ~ Blessed Virgin Mary


November 02, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:

"Dear children, as a mother I implore you to persevere as my apostles. I am praying to my Son to give you Divine wisdom and strength. I am praying that you may discern everything around you according to God’s truth and to strongly resist everything that wants to distance you from my Son. I am praying that you may witness the love of the Heavenly Father according to my Son. My children, great grace has been given to you to be witnesses of God’s love. Do not take the given responsibility lightly. Do not sadden my motherly heart. As a mother I desire to rely on my children, on my apostles. Through fasting and prayer you are opening the way for me to pray to my Son for Him to be beside you and for His name to be holy through you. Pray for the shepherds because none of this would be possible without them. Thank you." ~ Blessed Virgin Mary


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Today's Word:  kindness  kind·ness  [dih-vahyn]


Origin:  1250–1300; Middle English kindenes.  See kind1 , -ness

noun
1. the state or quality of being kind: kindness to animals.
2. a kind act; favor: his many kindnesses to me.
3. kind behavior: I will never forget your kindness.
4. friendly feeling; liking.
 


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Today's Old Testament Reading -  Psalms 103:1-4, 8, 10

1 [Of David] Bless Yahweh, my soul, from the depths of my being, his holy name;
2 bless Yahweh, my soul, never forget all his acts of kindness.
3 He forgives all your offences, cures all your diseases,
4 he redeems your life from the abyss, crowns you with faithful love and tenderness;
8 Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us as befits our offences.


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Today's Epistle -   Isaiah 40:25-31

25 'To whom can you compare me, or who is my equal?' says the Holy One.
26 Lift your eyes and look: he who created these things leads out their army in order, summoning each of them by name. So mighty is his power, so great his strength, that not one fails to answer.
27 How can you say, Jacob, how can you repeat, Israel, 'My way is hidden from Yahweh, my rights are ignored by my God'?
28 Did you not know? Had you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, he created the remotest parts of the earth. He does not grow tired or weary, his understanding is beyond fathoming.
29 He gives strength to the weary, he strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths grow tired and weary, the young stumble and fall,
31 but those who hope in Yahweh will regain their strength, they will sprout wings like eagles, though they run they will not grow weary, though they walk they will never tire.



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Today's Gospel Reading - Matthew 11:28-30


'Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.
Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.'
  
Reflection
• Certain texts of the Gospel reveal to us all their significance when we place them on the background of the Old Testament. This is how this very brief and very beautiful text of the Gospel of today is. In this text there are echoes of two themes greatly loved and recalled by the Old Testament, one from Isaiah and the other one from the so called Wisdom Books.

• Isaiah speaks of the Messiah, the Servant and represents him as a disciple who is always looking for a word of comfort so as to be able to encourage those who are discouraged: “The Lord Yahweh has given me a disciple’s tongue, for me to know how to give a word of comfort to the weary. Morning by morning, he makes my ear alert to listen like a disciple”. (Is 50, 4). And the Messiah Servant launches an invitation: “Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money come! Buy and eat; come buy wine and milk without money, free” (Is 55, 1). These texts were present in the memory of the people. They were like the songs of our childhood. When people listens to them, souvenirs come to mind, there is nostalgia. The same with the word of Jesus: “Come to me!” revived the memory and brought close the nostalgic echo of those beautiful texts of Isaiah.

• The Books of Wisdom represent the divine wisdom as a woman, a mother who transmits to her sons her wisdom and tells them: “Buy her without money, put your necks under her yoke, let your souls receive instruction. She is near, within your reach. See for yourselves; how slight my efforts have been to win so much peace” (Si 51, 25-27). Jesus repeats this same phrase: “You will find rest!”.

• Precisely because his way of speaking to people, Jesus awakes their memory and thus the heart rejoiced and said: “The Messiah, so greatly awaited for has come!” Jesus transformed the nostalgia into hope. He made people advance a step forward. Instead of fixing themselves on the image of a glorious Messiah, king and dominator, taught by the Scribes, the people changed opinion and accepted Jesus, Messiah Servant. A humble and meek Messiah, welcoming and full of tenderness, who made them feel at ease, they the poor together with Jesus.
  
Personal questions
• Is the Law of God a light yoke which encourages me, or is it a weight which gets me tired?
• Have I felt sometimes the lightness and the joy of the yoke of the Law of God which Jesus has revealed to us?


  
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.



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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane





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Saint of the Day:  Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe


Feast Day:  December 12
Patron Saint:  Patroness of the Americas and Protectress of Unborn children



Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe gave the following message to Saint Juan Diego in 1531: "Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything."  (Words of Our Lady to Juan Diego)

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe) is a celebrated Roman Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary.

Two accounts, published in the 1640s, one in Spanish, one in Nahuatl, tell how, while walking from his village to Mexico City in the early morning of December 9, 1531 (then the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Spanish Empire),[1] the peasant Juan Diego saw on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac a vision of a girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age, surrounded by light. Speaking to him in Nahuatl, the local language, she asked that a church be built at that site, in her honor; from her words, Juan Diego recognized the Lady as the Virgin Mary. Diego told his story to the Spanish Archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who instructed him to return to Tepeyac Hill, and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her identity. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. Although December was very late in the growing season for flowers to bloom, Juan Diego found at the usually barren hilltop Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, which the Virgin arranged in his peasant tilma cloak. When Juan Diego opened the cloak before Bishop Zumárraga on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted on the fabric.[2]

The icon is now displayed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most visited Marian shrines.[3] The icon is Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural image, bearing the titles: the Queen of Mexico,[4] and was once proclaimed Patroness of the Philippines (but later revised) by Pope Pius XI in 1935. In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Virgin Mary Patroness of the Americas, Empress of Latin America, and Protectress of Unborn Children[5][6][7] under this Marian title.


Name

In the earliest account of the apparition, the Nican Mopohua, written in the Nahuatl language around 1556,[8] the Virgin Mary tells Juan Bernadino, the uncle of Juan Diego, that the image left on the tilma is to be known by the name "the Perfect Virgin, Holy Mary of Guadalupe."[9]

Yet, there is no consensus among scholars today concerning how the name "Guadalupe" was ascribed to the image.[10] The various theories can be grouped into two major camps. The first is that the Spanish misunderstood a Nahuatl name. The second is that the Spanish name "Guadalupe", like the Spanish Our Lady of Guadalupe, Extremadura, is the original name.

The first theory to promote a Nahuatl origin was that of Luis Becerra Tanco."[10] In his 1675 work Felicidad de Mexico, Becerra Tanco claimed 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. He proposed two Nahuatl alternative names that sound similar to "Guadalupe", Tecuatlanopeuh [tekʷat͡ɬa'nopeʍ], "she whose origins were in the rocky summit", and Tecuantlaxopeuh [tekʷant͡ɬa'ʃopeʍ], "she who banishes those who devoured us."[10]

It has also been suggested that the name is a Spanish version of the Nahuatl term, Coātlaxopeuh [koaːt͡ɬa'ʃopeʍ], meaning “the one who crushes the serpent” and that it may be referring to the feathered serpent Quetzacoatl.[11]

The theory promoting the Spanish language origin of the name claims that:
  • Juan Diego and Juan Bernardino would have been familiar with the Spanish language "g" and "d" sounds since their baptismal names contain those sounds.
  • The lack of evidence of any other name for the Virgin during the almost 144 years between the apparition in 1531 and Becerra Tanco's proposal in 1675, supports the Spanish "Guadalupe" as the original.
  • Documents written by contemporary Spaniards and Franciscan Friars arguing for the name to be changed to a native name such as "Tepeaca" or "Tepeaquilla" would not make sense if there was already an original Nahuatl name, suggesting the Spanish "Guadalupe" was the original.[12]

History

Following the Spanish Conquest in 1519–21, a temple of the mother-goddess Tonantzin at Tepeyac outside Mexico City, was destroyed and a chapel dedicated to the Virgin built on the site. Newly converted Indians continued to come from afar to worship there. The object of their worship, however, was equivocal, as they continued to address the Virgin Mary as Tonantzin.[13]

The first record of the painting's existence was in 1556, when Archbishop Alonso de Montufar, a Dominican, preached a sermon commending popular devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, in regards to a painting in the chapel at Tepeyac, where certain miracles had lately been performed. Days later he was answered by Francisco de Bustamante, head of the Colony's Franciscans and guardians of the chapel at Tepeyac, who delivered a sermon before the Viceroy expressing his concern that the Archbishop was promoting a superstitious regard for a painting by a native artist, Marcos Cipac de Aquino:

The devotion that has been growing in a chapel dedicated to Our Lady, called of Guadalupe, in this city is greatly harmful for the natives, because it makes them believe that the image painted by Marcos the Indian is in any way miraculous.[14]

The next day Archbishop Montufar opened an inquiry. The Franciscans repeated their claim that the image encouraged idolatry and superstition, and testified that it was painted by "Marcos the Indian."[14] Appearing before the Dominicans, who favored allowing the Aztecs to venerate the Guadalupe, was the Archbishop himself. The matter ended with the Franciscans deprived of custody of the shrine[15] and the tilma mounted and displayed within a much enlarged church.[16]

The first extended account of the image and the apparition is in Imagen de la Virgen Maria, Madre de Dios de Guadalupe, a guide to the cult for Spanish-speakers published in 1648 by Miguel Sanchez, a diocesan priest of Mexico City.[17] A 36-page tract in Nahuatl language, Huei tlamahuiçoltica ("The Great Event"), was published in 1649 by Luis Lasso de la Vega, which has close affinity with Sánchez's narrative. This tract contains Nican mopohua ("Here it is recounted"), a text about the Virgin which contains the story of the apparition and the supernatural origin of the image, plus two other sections, Nican motecpana ("Here is an ordered account"), describing fourteen miracles connected with Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Nican tlantica ("Here ends"), an account of the Virgin in New Spain.[18]


Juan Diego

Eighteenth-century painting of God the Father fashioning the image.

The growing fame of the image led to a parallel interest in Juan Diego. In 1666 the Church, with the aim of establishing a feast day in his name, began gathering information from people who reported having known him, and in 1723 a formal investigation into his life was ordered, and much information was gathered. In 1987, under Pope John Paul II, who took a special interest in saints and in non-European Catholics, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared him "venerable", and on May 6, 1990, he was beatified by the Pope himself during Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, being declared “protector and advocate of the indigenous peoples," with December 9 as his feast day.
 
At this point historians and theologians began to question the quality of the evidence regarding Juan Diego. There is no mention of him or his miraculous vision in the writings of bishop Zumárraga, into whose hands he delivered the miraculous image, nor in the record of the ecclesiastical inquiry of 1556, which omits him entirely, nor anywhere else before the mid-17th century. Doubts as to his reality were not new: in 1883 Joaquín García Icazbalceta, historian and biographer of Zumárraga, in a confidential report on the Lady of Guadalupe for Bishop Labastida, was very hesitant to support the story of the apparition and stated his conclusion that there was never such a person.[19] Neither were they welcome: as recently as 1996 the 83 year old abbot of the Basilica of Guadalupe, Guillermo Schulenburg, was forced to resign following an interview with the Catholic magazine Ixthus, when he said that Juan Diego was "a symbol, not a reality."[20]

In 1995, with progress towards sanctification at a stand-still, Father Xavier Escalada, a Jesuit writing an encyclopedia of the Guadalupan legend, produced a deer skin codex, (Codex Escalada), illustrating the apparition and the life and death of Juan Diego. Although the very existence of this important document had been previously unknown, it bore the date 1548, placing it within the lifetime of those who had known Juan Diego, and bore the signatures of two trustworthy 16th century scholar-priests, Antonio Valeriano and Bernardino de Sahagún, thus verifying its contents.[21] Some scholars remained unconvinced, 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",[22] but Diego was declared a saint, with the name of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, in 2002.


Technical analyses

The original Tilma of Saint Juan Diego which hangs above the altar of the Guadalupe Basilica, Mexico City. It is encased in bulletproof glass in a low-oxygen atmosphere.
Neither the fabric ("the support") nor the image (together, "the tilma") has ever been analyzed using the full range of scientific resources available to museum conservationists. Nevertheless, four technical studies were conducted between 1751–2 and 1982.  Of these, the findings of three have been published. All were commissioned by the authorized custodians of the tilma in the Basilica, and in every case the investigators had direct and unobstructed access to it.

Studies conducted between 1751–2 and 1982:
MC  – in 1756 a prominent artist, Miguel Cabrera, published a report entitled "Maravilla Americana" containing the findings made by himself and six other painters in 1751 and 1752 from ocular and manual inspection.[23]
G – José Antonio Flores Gómez, an art restorer, discussed in a 2002 interview with the Mexican journal Proceso (magazine) certain technical issues relative to the tilma, on which he had worked in 1947 and 1973.[24]
PC – in 1979 Philip Callahan, biophysicist and USDA entomologist, specializing in Infrared imaging, took numerous infrared photographs of the front of the tilma. His findings, with photographs, were published in 1981.[25]
R – "Proceso" also published in 2002 an interview with José Sol Rosales, formerly director of the Center for the Conservation and Listing of Heritage Artifacts (Patrimonio Artístico Mueble) of the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA) in México City. This interview was interspersed with extracts from a report R had written in 1982 of the findings he had made during his inspection of the tilma that year using raking and UV light, and – at low magnification – a stereo microscope of the type used for surgery.[26]
Summary conclusions ("contra" indicates a contrary finding)
(1) Support: The material of the support is soft to the touch (almost silken: MC; something like cotton: G) but to the eye it suggested a coarse weave of palm threads called "pita" or the rough fiber called "cotense" (MC), or a hemp and linen mixture (R); the traditional understanding is that it is ixtle, an agave fiber.
(2) Ground, or Primer: R asserted (MC and PC contra) by ocular examination that the tilma was primed, though with primer "applied irregularly." R does not clarify whether his observed "irregular" application entails that majorly the entire tilma was primed, or just certain areas – such as those areas of the tilma extrinsic to the image – where PC agrees had later additions. MC, alternatively, observed that the image had soaked through to the reverse of the tilma.[27]
(3) Under-drawing: PC asserted there was no under-drawing.
(4) Brush-work: R suggested (PC contra) there was some visible brushwork on the original image, but at best in only one minute area of the image ("her eyes, including the irises, have outlines, apparently applied by a brush").
(5) Condition of the surface layer: The three most recent inspections agree (i) that significant additions have been made to the image, some of which were subsequently removed, and (ii) that the original image has been abraded and re-touched in places. Some flaking is visible (mostly along the line of the vertical seam, or at passages considered to be later additions).
(6) Varnish: The tilma has never been varnished.
(7) Binding Medium: R provisionally identified the pigments and binding medium (distemper) as consistent with 16th c. methods of painting sargas (MC, PC contra for different reasons), but the color values and luminosity are exceptional.
The technique of painting on fabric with water-soluble pigments (with or without primer or ground) is well-attested. The binding medium is generally animal glue or gum arabic (see: Distemper). Such an artifact is variously discussed in the literature as a tüchlein or sarga.[28] The tilma, considered as a type of sarga, is by no means unique, but its state of preservation is remarkable.


Religious significance

The iconography of the Virgin is impeccably Catholic:[29] Miguel Sanchez, the author of the 1648 tract Imagen de la Virgen María, described her as the Woman of the Apocalypse from the New Testament's Revelation 12:1, "clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars,"[22][30] and she is also described as a representation of the Immaculate Conception.[22] Yet despite this orthodoxy the image also had a hidden layer of coded messages for the indigenous people of Mexico which goes a considerable way towards explaining her popularity.[31] Her blue-green mantle was the color reserved for the divine couple Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl;[32] her belt is interpreted as a sign of pregnancy; and a cross-shaped image symbolizing the cosmos and called nahui-ollin is inscribed beneath the image's sash.[33] She was called "mother of maguey,"[34] the source of the sacred beverage pulque,[35] "the milk of the Virgin",[36] and the rays of light surrounding her doubled as maguey spines.[34]


Cultural significance

Symbol of Mexico

Flag carried by Miguel Hidalgo and his insurgent army

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is recognized as a symbol of all Catholic Mexicans. Miguel Sánchez, the author of the first Spanish language apparition account, identified Guadalupe as Revelation's Woman of the Apocalypse, and said:
this New World has been won and conquered by the hand of the Virgin Mary ... [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.[22]
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 (1824–29) changed his name from José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix to Guadalupe Victoria in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe. 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 flags emblazoned with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 1999, the Church officially proclaimed her the Patroness of the Americas, the Empress of Latin America, and the Protectress of Unborn Children.[5]

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 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."[37] After Hidalgo's death leadership of the revolution fell to a zambo/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:
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.[37]
Simón Bolívar noticed the Guadalupan theme in these uprisings, and shortly before Morelos' 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."[22] One of Morelos' officers, Félix Fernández, would later become the first president of Mexico, even changing his name to Guadalupe Victoria.[37]

In 1914, Emiliano Zapata's peasant army rose out of the south against the government of Porfirio Díaz. 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.[38] 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.[39]

Mestizo culture

The original relic piece 
taken from the Tilma of Guadalupe. 
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
"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 ... the image of Guadalupe served that purpose."[40]
Hernán Cortés, the Conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire in 1521, was a native of Extremadura, home to Our Lady of Guadalupe. By the 16th century the Extremadura Guadalupe, a statue of the Virgin said to be carved by Saint Luke the Evangelist, was already a national icon. It was found at the beginning of the 14th century when the Virgin appeared to a humble shepherd and ordered him to dig at the site of the apparition.

The recovered Virgin then miraculously helped to expel the Moors from Spain, and her small shrine evolved into the great Guadalupe monastery. One of the more remarkable attributes of the Guadalupe of Extremadura is that she is dark, like the Americans, and thus she became the perfect icon for the missionaries who followed Cortés to convert the natives to Christianity.[16]

According to the traditional account, the name of Guadalupe was chosen by the Virgin herself when she appeared on the hill outside Mexico City in 1531, ten years after the Conquest.[41] According to secular history, in 1555 Bishop Alonso de Montúfar commissioned a Virgin of Guadalupe from a native artist, who gave her the dark skin which his own people shared with the famous Extremadura Virgin.[16] Whatever the connection between the Mexican and her older Spanish namesake, the fused iconography of the Virgin and the indigenous Nahua goddess Tonantzin provided a way for 16th-century Spaniards to gain converts among the indigenous population, while simultaneously allowing 16th century Mexicans to continue the practice of their native religion.[42]

Guadalupe continues to be a mixture of the cultures which blended to form Mexico, both racially and religiously,[43] "the first mestiza",[44] or "the first Mexican".[45] "bringing together people of distinct cultural heritages, while at the same time affirming their distinctness."[46] As Jacques Lafaye wrote in Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe, "as the Christians built their first churches with the rubble and the columns of the ancient pagan temples, so they often borrowed pagan customs for their own cult purposes."[47] 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."[45] The Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes once said that "you cannot truly be considered a Mexican unless you believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe."[48] Nobel Literature laureate Octavio Paz wrote in 1974 that "the Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the National Lottery".[49]

Roman Catholic Church

Beliefs and Miracles

Roman Catholic sources claim many miraculous and supernatural properties for the image such as that the tilma has maintained its structural integrity over nearly 500 years, while replicas normally last only about 15 years before suffering degradation;[50] that it repaired itself with no external help after a 1791 ammonia spill that did considerable damage, and that on 14 November 1921 a bomb damaged the altar, but left the icon unharmed.[51]

That in 1929 and 1951 photographers found a figure reflected in the Virgin's eyes; upon inspection they said that the reflection was tripled in what is called the Purkinje effect, commonly found in human eyes.[52] An ophthalmologist, Dr. Jose Aste Tonsmann, later enlarged an image of the Virgin's eyes by 2500x and claimed to have found not only the aforementioned single figure, but images of all the witnesses present when the tilma was first revealed before Zumárraga in 1531, plus a small family group of mother, father, and a group of children, in the center of the Virgin's eyes, fourteen people in all.[53]

Numerous Catholic websites repeat an unsourced claim[54] that in 1936 biochemist Richard Kuhn analyzed a sample of the fabric and announced that the pigments used were from no known source, whether animal, mineral or vegetable.[53] Dr. Philip Serna Callahan, who photographed the icon under infrared light, declared from his photographs that portions of the face, hands, robe, and mantle had been painted in one step, with no sketches or corrections and no visible brush strokes.[55]

Pontifical Pronouncements


Inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City
With the Papal Brief Non Est Equidem of May 25, 1754, Pope Benedict XIV declared Our Lady of Guadalupe patron of what was then called New Spain, corresponding to Spanish Central and Northern America, and approved liturgical texts for the Holy Mass and the Breviary in her honor. Pope Leo XIII granted new texts in 1891 and authorized coronation of the image in 1895. Pope Pius X proclaimed her patron of Latin America in 1910. Pope Pius XII declared the Virgin of Guadalupe "Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas" in 1945, and "Patroness of the Americas" in 1946. Pope John XXIII invoked her as "Mother of the Americas" in 1961, referring to her as Mother and Teacher of the Faith of All American populations, and in 1966 Pope Paul VI sent a Golden Rose to the shrine.[56]

In July 16, 1935, Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of Guadalupe to be the Heavenly Patroness of the Philippines and was signed and attested by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII).[5][57][58] This was revised in September 12, 1942, when Guadalupe became the secondary "Patroness of the Philippines" when Pope Pius XII installed the Immaculate Conception as the Principal Patroness of the Filipino people through the Papal Bull Impositi Nobis, though her feast day is still widely celebrated in the archipelago. Today, the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title of Our Lady of Guadalupe is especially invoked by the Catholic bishops and laypeople who oppose the legalization of abortion and the passage of the Philippine Reproductive Health Bill.

Pope John Paul II visited the shrine in the course of his first journey outside Italy as Pope from January 26–31, 1979, and again when he beatified Juan Diego there on May 6, 1990. In 1992 he dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe a chapel within St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. At the request of the Special Assembly for the Americas of the Synod of Bishops, he named Our Lady of Guadalupe patron of the Americas on January 22, 1999 (with the result that her liturgical celebration had, throughout the Americas, the rank of solemnity), and visited the shrine again on the following day.

On July 31, 2002, the Pope canonized Juan Diego before a crowd of 12 million, and later that year included in the General Calendar of the Roman Rite, as optional memorials, the liturgical celebrations of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (December 9) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12).


Devotions and Veneration

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 million pilgrims visited the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the apparition.

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. Replicas of the tilma can be found in thousands of churches throughout the world, and numerous parishes bear her name.

Due to a claim that her black girdle indicates pregnancy on the image, the Blessed Virgin Mary, under this title is popularly invoked as Patroness of the Unborn and a common image for the Pro-Life movement.

References

    1. G. Lee (1913). "Shrine of Guadalupe". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
    2. ^ English translation of the account in Nahuatl
    3. ^ EWTN.com
    4. ^ Marys-Touch.com
    5. ^ a b c "Virgen de Guadalupe". Mariologia.org. http://www.mariologia.org/aparicionesguadalupeespanol09.htm. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
    6. ^ CatholicFreeShipping.com
    7. ^ Britannica.com
    8. ^ "Basílica de Guadalupe | Comentario al Nican Mopohua". Virgendeguadalupe.org.mx. http://www.virgendeguadalupe.org.mx/apariciones/documentos/i_nican.htm. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
    9. ^ "Nican Mopohua: Here It Is Told," 208. http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/nahuatl/nican/nican7.html
    10. ^ a b c Anderson Carl and Chavez Eduardo, "Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love," Doubleday, New York, 2009, p. 205. See note number 40.
    11. ^ González, Ondina E. and Justo L. González, Christianity in Latin America: a history, p. 59, Cambridge University Press, 2008
    12. ^ Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love," Doubleday, New York, 2009, p. 205. See note number 40.
    13. ^ D. A. Brading, "Mexican Phoenix: Our Lady of Guadalupe" (Cambridge University Press, 2001) pp.1–2
    14. ^ a b Poole, Stafford. Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531–1797. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1997.
    15. ^ The Wonder of Guadalupe, Francis Johnston, TAN Books, 1981, p. 47
    16. ^ a b c Dunning, Brian. "The Virgin of Guadalupe." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, Inc., 13 Apr 2010. Web. 12 Jul 2010.
    17. ^ D. A. Brading, "Mexican Phoenix: Our Lady of Guadalupe" (Cambridge University Press, 2001) p.5
    18. ^ Sousa, Lisa; Stafford Poole, and James Lockhart (trans. and trans.) (1998). The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's Huei tlamahuiçoltica of 1649. UCLA Latin American studies, vol. 84; Nahuatl studies series, no. 5. Stanford & Los Angeles, California: Stanford University Press, UCLA Latin American Center Publications. ISBN 0-8047-3482-8. OCLC 39455844 pp.42–47)
    19. ^ Juan Diego y las Apariciones el pimo Tepeyac (Paperback) by Joaquín García Icazbalceta ISBN 970-92771-3-8
    20. ^ Daily Catholic. December 7, 1999, accessed November 30, 2006
    21. ^ Peralta, Alberto (2003). "El Códice 1548: Crítica a una supuesta fuente Guadalupana del Siglo XVI". Artículos. Proyecto Guadalupe. http://www.proyectoguadalupe.com/apl_1548.html. Retrieved 2006-12-01.(Spanish), Poole, Stafford (July 2005). "History vs. Juan Diego". The Americas 62: 1–16. doi:10.1353/tam.2005.0133., Poole, Stafford (2006). The Guadalupan Controversies in Mexico. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-5252-7. OCLC 64427328.
    22. ^ a b c d e Brading, D.A. Mexican Phoenix. Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition Across Five Centuries. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2001.
    23. ^ Cabrera, Miguel: "Maravilla Americana y conjunto de varias maravillas observadas con la direccíon de las reglas del arte de la pintura en la prodigiosa imagen de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Mexico", 1756, facs. ed. Mexico, 1977; summary in Brading, D.A.: "Mexican Phoenix: Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition Across Five Centuries", Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 169–172
    24. ^ Vera, Rodrigo: "un restaurador de la guadalupana expone detalles técnicos que desmitifican a la imagen", Revista Proceso N° 1343, July 27, 2002, pp. 17–18, cf. [1]
    25. ^ Callahan, Philip: "The Tilma Under Infra-Red Radiation", CARA Studies in Popular Devotion, Vol. II, Guadalupan Studies, No. III (March 1981, 45pp.), Washington, D.C.; cf. Leatham, Miguel (2001). "Indigenista Hermeneutics and the Historical Meaning of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Mexico". Folklore Forum. Google Docs. pp. 34–5.
    26. ^ Vera, Rodrigo: "el análisis que ocultó el vaticano", Revista Proceso N° 1333, May 18, 2002; cf. [2] and cf. idem, "manos humanas pintaron la guadalupana", Revista Proceso N° 1332, May 11, 2002, cf. http://www.ecultura.gob.mx/patrimonio/index.php?lan=
    27. ^ Brading, D.A.: "Mexican Phoenix: Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition Across Five Centuries", Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 170
    28. ^ Bomford, David and Roy, Ashok: The Technique of Two Paintings by Dieric Bouts, National Gallery Technical Bulletin vol. 10, 1986, pp. 42–57; Santos Gómez, Sonia and San Andrés Moya, Margarita: La Pintura de Sargas, Archivo Español de Arte, LXXVII, 2004, 305, pp. 59–74
    29. ^ McMenamin, M. (2006). "Our Lady of Guadalupe and Eucharistic Adoration". Numismatics International Bulletin 41 (5): 91–97.
    30. ^ In fact, while the crown was part of the image until 1887-88, "[o]n February 23, 1888, [when] the image was removed to the nearby church of the Capuchin nuns ... onlookers were surprised by the fact that there was no crown on the Virgin's head" (The Guadalupan Controversies in Mexico, Stafford Poole, Stanford University Press, Aug 28, 2006, p. 60). Besides, "[w]hat is rarely mentioned is that the frame which surrounded the canvas was lowered to leave almost no space above the Virgin's head, thereby obscuring the effects of the erasure" (D. A. Brading, Mexican Phoenix: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cambridge University Press, 2002, p.307)
    31. ^ Elizondo, Virgil. Guadalupe, Mother of a New Creation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1997
    32. ^ UTPA.edu, "La Virgen de Guadalupe", accessed 30 November 2006
    33. ^ Tonantzin Guadalupe, by Joaquín Flores Segura, Editorial Progreso, 1997, ISBN 970-641-145-3, ISBN 978-970-641-145-7, pp. 66–77
    34. ^ a b Taylor, William B. (1979). Drinking, Homicide, and Rebellion in Colonial Mexican Villages. Stanford: Stanford University Press
    35. ^ Del Maguey, Single Village Mezcal. "What if Pulque?". http://www.mezcal.com/pulque.html. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
    36. ^ Bushnell, John (1958). "La Virgen de Guadalupe as Surrogate Mother in San Juan Aztingo". American Anthropologist 60 (2): 261
    37. ^ a b c Krauze, Enrique. Mexico, Biography of Power. A History of Modern Mexico 1810–1996. HarperCollins: New York, 1997.
    38. ^ Documentary footage of Zapata and Pancho Villa's armies entering Mexico City can be seen at YouTube.com, Zapata's men can be seen carrying the flag of the Guadalupana about 38 seconds in.
    39. ^ Subcomandante Marcos, Flag.blackened.net, "Zapatistas Guadalupanos and the Virgin of Guadalupe" 24 March 1995 , accessed 11 December 2006.
    40. ^ Harrington, Patricia. "Mother of Death, Mother of Rebirth: The Virgin of Guadalupe." Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Vol. 56, Issue 1, pp. 25-50. 1988
    41. ^ Sancta.org, "Why the name 'of Guadalupe'?", accessed 30 November 2006
    42. ^ The Virgin of Guadalupe, Is the Virgin of Guadalupe a miraculous apparition, a dismissable religious icon, or does it have more importance? (@ skeptoid.com, accessed June 2010)
    43. ^ Elizondo, Virgil. AmericanCatholic.org, "Our Lady of Guadalupe. A Guide for the New Millennium" St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online. December 1999. , accessed 3 December 2006.
    44. ^ Lopez, Lydia. "'Undocumented Virgin.' Guadalupe Narrative Crosses Borders for New Understanding." Episcopal News Service. December 10, 2004.
    45. ^ a b King, Judy. MexConnect.com , "La Virgen de Guadalupe – Mother of All Mexico" Accessed 29 November 2006
    46. ^ O'Connor, Mary. "The Virgin of Guadalupe and the Economics of Symbolic Behavior." The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Vol. 28, Issue 2. pp. 105-119. 1989.
    47. ^ Lafaye, Jacques. Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe. The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1976
    48. ^ Demarest, Donald. "Guadalupe Cult ... 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
    49. ^ Paz, Octavio. Introduction to Jacques Lafaye's Quetzalcalcoatl and Guadalupe. The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness 1531–1813. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976
    50. ^ Guerra, Giulio Dante. AlleanzaCattolica.org, "La Madonna di Guadalupe". 'Inculturazione' Miracolosa. Christianita. n. 205–206, 1992. , accessed 1 December 2006
    51. ^ D.A. Brading, Mexican Phoenix. Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition Across Five Centuries, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, (2001), p.314; Stafford Poole, The Guadalupan Controversies in Mexico, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press (2006), p.110
    52. ^ Web.archive.org. "The Eyes" Interlupe. Accessed 3 December
    53. ^ a b "Science Sees What Mary Saw From Juan Diego’s Tilma", catholiceducation.org
    54. ^ Experiencefestival.com
    55. ^ Sennott, Br. Thomas Mary. MotherOfAllPeoples.com , "The Tilma of Guadalupe: A Scientific Analysis".
    56. ^ a b Notitiae, bulletin of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 2002, pages 194–195
    57. ^ http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS%2028%20[1936]%20-%20ocr.pdf - 16 Quintiliis (Julius) 1935. Pius XI, Papam. Beatissima Virgo Maria Sub Titulo de Beata Guadalupana Insularum Philippinarum Coelestis Patrona Declarantur.
    58. ^ http://lifestyle.inquirer.net, "Our Lady of Guadalupe is secondary patroness of the Philippines"
    59. ^ Znit.org
     

    • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Lee, George (1913). "Shrine of Guadalupe". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.Caryana.org, The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe
    • Udayton.edu, Marian library's discussion of Guadalupe as Mexican national symbol
    • NEWS.BBC.co.uk, BBC photo essay of 12 December festivities in San Miguel de Allende, Gto.
    • Pbase.com, Photo essay on Los Angeles Latino community's Guadalupan murals, altars and statues.
    • NewAdvent.org, The Catholic Encyclopedia
    • (Spanish) ProyectoGuadalupe.com, Critical essays, iconography and documentary information about the Guadalupe

       
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      Today's  Snippet  I:   Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe


      The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) is a Roman Catholic church, minor basilica and National Shrine of Mexico in the north of Mexico City. The shrine was built near the location where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. This site is also known as La Villa de Guadalupe or, in a more popular sense, simply La Villa.

      The new Basilica houses the original tilma (or apron) of Juan Diego that shows the icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Catholicism and is visited by several million people every year, especially around December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast day.

      History

      Pilgrimages have been made to this shrine almost uninterruptedly since 1531-32. In the latter year there was a shrine at the foot of Tepeyac Hill which served for ninety years, and still, in part, forms the parochial sacristy. In 1622 a rich shrine was erected; a newer one, much richer, in 1709. Other structures of the eighteenth century connected with it are a parish church, a convent and church for Capuchin nuns, a well chapel, and a hill chapel. About 1750 the shrine got the title of collegiate, a canonry and choir service being established. It was aggregated to the Basilica of St. John Lateran in 1754; and finally, in 1904 it was created a basilica.

      Old basilica


      Ancient Basilica.
      Officially known as the "Templo Expiatorio a Cristo Rey," the construction of the old basilica began in 1531 and was not finished until 1709. The major architect was Pedro de Arrieta. It is characterized by its doric interior and marble statues of Juan Diego and Fray Juan de Zumárraga, which appear in the altarpiece that originally held the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (That altarpiece matches a similar one in the chapel above the hill, which instead of Juan Diego and Juan de Zumárraga, features archangels Gabriel and Michael). The church was granted basilica status by Pope Pius X in 1904.

      The Juan Diego's cloak was housed in this church from 1709 to 1974. In 1921 a bomb planted in a flower vase near the altar by an anticlerical activist exploded causing great damage to the interior of the building (in memory of this incident, the New Basilica holds in a showcase an iron crucifix called "the attempt Christ". The cloak survived the incident largely undamaged.

      The old basilica was sinking as a result of the weakness of the ground, as the city was built on a former lake. As a consequence a new, more spacious, basilica was built. The old one was closed for many years and repairs have recently finished. It is now again open to the public and perpetual adoration is held there. It is a very important place for Mexico City.

      Modern basilica


      Interior view of the modern Basilica during Mass.
      The modern basilica was built between 1974 and 1976 by the Mexican architect , Pedro Ramírez Vázquez,  who was also the architect of the Aztec Stadium and the National Anthropology Museum. It is a circular building constructed in such way as to allow maximum visibility for the image to those inside. The structure is supported by a major pylon that prevents the shrine from sinking in the unstable subsoil. The Basilica has sitting space for 10,000 people.

      Pedro Ramírez Vázquez (born April 16, 1919) is a late twentieth century Mexican architect. He was born in Mexico City. He was persuaded to study architecture by writer and poet Carlos Pellicer.

      Vázquez earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from UNAM in 1943. He was responsible for the construction of some of Mexico's most emblematic buildings. He is known to be a modern architect with influences from the European modern movement, Latin American modern architects and precolumbian cultures. Concrete is the material he uses most often. He developed a system to construct schools in rural areas, constructing thousands of schools in Mexico and abroad. The UNICEF has used such system. He was the president of the organizing committee of the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 and the World Cup in 1970. He was a pioneer in Mexico of modern graphic design, with the design of the Olympic image.

       He is a member of the International Olympic Committee. He has won several awards including the National Arts Award in 1973, Cemex Award in 2003 and IDSA's Special Award in 1969 for notable results, creative and innovative concepts and long-term benefits to the industrial design profession, its educational functions and society at large. He was ministry of public infrastructure and human settlements during president's José López Portillo government. He was founder and rector of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. He was part of the faculty of the UNAM and holds honorary degrees (doctor honoris causa) granted by several universities including the UNAM.

      Hill of Tepeyac and The Villa

      Tepeyac or the Hill of Tepeyac, historically known by the names "Tepeyacac" and "Tepeaquilla", is located inside Gustavo A. Madero, the northernmost delegación or borough of the Mexican Federal District. It is the site where Saint Juan Diego met the Virgin of Guadalupe in December of 1531, and received the iconic image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Basilica of Guadalupe is located there today as one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world. Tepeyac is also believed to have been a Pre-Columbian worship site for the indigenous mother Goddess Tonantzin.  In Nahuatl, Tepeyacac is a proper noun, a combination of tepetl ("mountain"), yacatl ("nose"), and the relational word -c, ("at"). According to scholars of the language of Nahuatl, "The term would generally be expected to mean a settlement on the ridge or brow of a hill. Since yacatl (the nose going first) often implies antecedence, here the word may refer to the fact that the hill is the first and most prominent of a series of three."

      The Basilica is surrounded by several churches, and the whole ensemble is called Villa, which means "Town". It includes
      • the Capuchin nuns' Temple, a Neoclassic building;
      • the Indians' Chapel, or San José de los Naturales chapel, a 16th century building in which Our Lady of Guadalupe was first venerated
      • the Pocito Chapel, which means chapel of the little well, a Baroque hermitage built around a ferrous waters well with healing properties; the chapel was built by Francisco Antonio de Guerrero y Torres);
      • the Saint Michael chapel, a chapel built on top of the Tepeyac hill, devoted to the Archangel Michael, built in the Baroque period but adapted by the 40's of 20th century. This chapel contains the cycle of frescoes by Fernando Leal The Appearances of the Virgin of Guadalupe (1945-1950).
      • the baptistry, a chapel whose floor plan is snail-shaped, designed by José Luis Benlliur


      References:

      • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Lee, George (1913). "Shrine of Guadalupe". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.


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