Our Lady of Guadalupe

On December 9, 1531, the peasant Juan Diego, an Indian convert, was going to Mass in Mexico City when Our Lady appeared to him and asked him to take her request to the Bishop that he build a Shrine in her honor on the very site of the apparition. Being a good but prudent man, the Bishop asked Juan for a sign that this request was truly from the Mother of God. Three days later, the Virgin Mary appeared again to Juan Diego, asked him to pick some Castillian roses blooming out of season on the hillside and to take them to the Bishop as the sign he had requested. As Juan Diego spread out the roses in front of the Bishop, the picture of the Blessed Mother as she had appeared to Juan emerged from the fabric of his tilma. Convinced by these unquestioable supernatural signs, the Bishop gave permission for the building of the Shrine. With Spaniards and Indians working together, the first Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe was quickly built on the site of the apparitions. The tilma of Juan Diego with the famous picture worked into its fibres was enshrined in it and can be seen there even today, uncorrupted, in the fourth Shrine built on the site.

During the first seven years after the apparitions, eight million Indians converted to the Christian faith, and even today Our Lady of Guadalupe draws millions of faithful to herself and her Son.

The picture is so full of symbolism that it is impossible to describe it adequately in detail. However, the following are the main ideas expressed by the symbols in the picture: Our Lady of Guadalupe standing on the moon, is shown by the rays of the sun, even as she hides the sun itself. Since the Indians worshiped the sun as the greatest of all gods and the moon as the god of night, Mary is therefore shown as greater than all the Indian gods, even though she is not portrayed as destroying them. Instead of any impersonal, uncaring, cold face (Indian gods were portrayed with such maskes), she is human and compassionate, with bowed head and, most remarkably, one of their own race.

The stars on her mantle and the heavenly angelic creature, carrying her on his shoulders, signify the birth of a new age. Ten years before the apparitions the Aztec emperor Montezuma had surrendered to the Spainsh conquistadores, and the rose colored dress of Our Lady points again to the new life springing from bloodshed.

The humble position of her head, the supplicant hands and the compassionate face of Our Lady show her not as a god herself, even in her exalted representation. A small black cross rests on her chest. The Indian Aztecs would recognize in it an invitation to embrace the religion of their conquerors whose banners carried the sign of the cross all over the land.

Please note the folded hands the black maternity band of Our Lady. She is pregnant, about to give birth to her Son in the New World offering Him again to all mankind, but particularly to the poor vanquished and subjugated Indians.

The word "Guadalupe" seems to be the Spanish rendition of what the Indian word "She-will-drive-out-the-stone-serpent" sounded like. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of all the Americas and her feast is celebrated on December 12.

The mosaic is the work of Francisco DeMin from Mexico City, Mexico.

Saint Martin de Porres — To the right of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the painting of St. Martin de Porres. A Peruvian lay-brother in the Dominican Order, Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru, on December 9, 1579, of a Spanish nobleman and a Negro woman. He became famous during his life for his deep humility and unbounded charity, but most of all for his frequent visions, ecstasies, bilocation, infused knowledge, miraculous cures and his astonishing control over wild animals. He spent long nights in prayer and penance, and long days in nursing the sick, caring for the poor and laboring at the most menial jobs in his monastery. He died in Lima on November 4, 1639.

Martin de Porres was given the honor of the saints by Pope John XXIII on May 6, 1962, for his perfect obedience, profound humility, and unbounded love for all of God's creatures. His feast is celebrated on November 5.

Santo Niño de Atocha — To the left of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the painting of the "Santo Niño de Atocha." Dressed in exquisite and embroidered clothing of a child-pilgrim from the Middle Ages, He has walking staff and a water gourd in His right hand and in His left a small basket. The initials "JHS" stand for "Jesus, the Savior of mankind."

The devotion to the "Santo Niño de Atocha" came to Mexico from Spain where a famous statue of Our Lady holding in her arms the Child Jesus is venerated in the town of Atocha. Here the statue of the Child is detachable from that of His Mother, and pregnant women followed a long standing custom of taking the statue to their homes as the time of giving birth approached. In 1556 a church was built in the newly founded mining town of Plateros, Mexico, and dedicated to the Holy Child of Atocha, now represented as a statue independant from that of His Mother. Because of the innumerable miracles performed by the "Santo Niño de Atocha," who always seemed to be traveling near and far (hence the pilgrims clothing) to bring food and drink (basket and gourd) and consolation to all who were in need, the church of Plateros soon became a famous shrine to which thousands of people come every year to express their thanks and devotion. After the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, the Shrine of the "Santo Niño de Atocha" in Plateros is the most famous and venerated in Mexico.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

The original picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, painted by an unknown artist in Crete, was brought to Rome, Italy, around the end of the 15th Century. From 1866 the painting has been in possession of the Redemptorists and is venerated in the church of St. Alphonso in Rome. The devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help is widespread throughout the Catholic worls, especially in the form of weekly Novena prayers. In our parish the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual help is held every Tuesday morning after the 8AM Mass.

The mosaic picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in our shrine, done by the Vatican Mosaic School, is a reproduction of the original painting and portrays Jesus as a child of two or three, seated on His Mother's left arm with His hans clasping her right hand. On either side of Mother and Child are the angels Michael and Gabriel, bearing the instruments of the Passion. The Greek letters are the initials of "Mary, Mother of God."

The artist wished to depict the mental anguish of the Child Jesus as he gazes at the cross. With a touching detail he painted the left sandal falling from His foot. Mary's face is turned, not to her Son, but to those who look at the picture. Although she is indeed saddened by the vision of her Son's suffering and death, her sympathy emanates to all the children of men also who, like her Son, are confronted by daily suffering and anguish of heart.

On either side of the mosaic, standing reverently with bowed heads, are two angels representing Faith, symbolized by the lamp, and Prayer, symbolized by the rosary beads. These two mosaic-like paintings are the works of Father Enrico Tunesi, O.S.J.

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Photos by Saint Joseph Photography • www.stjoephoto.com