Biography
Born Cuauhtlatoatzin in the Aztec Empire, he converted to Catholicism and took the name Juan Diego following the Spanish conquest of Mexico. On December 9, 1531, while walking to Mass, he experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill. She appeared as a young indigenous woman and asked him to tell the bishop to build a church on the site. The bishop demanded a sign. Mary told Juan to gather Castilian roses—which were out of season and native to Spain—from the frozen, barren hilltop. Juan gathered them in his tilma (cloak). When he opened his tilma before the bishop, the roses fell to the floor, and the miraculous, radiant image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was imprinted on the cactus fiber cloth. The apparition sparked the conversion of millions of indigenous people to Catholicism. The tilma remains perfectly intact to this day.
Miracles & Signs
- ✦The miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe imprinted on his tilma, which defies scientific explanation and has not decayed after nearly 500 years
- ✦The sudden mass conversion of the Aztec empire following the apparition
Wisdom & Quotes
“(Words of Mary to Juan Diego): 'Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection?'”