In the peace of His Majesty, Our Lord Jesus. May the Immaculate Queen of the Americas, Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. Ave Maria! On 20 August 1530, His Excellency Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, OFM, was appointed as the first Bishop of Viceroyalty of New Spain by King Charles V. His Excellency had just taken charge of one of the most troubled dioceses in all of the territories of the Church. This was a dioceses that had not defined neither the extent of its jurisdiction nor its official duties, and whose majority population were once members of one of the most satanic cults in the history of mankind. Less than 10 years before, the area had been ruled by the oppressive Aztec Empire. Just to give you an example of the wickedness, this had been a place where at least 1000 humans were sacrificed in every town that had a temple by Imperial law. By the Aztec's own numbers, 1 of every 5 children were sacrificed or at least given to a certain cult to be raised like a beast for sacrifice. Every decade, in just one day, 80,000 people from neighboring nations were sacrificed for the idol of the Feathered serpent. By the capture of Tenochtitlán and the defeat of the Aztec empire in 1521 by Spanish forces and their indigenous collation, most of the public idols had been destroyed. At the top of main temple stood two shrines, after the pagan filth was removed, the Holy Cross was erected by the Spanish. The giant stone idols of Huitzilopochtli and Tlalco were thrown down the temple steps. The priests then exercised the entirety of New Spain, and placed the Blessed Sacrament on a niche which once held an idol with the inscription “the God of Gods." At the temple of Quetzalcoatl, the “feathered serpent” idol, Cortez personally ensured that idol was utterly destroyed and in its place he placed a statue of Our Lady of Extremadura, one of the most important devotions in Castile at the time. Our Lady of Extremadura was also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, after the Guadalupe river that flowed by her shrine. Cortez followed the teachings of Pope St. Gregory the great had every sturdy temple turned into a Church. The ones which were not well built or were in ruins were taken apart and the materials used to build Churches. Tell [Bishop Augustine] that I have decided after long deliberation about the English people, namely that the idol temples of that race should not be destroyed, but only the idols in them. Let blessed water be prepared, and sprinkled in these temples, and altars constructed, and relics deposited. For if these temples are well built, it is essential that they should be transferred from the worship of devils to the service of the true God. St. Gregory the Great, letter to Abbot Melitus.
At the sack of Tenochtitlán, many of the Spanish’s native allies shouted for joy and joined enthusiastically. For them it was the end of an oppressive regime. For the Aztec citizens it was confusing and despair full, the death of their mighty “gods.” Many Aztecs accepted the faith of the Spanish, though few truly converted of heart and more so out of despair. Many more did not. The Spanish had purged the Aztec temples of idols but not the Aztec’s hearts. Many Aztecs and other natives still met in secret places to practice Idolatry. As the years progressed, many Spanish came and did everything for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, but this was not the case for all of them. Many Spaniards would abuse the natives, essentially enslaving them and forcing them to work in mines. These Spanish profiteers also outlawed preaching against the enslavement of the natives and enacted other laws against Christian morals. Many Franciscan priests were dragged from their pulpits, beaten and arrested for preaching against these sinful laws that contradicted the Laws of the Church and Spain. His Excellency, Bishop Zumárraga, preached heavily against this abuse and wrote to the King and the Pope. Then in 1530, His Excellency placed the entire nation in interdict, meaning he suspended all sacraments except for the dying, baptism, matrimony for the converting natives. The interdict, along with intervention by King Charles I stopped the abuses and restored basic rights to the natives as Spanish citizens. Despite this, the damage was done. Many of the natives had fallen back into paganism and had a deep hatred against the Spanish. Conversions became scarcer and war seemed imminent. In this chaos, Bishop Zumárraga turned to the Immaculate Queen. His Excellency traveled to the top of the Temple of Our Lady of Extremadura, there he placed a single Castilian rose in the hands of the Virgin of Guadalupe, putting the future of new Spain and the conversion of the natives also. The Blessed Virgin answered. On Saturday, 9 December 1531, a poor Aztec widower, who had openly embraced the true faith, was on his way to Mass. Our Lady appeared to St Juan Deigo on a hill called Tepeyac, a site which was once a temple to the idol Tonantzin, the “mother of all earth.” At first, St. Juan heard the most beautiful music and when the music ceased he heard Our lady speak to him in Nahuatl, the native language. “My little Juan” called the Lady. When St. Juan looked up he saw her and she said: Juan, my son, where are you going? The startled St. Juan replied: My Holy one, My Lady, I am going to Mass and catechism from the religious Fathers who teach us. Our Lady replied: My very dear son, you must know that I am the ever-virgin Mary, the Mother of the true God, who is the author of life. The Creator of all things, the Lord of heaven and earth, who is present everywhere. I desire that a Church should be built here, in which, as your most merciful Mother, I shall show my love and the compassion I feel for the natives and for those who love and seek me, for all who implore my protection, who call on me in their labors and afflictions. In which I shall hear their weeping and supplications, that I may give them consolation and relief. Therefore, in order that my will should be accomplished, you must go to the city of Mexico and to the palace of the bishop who lives there, to tell him that I have sent you and that I wish a Church to be built in this place. Tell him all that you have seen and heard and be assured that I will be most great full and will reward you for doing all that I ask. St. Juan bowed and said he would do as she asked. He then set out for Mexico City. When he arrived at the Bishops palace, the servants made him wait for a long time before they allowed him to see the bishop. His Excellency listened to St. Juan and then dismissed him, telling him to come back another day. St. Juan returned the way he came and when he got to Tepeyac he found Our Lady waiting for him. He knelt and begged her to send someone more intelligent and noble, believing the bishop would be more likely to listen. Our Lady smiled and replied to go back in the morning and repeat her request. St. Juan returned to Bishop Zumárraga, though he was forced to wait even longer. When St. Juan finally saw His Excellency, the Bishop requested a sign from the Lady. The Bishop did not say what the sign was and sent St. Juan, ordering two servants to follow him in order to see what he saw. The servants lost him and told the bishop he outsmarted them. When St. Juan returned he found our Lady at Tepeyac and told her of the Bishops request. Our Lady told him: So be it my son. Return here tomorrow and you will have the sign for the bishop. then he will believe you. Be sure that I will reward you for all you have done. The next morning St. Juan found his uncle dying of one of the diseases brought by the Spanish. His uncle asked St. Juan to bring a priest to give him the last rites. St. Juan knowing he could no longer fulfill our Lady’s request, avoided Tepeyac. Our Lady appeared to him despite his new path and said: My dear little one, where are you going? What road is this you’re taking? And St. Juan Diego, understanding he had been caught replied: God keep your Lady, did you sleep well? And how is your health? He then continue by promising to keep his promise once he found a priest which could visit his uncle. Our Lady responded: Listen and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little son. Do not be troubled or weighted down with grief, do not fear any illness or anxiety. Am I not here? I who am your mother. Are you not under my protection? Do I not hold you in the folds of my mantle? Is there anything else you need? Do not worry about your uncle’s illness, at this very moment he is cured. Now my son go the top of the hill and there you will find many flowers, gather them together and bring them here to me. St. Juan did as he was told and gathered as many as his tilma (cactus fiber poncho) could carry.
Our Lady rearranged the flowers and said: My little son, these roses are the sign which you are to take to the bishop. Tell him, in my name, that in these roses he will see my will and that he must fulfill it. She then cautioned him not to let anyone else see it until the bishop did. The servants at the palace forced St. Juan to wait outside all day. They interrogated him and attempted to take some of the roses. Whenever the servants touched the roses they seemed to lose their physical properties and melt into the fabric. One of the servants reported this to the bishop and admitted to him of St. Juan’s presence. St. Juan was brought before the bishop immediately and he told him all that he saw and heard, then opened his tilma to reveal dozens of flowers and Castilian roses. The very sign the bishop had mentally asked the Lady. Despite this on the tilma was an image. The bishop and his audience fell to their knees. The bishop then embraced St. Juan and begged his forgiveness for not believing him. The Bishop took the tilma and hung it above his personnel chapel, St. Juan spent the night at the palace. The next morning he brought Bishop Zumárraga to Tepeyac and then requested to go check on his uncle. The bishop sent him with a priest. St. Juan found his uncle in perfect health. His uncle said a brilliant light filled their home and our Lady had appeared. She healed him and revealed herself as “Santa Maria de Guadalupe” or Holy Mary of Guadalupe. Within weeks a small temporary chapel was built on Tepeyac. The day after Christmas, a procession was held with the image. In the festivities, arrows were loosed which accidentally killed one of the Aztecs. His body was brought before the image, and he returned to life. St. Juan Deigo spent the rest of his life living in a small room adjacent to the chapel. By 1541, within 10 years, over 10 million natives had openly embraced that faith by the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The largest mass conversion in the history of mankind. One missionary wrote that he and another priest had baptized 14,200 natives in 5 days. Over 115 million would convert before the start of the 1700s. The Aztecs and countless other native Americans embraced the faith as their own and purged their villages of the idols that had remained in secret. The Holy faith spread as far south as Chile and Argentina and as far north as Canada through this Holy image. Here from the center of what once belonged to the most satanic regime in the history of mankind, came an image for the conversion of the Americas and the Grace for the entire world. I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho (Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 24:18)
Our Lady crushes the head of feathered serpent.
The Image of Our Lady of Gudalupe was very clear to the Aztecs. Our Lady was native, appearing in both appearance and dress as a Mestizo. Our Lady is eclipsing the sun but adorned by it, standing upon the moon, and being aided by angles. The angle has the wings of an eagle, one of the many creatures worshipped by the Aztecs, who believed the eagle could fly closest to their gods. In other words she’s greater than the sun and moon, two creatures most of the native American nations worshipped. Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array? (Canticles 6:9). The colors of her Mantle indicate divinity in Aztec culture, but her hands are in prayer and her head and eyes are lowered, indicating she’s not almighty. The parting of her hair signifies she is a virgin yet black sash indicates she’s pregnant. The white fur at the sleeves and the gold and stars are all symbols of royalty. The scapular on her neck is a black Cross, indicating she believes in the God of the Christians. Upon her womb is seen a Huilacptizxochil, a type of flower which was used as a symbol of divinity and the center of the cosmic order. The flower, which has for pedals, was placed in a way where it shaped a Cross. The other flowers than adorned her symbolized the 5th age for the Aztecs and another was a symbol of human hearts. This flower was often used to symbolize the hearts scarified to the demonic idols, now it meant that our Lady wished for the hearts of these natives, not to be scarified for devils but to be on fire for the love of God. Our Lady is pregnant in the image and is ready to bring Christ into the Aztec world.
Our Lady crushes the enlightenment.
During the time our Lady appeared in Tepeyac, Europe was in turmoil. The Islamic forces were making great military advancements through the Ottoman-Turkish Empire. The Protestant revolt and renaissance was under way. A chaos of rediscovering the pagan and human centered texts, religion, and art. Our Lady of Guadalupe was heaven’s response to this darkness. As the Protestants and Turks took catholic towns, one of the identical features of both odd sects was iconoclasm. Both destroyed religious imagery and argued that it was offensive to God. Thus heaven sent an Image, in order to reaffirm that images are willed by God for veneration. Similarly, both the “enlightenment” men of renaissance and the Protestants shunned sacramentals as superstition. In the image, Our Lady can be seen praying with her hands in prayerful position and wearing a scapular with a black Cross upon it. Both these groups rejected the authority of the Church, doing as they pleased. Many Protestants began to build their own churches without the permission of the local authority. Thus heaven sent Our Lady to request a Church to be built and appeared to a layman. Despite the fact that she’s from heaven and the Mother of God, she still sent St. Diego to the local bishop. Our Lady embraced the authority of the Church, even when the Bishop rejected her offer, Our Lady worked with him, to whom Christ gave the authority. Protestants also argued that the end times were near and that the whore of Babylon was the Catholic Church. Thus in the image we find a complete fulfillment of revelations texts. And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: And being with child (Revelations 12:1-2). upon her tilma we find constellations that tell a story of a battle of between the woman and a dragon. And the dragon was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelations 12:17). Through the Protestant revolt the church lost millions of souls to the various sects. Yet, through this image millions of souls were brought into the Church. For every church, chapel and cathedral stolen or destroyed by the Protestant revolutionaries a dozen were consecrated under the banner of our lady of Guadalupe.
Our Lord ordered St. Francis, the seraphic Father: rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling down. Perhaps, it’s more than coincidence that the body of St. France was found after being lost for hundreds of years on December 12th, 1818. It was the Franciscan order who carried the standard of our lady of Guadalupe during their Missionary work. The bishop to whom the whole the image is directed was a Franciscan. Under the banner of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, the Franciscans in the new world rebuilt the church. The enlightened men at the time argued that man was not the center of the universe and looked to the stars with great wonder, as the pagans did before them. In the image of our lady of Guadalupe we find the stars, sun, and moon adorning our Lady. She is the Queen of heaven and earth, and she desires to save men. The enlightened men often painted and created impious and immodest art. Which of course can be seen in reverse in this heavenly image. Our lady is dressed modestly, and our lady stands full of Grace and prayerfully. As the Islamic forces made victory after victory against the Christian world, Our Lady appeared standing upon a black crescent moon, the symbol of the Turkish empire. At the miraculous victory at Lepanto against the Turkish forces, Our Lady of Guadalupe was the banner for the chief Christian ship during the battle. This battle would be attributed to her under the devotion of Our Lady of the rosary.
Our Lady of Guadalupe shares her title with our lady of Guadalupe (Extremadura) which is an ancient shrine, perhaps the most important shrine Castile. In 712 AD, our lady of Guadalupe (Extremadura) was buried by priests during the sack of Seville by the moors and later found after the reconquest of Spain. She survived the occupation of the moors and aided the reconquest. The name of Guadalupe is an Arabic name given to the river near where the statue was buried, and later shrine built. Lastly, enlightened men always scoff away miracles. During the 1500s many were beginning to doubt the miracles written in scripture and found in the treasury of traditions of the Church. Heaven answered these doubts through this Image. From it beginning the image has been surrounded by miracles, one of the first miracles was raising a man from the dead. To this day countless prayers are answered through the image of Our lady of Gudalupe, the most visited religious site in the world. The image is itself a miracle.
The material the image sits upon is weaved fabric of dried agave fiber. The life span of this material, when held in good condition is 15-30 years. Yet, the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe remains in perfect condition 483 years later . For the first 115 years, the image was kept bare, becoming subject to smoke, weather, and people touching it. Not only does the image not show any defect but it also shows no signs of aging whatsoever. In 1785 a scientist “accidentally” dropped nitric acid on the image during a study, the acid should destroyed the entire image but left only a stain that can be seen on the top right. In 1936, Chemist Dr. Richard Kuhn, a noble prize winner, examined the image to try to find the natural origin of the colors. His study concluded that the pigments was made of no known substance or chemical. In the past 50 years over 20 ophthalmologist of all faiths, including atheism, have all confirmed that her eyes reflect light in the exact 3 dimensional per portions of a real human eyes. One of the ophthalmologist, stated in his study that the iris and pupils have imprinted on them a highly detailed scene with 13 people visible. The same exact scene is present in both eyes of the image, but in different proportions, as would happen in the eyes of a living human. The scene captured in our lady’s eyes is the moment St. Juan Diego lowered his tilma before the bishop and his audience. Dr. Philip S. Callahan, a NASA scientist and university of Florida professor, studied the image with infrared rays and found that there is no trace of paint on the original image and that the fabric has never been treated to protect the materials. Interestingly, he found that the colors slightly changed color when viewed at different angles and that infrared imaging discovered no brushstrokes but that the image seems to have been imprinted in a sing motion. Astronomers also discovered that the stars on the Mantel of Our Lady of Guadalupe are an exact arrangement of the constellations above Mexico City on December 12, 1531. The stars however are no from the perspective of the earth but from the perspective of looking down upon the earth. The cluster of stars near her heard is the corona constellation, or the crown constellation. With the Leo constellation on her womb and the Virgo constellation on her heart. Meaning her heart is that of a virgin and within her womb is a lion, the lion of Judah, Our Lord Jesus. Behold the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed (revelations 5:5) Our Lady of Guadalupe is a sign of hope to those who call upon her and a stumbling block to those who do not believe.
Our Lady crushes the head modern serpent.
Our Lady has made her enemies in modern times. Several times throughout history have Freemasons, socialists and revolutionaries attempted to steal the image. Only to fine they could not carry the Image, saying it was too heavy or it seemingly just disappeared and reappeared above the altar. In 1921, a revolutionary placed a bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers at the foot of the altar where the image was. The blast, which was caused by 20 sticks of dynamite, destroyed the marble altar, the communion rail and shattered all the windows in the Church, and even some in nearby buildings. The large brass crucifix which stood upon the tabernacle was bent completely back. Despite all this, there was not a scratch on the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The single glass case and Image was perfectly intact and miraculously nobody in the Church was seriously hurt. This Image was later used by the Cristeros, a counter revolutionary army that sought to restore the rights of Christ and his Church in Mexico. Their battle cry was “VIVA CRISTO REY Y LA VIRGIN DE GUADALUPE” or Long live Christ the king and the virgin of Guadalupe. The Cristeros were so efficient that by 1929 more than one third of Mexico was under their control and a total takeover of the country was months away. Despite this victory, the bishops met with President Calles and Mexican members of Congress to discuss a cease fire. The signed an agreement to a total cease fire that would result in public worship resuming the next day and an official surrender of all Church property and an order by the Bishops to the Cristeros to stand down. The Cristeros were not defeated by their enemies but abandoned by the Bishops who were the first to receive the fruit of the Cristeros sacrifice. Our lady of Guadalupe, even in modern times, remains an image of hope for the world and reminder to the pagan and revolutionary forces of what is to come. And the Lord God said to the serpent: I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her Seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel (Genesis 2:14,15)
Prayers to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Pope Pius XIl's Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe
HAIL, O Virgin of Guadalupe, Empress of America! Keep forever under thy powerful patronage the purity and integrity of Our Holy Faith on the entire American continent. Amen. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us, keep us under thy mantle and be our salvation.
It is suggested that three Hail Mary’s be recited for North, Central and South America.
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
O Holy Mary, Virgin Mother of God, who as Our Lady of Guadalupe didst aid in the conversion of the New World from paganism in a most miraculous way, we now beseech thee to bring about in these our times the early conversion of our modern world from its present neo-paganism to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of thy divine Son, Jesus Christ, starting in the Americas and extending throughout the entire world, so that soon there may be truly "one fold and one shepherd," with all governments recognizing the reign of thy Son, Jesus Christ the King. This we ask of the Eternal Father, through Jesus Christ His Son Our Lord and by thy powerful intercession all for the salvation of souls, the triumph of the Church, and peace in the world. Amen.
Dearest Lady of Guadalupe, fruitful Mother of Holiness, teach me your ways of gentleness and strength. Hear my prayer offered with deepfelt confidence to beg this favor(). O Mary, conceived without sin, I come to your throne of grace to share the fervent devotion of your faithful Mexican children who call to you under the glorious Aztec title of “Guadalupe” the virgin who crushed the serpent. Queen of Martyrs, whose Immaculate heart was pierced by seven wounds of grief, help me to walk valiantly amid the sharp thorns thrown across my pathway. Queen of Apostles aid me to win souls for the Sacred Heart of my Savior. I plead this through the merits of your merciful Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”