The Virgin of Guadeloupe

On December 9, 1531, the Virgin of Guadeloupe appeared to Juan Diego, a recently converted Aztec in Mexico, just outside of Mexico City. In order to fully appreciate the apparition, we need to place ourselves in the position of native Mexicans nearly wiped out the the Spanish invaders, suggests the blogger at religionnerd in "The Gift of Guadeloupe." The Virgin of Guadeloupe has long been a symbol of Catholic Mexico. Her image can be found on churches, candles, bath towels, and even car windows.

In Sor Juana or, The Traps of Faith Mexican Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz suggests that the Virgin of Guadeloupe was so important to colonial Mexicans because it was "an answer to their triple orphanhood." For Indians, the Virgin was a "transfiguration of their ancient female deities"; for "Criollos, because the Virgin's apparition made the land of New Spain more of a real mother than Spain had been; Mestizos, because the Virgin did and does represent reconciliation with their origins and the end to their illegitimacy"(40).

On the feast day of the Virgin of Guadeloupe, January 12,2012, the Hispanic and Latino Bishops of the United States signed a letter supporting Latino Immigrants to the United States.

Works Cited

Paz, Octavio. Sor Juana or, The Traps of Faith. Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1988.