Virgen De Guadalupe

The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe tells of a miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1531 on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico. She appeared to an indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, introducing herself as the Mother of God and all humanity. She asked Juan to request that a shrine be built in her honor at the site.

When Juan Diego relayed the message to Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga, the Archbishop dismissed him and asked for proof. The Virgin appeared again and instructed Juan to collect flowers from the hilltop, even though it was winter. Miraculously, Juan found a variety of exotic flowers, including Castilian roses, which did not grow in Mexico. He gathered them in his tilma (cloak) and brought them to the Archbishop.

Upon opening the tilma, the flowers fell, revealing a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary imprinted on the fabric. This tilma, still preserved today, became the most sacred religious object in Mexico. The story was documented in the Nahuatl language by scholar Antonio Valeriano after 1556.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, built on the site of the apparition, now attracts over 20 million pilgrims each year. In 1990, Pope John Paul II beatified Juan Diego, and he was canonized as a Saint in 2000.

O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of the true God and Mother of the Church! You, who from this place reveal your clemency and your piety to all those who ask for your protection; hear the prayer that we address to you with filial trust, and present it to your Son Jesus, our sole Redeemer.

Mother of mercy, teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice, to you, who come to meet us sinners, we dedicate on this day all our being and all our love.

We also dedicate to you our life, our work, our joys, our infirmities, and our sorrows.
Grant peace, justice, and prosperity to our peoples; for we entrust to your care all that we have and all that we are, our Lady and Mother.

We wish to be entirely yours and to walk with you along the way of complete faithfulness to Jesus Christ in His Church: Hold us always with your loving hand.

Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray to you for all the bishops, that they may lead the faithful along paths of intense Christian life, of love and humble service of God and souls.

Contemplate this immense harvest, and interced with the Lord that He may instill a hunger for holiness in the whole People of God, and grant abundant vocations of priests and religious, strong in the faith and zealous dispensers of God's mysteries.

Grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God.

Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Fair Love, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children.

Our hope, lookk upon us with compassion, teach us to go continually to Jesus and, if we fall, help us to rise again, to return to Him, by means of the confession of our faults and sins in the sacrament of Penance, which gives peace to the soul.

We beg you to grant us a great love for all the holy sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left us on earth.

Thus, most holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which comes to us from your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns forever and ever.

Amen.