Our Lady of Guadalupe Pilgrimage: Our Story

A CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS RELATED TO THE MIRACLE

YEAR	EVENT
1474	An Indian named Quauhtlatoatzin was born in Cuautitlan.
1476	Juan de Zumarraga was born in Spain.
1492	Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the Americas and named it San Salvador.
1514	The first Marian Shrine in the New World was established in the city of Higuey, first to be built on American soil.
1519	Hernan Cortez landed in Mexico.
1521	The capital city of the Aztecs falls under Cortez.
1524	The first 12 Franciscans arrive in Mexico City.
1525	The Indian Quauhtlatoatzin is baptized by a Franciscan priest. He received the Christian name of Juan Diego.
1528	Friar Juan de Zumarraga arrives in the New World.
1529	Juan Diego’s wife, Maria, became sick and died.
1531	Year of the apparitions to Juan Diego
1533	The first sanctuary was erected.
1541	Franciscan priest and early historian of New Spain “Motolinia” writes that some nine million Aztecs had become Christians.
1548	Death of Juan Diego.
1555	In the Provincial Counsel, the second archbishop of Mexico, Alonso de Montúfar, formulated canons that indirectly approved the apparitions.
1556	Archbishop Montúfar began the erection of the second church.
1560	A document known as the Valeriano Relation is written by an Indian named Antonio Valeriano. Also known as the Nican Mopohua. (Between 1540 and 1580).
1564	An image was carried on the first formal expedition to the Philippine Islands.
1567	The new church ordered by Archbishop Montufar is completed.
1570	Archbishop Montufar sent to King Philip II of Spain an oil painted copy of the image of Guadalupe.
1571	Admiral Doria carried a copy of the image aboard ship during the battle of Lepanto and imputed to the Virgin of Guadalupe the victory over the Ottoman Empire forces.
1573	The “Primitive Relation” was written by the historian Juan de Tovar, who transcribed the story from a still earlier source, probably Juan Gonzalez, Bishop’s Zumarraga’s translator. (Discovered in the Mexican national Library Archives)
1647	The image is covered with glass for the first time.
1648	The priest Miguel Sanchez published in Mexico City, in Spanish, a work entitled “Image of the Virgin Mary, Guadalupan Mother of God”.
1649	Luis Lasso de la Vega published the “Huey Tlanahuicoltica”, telling the story in Nahuatl. It refers to earlier Nahuatl sources.
1666	A formal inquiry and investigation was conducted by the Church from February 18 to march 22 in order to give authority to the tradition.
1695	The first stone of the new sanctuary was laid. The sanctuary was solemnly dedicated in 1709.
1723	Another formal investigation ordered by Archbishop Lanziego y Eguilaz.
1737	The Most Holy Mary of Guadalupe was chosen as the patroness of the city of Mexico.
1746	The patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe was accepted for all of New Spain, which then embraced the regions from northern California to El Salvador.
1746	The knight Boturini Benaducci promoted the solemn and official coronation of the image.
1754	Benedict XIV approved the patronage of New Spain and granted a Mass and Office proper to the celebration of the feast on December 12.
1756	Famous painter Miguel Cabrera publishes his extensive study of the Image in the book “American Marvel”.
1757	The Virgin of Guadalupe was declared patroness of the citizens of Ciudad Ponce in Puerto Rico.
1767	The religious of the Society of Jesus are expelled from the Spanish dominions, and the image is carried to various parts of the world.
1895	Took place the coronation of the image, with pontifical authority and the attendance of a great part of the episcopate of the Americas.
1908	Pope Saint Pius X prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe, where he entrusts Our Lady of Guadalupe with the protection of the Sovereign Pontiff and asks her intercession for the holy Church and the keeping of our faith,is enriched with an indulgence of five hundred days on his audience held on August 18.
1908	Pope Saint Pius X granted indulgences which may be gained in any part of the world for prayer before a copy of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
1910	Pope Saint Pius X declared the Virgin of Guadalupe Patroness of Latin America.
1911	A church was built on the site of Juan Bernardino’s home.
1921	A bomb placed beneath the image exploded, causing great damage, but nothing happened to the tilma.
1924	A very important 16th century source documenting the miracle is found in Peru by anthropologist M. Saville. It is a pictorial calendar known as the Codex Saville and shows the image of our Lady located in the position representing the year 1531.
1928	A coronation of the image was made in Santa Fe, Argentina.
1929	First documented note of an apparent reflected image of a man’s head in the right eye of the Virgin, by photographer Alfonso Marcue.
1935	Pious XI extended the patronage of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the Philippines.
1945	Pious XII stated that the Virgin of Guadalupe was the “Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas” and that she had been painted “by brushes that were not of this world”.
1946	Pope Pius XII declared her to be the Patroness of the Americas.
1951	Examination of the image by Carlos Salinas. Apparent reflection of a man’s head in the right eye of the Virgin observed.
1956	Dr. Torroela-Bueno, an ophthalmologist, examined the eyes of the Virgin on the tilma.
1958	Dr. Rafael Torija-Lavoignet published his study of the Purkinje-Sanson effect as exhibited in the Guadalupan image.
1961	Pope John XXIII prayed to her as Mother of the Americas. He addressed her as Mother and Teacher of the Faith to the peoples of the Americas.
1962	Dr. Charles Wahlig, O.D. announces the discovery of two images apparently reflected in the eyes of the Virgin when studying a photograph enlarged twenty five times.
1966	Pope Paul VI sent a Golden Rose to the Basilica.
1975	Glass was removed so the image could be examined by another ophthalmologist, Dr. Enrique Grave.
1976	Dedication of the new Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located four miles from central Mexico City.
1979	Dr. Philip Callahan takes 40 frames of infra-red photographs of the image. Later concluded that the original image is unexplainable as a human work.
1979	Pope John Paul II called her the “Star of Evangelization”, knelt before her image, invoked her motherly assistance and called upon her as Mother of the Americas.
1979	Dr. Jose Aste-Tonsmann announces the finding of at least four human figures apparently reflected in both eyes of the Virgin. Dr. Tosmann used sophisticated image processing techniques with digitized photographs of both eyes.
1988	The liturgical celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 was raised to the status of a feast in all dioceses in the United States.
1990	Juan Diego was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
1990	Pope John Paul II returns to the Basilica in Mexico City. Performed the beatification ceremony of Juan Diego.
1992	Pope John Paul II dedicated a chapel in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter’s Basilica.
1999	Pope John Paul II, during his third visit to the sanctuary, declared the date of December the 12th as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent.
2002	Juan Diego was canonized in a ceremony presided by His Holiness John Paul II in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on July 31, 2002. It was John Paul II 5th pastoral visit to Mexico.

Mesoamerica, the New World, 1521: The capital city of the Aztec empire falls under the Spanish forces. Less than 20 years later, 9 million of the inhabitants of the land, who professed for centuries a polytheistic and human sacrificing religion, are converted to Christianity. What happened in those times that produced such an incredible and historically unprecedented conversion?

In 1531 a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to a humble Indian Juan Diego at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City.
She identified herself as the ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth.
She made a request for a church to be built on the site, and submitted her wish to the local Bishop. When the Bishop hesitated, and requested her for a sign, the Mother of God obeyed without delay or question to the Church's local Bishop, and sent her native messenger to the top of the hill in mid-December to gather an assorment of roses for the Bishop.
After complying to the Bishop's request for a sign, She also left for us an image of herself imprinted miraculously on Juan Diego's tilma, a poor quality cactus-cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 478 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin.
It apparently even reflects in Her eyes what was in front of her in 1531.
Her message of love and compassion, and her universal promise of help and protection to all mankind, as well as the story of the apparitions, are described in the "Nican Mopohua", a 16th century document written in the native Nahuatl language.
There is reason to believe that at Tepeyac Mary came in her glorified body, and her actual physical hands rearranged the roses in Juan Diego’s tilma, which makes this apparition very special.
An incredible list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to Her. Yearly, between 18 - 20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica, making it Christianity's most visited sanctuary.
Altogether 25 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe. His Holiness John Paul II visited her Sanctuary four times: on his first apostolic trip outside Rome as Pope in 1979, and again in 1990, 1999 and 2002.
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th. In 1999, Pope John Paul II, in his homily from the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, during his third visit to the sanctuary, declared the date of December the 12th as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent.
During the same visit Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born.