May 26, 2006 - My flight back to Toronto is not until noon and I have the whole morning to spare. I have arranged with Martin (my Guide) to take me to our Lady of Guadalupe shrine. So little I knew of the shrine, the image and the story. In most typical traditional Mexican homes, that I have seen in the movies, I noticed there will always be a replica of the image in the house. It reminds me of the Philippines where most devoted Catholic homes have a Sto. Nino in their homes.

On our way to the shrine, Martin told me the story of Mexico. He reserved the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe until we were there in the shrine.

For those who don’t know the story, here is a short summary as told by Martin:

On the feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1531, when Christianity was just recently introduced by the Spaniards in Mexico, the Blessed Mother appeared to a devoted Catholic Indian named Juan Diego. She asked that a temple be built in the hill of Tepeyac and asked that this request be taken to the Bishop. In humble obedience, Juan Diego took the message to the Bishop but the Bishop refused to believe his story without proof. The Blessed Mother hearing this, asked Juan Diego to go up the hill and pick up a bunch of flowers (Roses) and put it in his tilma (a cloak made from cactus fibre). This will be the proof since Roses didn’t grow in Mexico during that time and the type of Rose can only be found in the province where the Bishop grew up in Spain. Upon his return to see the Bishop again, he opened his tilma and the Roses were revealed. An image of the Blessed Mother also appeared printed on the cloak.

Many scientists cannot believe how the image could have been printed on the tilma. What is more extraordinary is the absence of any pigment or dye in the tilma. According to them when you examine the cloth it is like an image being projected in the cloth. Even more perplexing is the eye, when magnified many times reveals a reflection of an image of a man with open arms - Juan Diego. The picture on the left is a replica image. The picture on top of this post is the actual image in bulletproof casing.


Before the new Basilica was erected in 1976, the image was housed here in the old Basilica. This was also the place where the image was bombed in 1921. The altar was heavily damaged (windows shattered and marble reduced to rubbles). There was a cast iron cross next to the tilma which was twisted out of shape. Miraculously, the image was untouched! Not even its ordinary glass covering.


Every year, on the 12th of December, an estimated 10 million catholic pilgrims gather here to celebrate the feast of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. Pictured on the left is the new Basilica (left structure) and the old Basilica (center structure). Notice that the old Basilica is leaning. This is because the ground is not so solid since Mexico City was built on a former lake.