Our Lady of Guadalupe & Juan Diego

Our Lady of Guadalupe & Juan Diego

Feast Day: December 15

Location: Tepeyac Hill, Mexico City. The site of a former Aztec Temple

Medium: Hand sculpted, embossed and painted on aluminum metal

Dimension: 16" x 20", unframed. Permanently mounted on plexi-glass.

Note: Can frame for an extra fee after a consultation. Please email me for details at Info@AdriEstradaArt.com

HOLY CARDS COMING SOON!

A brief history

Juan Diego, a 57 year old Mexican man, makes his way to Mass in the early morning twilight of December 9, 1531. He is a peasant, a simple farmer and laborer, and he has no education. Born under Aztec rule, he is a convert to Catholicism, and each step he takes this morning is a step into history.

Juan Diego comes face to face with a radiant apparition of the Virgin Mary.

She instructs him to visit his bishop and ask that a temple be built on the site of her appearance, so that she will have a place to hear petitions and to heal the suffering of the Mexican people. "Now go and put forth your best effort," Our Lady instructs.

Juan fails to convince the Bishop he is telling the truth.

Juan Diego tells Our Lady what she already knows, that the Bishop did not believe him. She instructs him to return the next morning and ask again.

At their second meeting, the Bishop asks for a sign.

Our Lady instructs Juan Diego to climb to the top of Tepeyac Hill where he will find flowers. He is to pick the flowers there and keep them hidden in his tilma until he reaches the Bishop. Juan Diego is skeptical again. It's December, what flowers could grow on the summit of the hill in this cold?

Nevertheless, he obeys and atop the hill he finds a great number of flowering roses which he picks and hastily gathers into his cloak.

For the third time, Juan Diego is ushered in to see the Bishop. The skeptical cleric has waited for two days to see what sign Our Lady has for him. Juan opens his tilma, letting the roses cascade to the floor. But more than the roses, both men are astonished to see what is painted on his humble tilma - an exquisite image of Our Lady.