Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe – December 12

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas. Significantly, this apparition marks the evangelization of the Americas. On December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a young woman enveloped in light. She spoke to him in the native language of the area, Nahuatl, and asked that a church be built on this spot. He recognized her as the Virgin Mary.

Diego reported this to the Archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who told him to return and ask the woman to prove to him who she was. The proof provided was that the hill top was suddenly covered in roses, foreign to that zone, and Juan Diego brought them in his cloak to the Archbishop. When he opened the cloak, the roses fell to the ground and his cloak was imprinted with the image of the Virgin, known thereafter as Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The image is preserved in the Basilica on the spot of the vision. Millions of pilgrims from Mexico and all over the world visit the shrine each year.