Documentary Sheds New Light on Our Lady of Guadalupe Miracle

Photo by Loci B. Lenar

The following excerpt is from the NCRegister:

By Celeste Behe, Register Correspondent

A barren hillside in Mexico. A humble peasant named Juan Diego. A beautiful lady. A painted tilma.

The facts surrounding the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe are known to most informed Catholics. Or are they?

 

"Ask just about any educated Catholic where Guadalupe is, and the answer you’re likely to get is ‘Mexico,’" says movie director and producer Tim Watkins. "But, in fact, Guadalupe is in Spain."

It’s a surprising piece of information, one of many revealed in the fascinating documentary The Blood and the Rose.

 

"There are numerous connections between certain events that took place in both the Holy Land and in Europe and the events which led up to Our Lady’s miraculous appearance in the New World," says Watkins. "Their convergence, more than 15 centuries in the making, was guided by the hand of divine Providence."

 

The feature-length documentary — which brings together the talents of executive producer Steve McEveety (The Passion of the Christ) and actor Eduardo Verastegui (Bella) — includes on-location interviews with experts in the fields of science, history and theology.

Their findings help to recount the "untold" part of the Guadalupe story, which, says Watkins, "doesn’t end with Juan Diego."

 

"The movie really conveys much more than the Guadalupe story," agrees Raymond Arroyo, creator and host of EWTN’s The World Over and guest speaker at the Jan. 24 premiere screening of the documentary.

Referring to the image of Guadalupe, he says that "any image that shows up 500 years after its premiere on an air freshener or a rapper’s bicep is an image firmly ensconced in the popular imagination."

 

But, as Watkins observes, key elements of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe are usually missing from these reproductions. "This is no ordinary icon that we can just alter at will to suit different applications and tastes," he says. "God himself is the artist, and he conveys in the image numerous messages and proofs that demonstrate that it is nothing less than his word."

 

The film sheds light on many of these elements, including the pattern on Our Lady’s garment.

Read more: Documentary of  Lady of Guadalupe

History of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Ultimate symbol of the New Evangelization

The video and following news report is from RomeReports.com:

December 9, 2012. (Romereports.com) The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is centuries old, but its appeal, evergreen. 

As the anniversary of the apparitions approach, Catholics around the world, but especially those from Mexico, prepare to honor her through prayer and song.

Yet, for many, it has taken special significance amidst a push towards the New Evangelization.

FR. JOSE MANUEL SUAZO

Academics Prefect, Mexican College in Rome

“Blessed Mary is able to relay a Christian message to a non-Christian culture.”

The apparitions date back to 1531 in modern day Mexico City, as a humble indigenous man by the name of Juan Diego walked past a hill, where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared before him.

She asked him to convey a message to have a church built in her son's honor. But upon doing so, Juan Diego receives a skeptical response from the archbishop, Friar Juan de Zumárraga.

FR. JOSE MANUEL SUAZO

Academics Prefect, Mexican College in Rome

“The archbishop asks for a sign as proof, to show that Juan Diego is being truthful. And in reality, the archbishop doesn't get one sign, he gets three. The first is appearance of roses.”

Those roses appeared on top of the hill called Tepeyac, in the midst of winter. Juan Diego picked several roses at the Lady's request. But before delivering them, his uncle falls ill and summons Juan Diego to fetch him a priest because he is dying.

While on his way, Our Lady of Guadalupe appears before him again. As Juan Diego apologizes for not delivering the roses, he explains about his uncle's illness.

FR. JOSE MANUEL SUAZO

Academics Prefect, Mexican College in Rome

“To that, our Blessed Virgin Mary responds, 'Am I not your mother, in whom you can confide? I look after and worry about you. Don't worry anymore, your uncle Juan Bernardino has healed.'”

The miraculous healing, gives way to the third and final sign. On December 12, 1531, Juan Diego heads out to see the archbishop, using his cloak to hold the roses he picked on the hill.

FR. JOSE MANUEL SUAZO

Academics Prefect, Mexican College in Rome

 “When Juan Diego goes before Archbishop Friar Juan de Zumárraga, he presents the flowers as a sign. And upon opening up his cloak, the roses fall and miraculously the image of the Our Blessed Lady of Guadalupe appears.”

The image on the cloak, depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe with olive skin and dressed as an Aztec princess triggered a mass conversion among the indigenous population in Mexico to Catholicism.

FR. JOSE MANUEL SUAZO

Academics Prefect, Mexican College in Rome

 “Our Blessed Mary was far ahead of us when it comes to the New Evangelization, presenting the Gospel in a brand new way.” 

The three signs, led to the construction of a cathedral where Our Lady of Guadalupe indicated. Today, a large Basilica in her honor stands there as well.

Image of Virgin Mary Seen on Tree

Hundreds descend on West New York to pray after image of virgin saint spotted in tree

The photograph and following excerpt is from the HudsonReporter.com:

An image that resembles la Virgen de Guadalupe (Mexico's version of the Virgin Mary) was spotted by West New York (NJ) resident Eva Copantitla Tuesday as she was passing by a tree in front of the McDonald's on Bergenline Avenue and 60th Street. Copantitla then ran into Mayor Felix Roque's office around the corner in Town Hall to tell him the news.

Skeptical, Roque followed her to the tree and found a knot in the trunk that bore a remarkable resemblance to the iconic imagery of the Virgen de Guadalupe. Slowly, word spread, and crowds upwards of 100 people began to gather and pray around the tree.

Read more: Hudson Reporter - Hundreds descend on West New York to pray after image of virgin saint spotted in tree

Supporters Claim Miracle Led to Child's Survival

Faith helps Mexican girl battle life-threatening condition

The following excerpt is from The Compass News:

By Steve Wideman

APPLETON — As surgeons prepared to connect Alejandra Anacieto Gregorio to a maze of life-sustaining tubes and wires, one pair of gloved hands gently removed a child's rosary from around her neck, carefully avoiding a life-threatening lesion the size of a softball covering half the 14-year-old girl's face.

The rosary, its pink leather cord holding a brightly painted medallion of the Blessed Virgin, was then wrapped several times around Alejandra's wrist.

Over the next eight hours, as a medical team at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee successfully removed the lesion from her face.

Alejandra, unaware the rosary was now on her wrist, would dream twice of meeting Jesus.

Leticia Santiago Geniesse of Appleton purchased the rosary for Alejandra months earlier during a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe near Mexico City. The shrine marks the spot where the Virgin Mary appeared to peasant Juan Diego in 1531.

"Mexicans are very devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe. And Alejandra is a girl of huge faith," Leticia said.
Leticia believes the visit to the basilica, and a Feb. 18, 2012, visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin, produced a medical miracle for Alejandra.

"There is no doubt in my mind God intervened when all the doors seemed closed to getting help for Alejandra. There is no doubt it was a miracle," Leticia said.

Alejandra, the lesion now all but invisible, expects to reunite in two weeks with her parents and nine siblings in their remote home in the Mexican village of Citlaltepec.

"Our Lady of Guadalupe helps everyone during the most difficult moments," Alejandra said six weeks after the surgery. Without the procedure, physicians had given her a year to live.

During her eight-plus hours on the operating table, Alejandra told Leticia she dreamed twice of seeing Jesus.

"In her first dream, Jesus was standing in front of her home under a tree. She heard birds singing and said everything looked so beautiful. She saw his image but didn't know who he was right away. He said 'Don't worry. Don't be afraid. I will take care of you,'" Leticia said. "As she told me of her dream her face was so beautiful. She was looking up like she wasn't really there. I don't know how to explain it."

In her second dream, Alejandra was joined by her siblings and parents inside her Citlaltepec home.

"She said everyone was very happy," Leticia said. "Alejandra was hiding behind her mom when her mom took her hand and said 'Alejandra. Come see this. This is the Almighty.' There was so much light behind the image, then he opened his arms and she wasn't afraid anymore."

Read more: Alejandra Anacieto Gregorio

Memorare to Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe - Photo by Loci B. Lenar

The following prayer can found on the website of the St. Michael Center for the Virgin Mary:

Memorare to Our Lady of Guadalupe

Feast Day - December 12th

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, that in thy celestial apparitions on the mount of Tepeyac, thou didst promise to show thy compassion and pity towards all who, loving and trusting thee, seek thy help and call upon thee in their necessities and afflictions. 

Thou didst promise to hearken to our supplications, to dry our tears and to give us consolation and relief. Never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, either for the common welfare, or in personal anxieties, was left unaided. 

Inspired with this confidence, we fly unto thee, O Mary, ever Virgin Mother of the True God! Though grieving under the weight of our sins, we come to prostrate ourselves in thy august presence, certain that thou wilt deign to fulfill thy merciful promises. We are full of hope that, standing beneath thy shadow and protection, nothing will trouble or afflict us, nor need we fear illness, or misfortune, or any other sorrow. 

Thou hast decided to remain with us through thy admirable image, thou who art our Mother, our health and our life. Placing ourselves beneath thy maternal gaze and having recourse to thee in all our necessities we need do nothing more. O Holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer us. (Here mention your petition.)

Five Hail Mary's...in gratitude for the four apparitions to Juan Diego and the one to Juan Bernardino.

The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Patroness of the Americas

The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Patroness of the Americas

The following story is from RomeReports.com:

When it comes to religious celebrations, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe ranks high in Latin America, especially in Mexico. Over the years she's been given many endearing titles like “La Morenita,” the “Patroness of the Americas,” and the “Queen of Mexico.” Her feast day is December 12, a day when millions come together to honor  'Our Lady.'
 
Fr. Nicola Tovagliari
Assistant Professor, Regina Apostolorum
 
“We remember the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, in hill of Tepeyac. That's when she introduces herself as the mother of the one true God and the mother of all mankind.”

In Mexico City that very hill now holds the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Every year more than 20 million people visit the Basilica. But the story itself goes back to 1531.

During a recent forum at Regina Apostolorum, Father Tovagliari, recounted how Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared before a humble Indigenous man known as Juan Diego. The Virgin asked him for a shrine. The bishop of the area wasn't sure if Juan Diego was telling the truth. So, he asked him for a sign.

Fr. Nicola Tovagliari
Assistant Professor, Regina Apostolorum
 
“Our Lady manifests all her love and maternal care with Juan Diego. She tells him 'Don't be afraid. I will protect you. You are in my care, under my cloak.' It's because of this situation, these words that mankind loves Our Lady, especially Latin America.”
 
Even though it was winter time, when few flowers are in bloom, Our Lady told Juan Diego to go up a hill where he would find colored roses. He picked them and  placed them on his cloak. When he met with the bishop once again,  the image of “Our Lady” appeared on Juan Diego's cover.

Her image though,  was different from the rest. Her skin tone was dark and resembled that of a Mestiza, meaning a mix between Indigenous and Spanish blood. The community saw her as one of 'their own.'

Fr. Nicola Tovagliari
Assistant Professor, Regina Apostolorum
 
“We must remember and distinguish that Our Lady of Guadalupe isn't just an image, she is a presence. It's the presence of the Mother of God, close to all of us, her children. This is why she is venerated, as a mother who is alive and present.”

In 1990, during John Paul II trip to Mexico, he declared  Indian Juan Diego a blessed. In 2002, he became a saint.

This year, on December 12th  Benedict XVI will celebrate a Mass in honor our Lady of Guadalupe. It's here that he is expected to announce his future trips to Mexico and Cuba scheduled for 2012.

Paintings Inspired by Dreams of Mother Mary

Painter Mona Buencamino - Photo by ABS-CBN

A Filipina's Marian Paintings - ABS-CBN News - Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features

The following excerpt is from ABS-CBNnews.com:

By Mika Barrios

MANILA, Philippines – In 1989, Mona Buencamino dreamt of the Lady of Guadalupe urging her to paint despite not having any painting background at all.

As her dreams of Mother Mary recurred, which she routinely ignored, she finally gave in through her husband's advice.

She started with a small canvas but didn't find her work satisfying. After three hours of practice, she made her first masterpiece of Mother Mary, one of the paintings on display in the San Beda Alabang Museum today.

By June this year, she had finished 27 paintings, enough for the required 30 pieces for the San Beda Museum exhibit in commemoration of Mother Mary's birthday this September 8.

Entitled "Ave Maria", the Marian paintings of Buencamino will be at the Gallery II of the San Beda Museum and open to the viewing public until October 31.

Buencamino's works have found their places around the world, ranging from various provinces in the Philippines, Colombia and Italy. To date, she has made a total of 150 Marian paintings.

Read more: Mona Buencamino

Our Lady of Guadalupe - Feast Day Celebrated December 12

Our Lady of Guadalupe - Images of Faith

The following excerpt on Our Lady of Guadalupe is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) is a celebrated 16th-century icon of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The image, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe) represents a famous Marian apparition. According to the traditional account, the image appeared miraculously on the front of a simple peasant's cloak. The image still exists; it is on display in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. It is perhaps Mexico's most popular religious and cultural image, and the focus of an extensive pilgrimage. The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is December 12. She is said to have appeared to Saint Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City between December 9 and December 12, 1531.

The Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dover, NJ, has a beautiful replica painting on display of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I photographed the picture during my visit to the church.

Photograph Copyright 2009 Loci B. Lenar
Christian-Miracles.com

Prayers to Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe - Guadalupe, Mexico (1531)

Patroness of the Americas
Protectress of the Unborn
Feast Day in the USA - December 12th

John Paul II’s Intercessory Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe

O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of the true God and Mother of the Church!, who from this place reveal your clemency and your pity 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 intercede 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, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children.

Our hope, look 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 come to us from your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

By His Holiness Pope John Paul II while visiting the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, January 1979.


Prayer of John Paul II for Life

O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life:
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.

By Pope John Paul II

Encyclical Letter "The Gospel of Life" Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, in the year 1995, the seventeenth year of his Pontificate.

The prayers of Pope John II are found on Catholic websites.

Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Saint Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City between December 9 and December 12, 1531.  For additional information about the apparition of the Blessed Mother with her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, please visit Catholic Online.

The stained glass window of Our Lady of Guadalupe was photographed inside Our Lady Star of the Sea Church.  The Catholic church is located in Lake Hopatcong, NJ, USA.

Photograph Copyright 2009 Loci B. Lenar
Christian-Miracles.com

Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Photograph by Jan Zatko

Our Lady of Guadalupe ‘completely beyond' scientific explanation, says researcher

(In 1531, the Blessed Mother, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted her image on Saint Juan Diego's cloak.)

The following excerpt is from Catholic News Agency:

Phoenix, Ariz., Aug 7, 2009 / 04:10 pm (CNA).- Researcher and physicist Dr. Aldofo Orozco told participants at the International Marian Congress on Our Lady of Guadalupe that there is no scientific explanation for the 478 years of high quality-preservation of the Tilma or for the miracles that have occurred to ensure its preservation.

Dr. Orozco began his talk by confirming that the conservation of the Tilma, the cloak of St. Juan Diego on which Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared 478 years ago, “is completely beyond any scientific explanation.”

“All the cloths similar to the Tilma that have been placed in the salty and humid environment around the Basilica have lasted no more than ten years,” he explained. One painting of the miraculous image, created in 1789, was on display in a church near the basilica where the Tilma was placed. “This painting was made with the best techniques of its time, the copy was beautiful and made with a fabric very similar to that of the Tilma. Also, the image was protected with a glass since it was first placed there.”

However, eight years later, the copy of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was thrown away because the colors were fading and threads were breaking. In contrast, Orozco said, “the original Tilma was exposed for approximately 116 years without any kind of protection, receiving all the infrared and ultraviolet radiation from the tens of thousands of candles near it and exposed to the humid and salty air around the temple.”

Dr. Orozco then discussed the Tilma’s fabric. He noted that “one of the most bizarre characteristics of the cloth is that the back side is rough and coarse, but the front side is ‘as soft as the most pure silk, as noted by painters and scientists in 1666, and confirmed one century later in 1751 by the Mexican painter, Miguel Cabrera.”

Following an analysis of some of the fibers in 1946, it was concluded that the fibers came from the Agave plant, however, noted Dr. Orozco, the researchers couldn’t figure out which of the 175 Agave species the Tilma was made from. Years later, in 1975, “the famous Mexican researcher Ernesto Sodi Pallares said that the species of the agave was Agave popotule Zacc,” Orozco explained,“but we don’t know how he reached this conclusion.”

Before concluding his presentation, Dr. Orozco made mention of two miracles associated with the Tilma.

The first occurred in 1785 when a worker accidentally spilled a 50 percent nitric acid solvent on the right side of the cloth. “Besides any natural explanation, the acid has not destroyed the fabric of the cloth, indeed it has not even destroyed the colored parts of the image,” Orozco said.

The second miracle was the explosion of a bomb near the Tilma in 1921. Dr. Orozco recalled that the explosion broke the marble floor and widows 150 meters from the explosion, but “unexpectedly, neither the Tilma nor the normal glass that protected the Tilma was damaged or broken. The only damage near it was a brass crucifix that was twisted by the blast."

He continued, “There are no explanations why the shockwave that broke windows 150 meters afar did not destroy the normal glass that protected the image. Some people said that the Son by means of the brass crucifix protected the image of His Mother. The real fact is that we don’t have a natural explanation for this event.”

Dr. Orozco thanked the audience for listening to his presentation and closed by reassuring them that “Our Lady visited Mexico 478 years ago, but she remains there to give Her Love, Her Mercy and Her Care to anyone who needs it, and to bring Her Son, Jesus Christ to everyone who receives Him.”