It was certain signs that convinced the bishop and the inhabitants of the new Mexico City of the authenticity of what Juan Diego was saying. Specifically, it was the cloak (tilma) of the visionary.

The cloak

To believe in the authenticity of the apparitions, Bishop Juan de Zumárraga asked Juan Diego for a sign, and during the fourth apparition, the Virgin told the seer to gather some flowers that had miraculously bloomed on Tepeyac (Castilian roses that bloomed in December in arid soil) and to take them to the bishop after placing them in his agave fiber cloak.

Juan Diego obeyed and, before the bishop and several witnesses, unfolded the cloak, on which, as the flowers appeared, the image of the Virgin Mary appeared.

What do we know about this cloak, with the image printed on it?

• It is aceropita (a term derived from Greek meaning «not hand-painted»), like the Shroud of Turin: the colors float 0.3 mm above the fiber, as if suspended.

• Scholars define it as the «Guadalupano Codex» or «Theophanic-Indigenous Codex,» because the indigenous people did not use the alphabet, but rather sacred pictograms made by the tlacuilos. The tilma is, therefore, a sacred visual text, understandable in Nahua symbolic grammar and written on cloth (but they were also «written» on amatl, paper obtained from fig or agave fiber).

• It is a simple garment, worn by peasants, rough and fragile, made of natural fabric that deteriorates in 15-20 years. But Juan Diego's has lasted almost five centuries without significant deterioration, even withstanding a bomb explosion.

• It has both Christian and indigenous symbolic characteristics.

The symbols of the code

Among the symbols immediately interpretable by the Mexicas are:

• The Nahui Ollin, a four-petaled flower in the Virgin's womb. The most sacred symbol in Nahua cosmology, it represents the one God (from whom all other divinities emanate), the origin of life and time, the center of the universe (axis mundi), the point where heaven and earth meet. For a Mexica, this flower in the Virgin's womb meant that the one God entered history in the womb of a mother. It should also be noted that flowers, in the Nahua world, are a highly symbolic object, the supreme symbol of truth and spiritual life. Offering them meant offering one's own heart.

• The stars. The tilma shows the exact map of the stars visible in the sky above Mexico City on December 12, 1531. This has a very strong meaning, which translates into the concept of tlalticpac in ilhuicac, «harmony between heaven and earth»: something that occurs in history but is confirmed by the stars, a union between the human and the divine, the celestial and the earthly.

• The maternal belt. The Virgin wears a black band across her belly, just like pregnant Mexica women, indicating that she is not a goddess, but rather carries Nahui Ollin, or the divine, the one God, in her womb. Here too, we can see the similarity between this symbol and the concept of Theotokos (mother of God) referring to Mary, a creature but mother of the Creator.

• The posture. The bent knee and the left foot forward indicate the typical position of the sacred Mexica dance, netotiliztli: a dance that is prayer, the body moving in harmony with the cosmic rhythm, like a person moving and relating to creation and creatures.

• The eyes. Visible only since the 20th century, the eyes of the Virgin of Guadalupe contain microscopic reflections of thirteen figures. The first person to notice this detail was a photographer, Alfonso Márquez, in 1929. The discovery was confirmed in 1951 by José Carlos Salinas, who identified the silhouette of Juan Diego. In 1979, thanks to digital magnification, other figures reflected in the pupils were identified, including Bishop Zumárraga, an interpreter, and a family group, with an optical effect compatible with that of a living human eye: a detail impossible to achieve with the painting techniques of the time.

• The sun and the moon. The Virgin appears clothed with the sun and standing on the dark moon. In Mexica culture, the sun and moon were very powerful deities. The fact that the Virgin is clothed with the sun and standing on the moon indicates that she has surpassed these figures: as a creature, Mother of the Creator and of mankind, not only she, but all her children «surpass» the ancient idols.

Dialogic or impositive mission

The fall of Tenochtitlán in 1521 was not only a political event, but for the Mexicas it meant the end of the Fifth Sun, that is, the end of the world: the cosmic order was collapsing, not just the empire. It was a time of uprooting and disorientation: the sacrifices had ended, but the sun continued to rise. Why? Thus, in addition to grief, there remained an openness to the sacred, to the divine, to someone who could come to their aid.

Let's consider some facts.

The Mexicas were very attached to their tradition, linked to the concept of «having roots» (only what took root in history, community, and identity was authentic—neltiliztli tlacatl, «the man who has roots»). This meant that they were willing to improve and purify their traditions, but not to eradicate or replace them.

Some Spanish missionaries, such as Bernardino de Sahagún, Alonso de Molina, and Diego Valadés, understood this well and adopted a «dialogical» model of mission: they attempted to translate the Gospel into Nahua concepts and language.

Others, however, preferred to adopt a «punitive» model, convinced (Talk of 1524) that the indigenous people had attracted divine wrath with their behavior and that, therefore, their past should be literally erased, eradicating them from their traditions.

Among them was Juan de Zumárraga, the first bishop of New Spain and Mexico City, who was precisely the one who asked Juan Diego for the sign and then believed him after seeing the cloak.

Zumárraga destroyed idols, temples, and manuscripts in an attempt to erase the Nahua spiritual heritage. However, it was precisely he, the symbol of the impositive model, who was granted the most precious sign: that theophanic-indigenous code that is the tilma with the image of the Virgin imprinted on it.

A message not «imposed from above»

Guadalupe's message, a message of reconciliation and overcoming conflicts, is therefore not only for new believers, but also for old ones. It is as if the Virgin, as a good and patient mother to all her children, revealed herself to some in order to purify their memory and their past, confirming what was already good but overcoming what was wrong, and to others not to correct them like a teacher, but to «educate» them in dialogue, proclaiming the Gospel and without imposing a cultural model.

It is significant that the Virgin does not disregard the bishop (whom she involves in everything and who is often the recipient of her messages and to whom she directs her requests), an authority of the Church and a Spaniard, and that she does not limit herself to translating the Christian message into another language, but rather reveals it using language and emotional, religious, and cultural categories that are typically Nahua. She does not speak from outside: she speaks from within the soul of Mexico, which, in fact, was giving birth.

German sociologist Hartmut Rosa argues that people change and transform not simply when they receive new ideas, but when something resonates within them, as if reality were echoing their own voice. And this experience of «resonance» occurs when there is no domination, but rather openness, emotional involvement, personal response, and mutual transformation.

Communication theorists Kent and Taylor make a similar assertion in their «theory of dialogic communication,» stating that true dialogue, as the «highest form of communication,» is based on empathy, closeness, the risk of opening up to the other, and a commitment to a lasting relationship.

And Guadalupe is this: an experience of resonance, mutual recognition, empathy.

Between 1531 and 1545, between 8 and 10 million spontaneous conversions were recorded, without coercion, but not to the «Spanish» faith, but to an inculturated Christian faith (John Paul II defined Guadalupe as «the first and most perfect example of inculturated evangelization in the history of the Church»).

Mexican anthropologist Miguel León-Portilla stated, in fact, that «in Guadalupe, it was not a new religion that was born, but a new identity: neither Spanish nor indigenous, but mestizo, Mexican.».

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December 12 is a very important date for Mexico and the entire American continent: the Marian apparitions of Guadalupe (1531).

There is even a saying: a Mexican may not be Christian, but he is undoubtedly a devotee of Guadalupe. Let's try to understand why.

The context

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Mexicas, also known as the Aztecs, had dominated some three hundred tribes and peoples in the Mesoamerican region. The Spanish were impressed by their large cities, aqueducts, water canalization systems, and political organization, but above all by the precision with which the Mexicas observed and recorded celestial movements.

This precise knowledge of astronomy was related to their religious conception of the cosmos. For them, everything was sacred, and the balance of the universe was based on a series of fundamental rituals, including human sacrifices.

The diverse Mexica pantheon included deities such as Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Coatlicue, and others.

Huitzilopochtli was the main deity: linked to the sun and war, he was depicted as a fierce being. The Mexicas believed that, in order for the sun to rise each morning, it was necessary to feed Huitzilopochtli with the blood and entrails of human sacrifice victims, so that the god would not devour the sun.

Huitzilopochtli's mother (and «collective» mother) was Coatlicue, which in Nahuatl means «clothed in serpents.» In Nahua mythology (a term that defines all peoples who speak the Nahuatl language, including the Mexicas), the snake is a symbol of fertility, and Coatlicue was an ambivalent deity: mother of the earth and living beings on the one hand, destroyer on the other.

Huitzilopochtli had his main temple where Mexico City's cathedral now stands, in the Zócalo. His mother Coatlicue, on the other hand, probably had hers on a hill called Tepeyac.

With the fall of Tenochtitlán in 1521, brought about not only by the Spanish but also by other Nahua peoples opposed to the Mexicas and allied with the Europeans to defeat their rulers, a period began for the Mexicas that, in Nahuatl, is called nepantla: «being in the middle.» In fact, they felt «suspended,» without roots and without their cultural and religious reference points. With the temples destroyed and the impossibility of continuing human sacrifices, the possibility of the world moving forward also came to a halt for them.

The arrival of the Spanish was interpreted as the end of the Fifth Sun. The Mexicas believed, in fact, that the history of the universe was divided into five Suns (Tonatiuh), each of which was destined to end in catastrophe. The «light-skinned men from the east» coincided with the return of the god Quetzalcoatl, and their weapons, horses, epidemics, and the fall of Tenochtitlán marked precisely the end of the era of the Fifth Sun, that is, of their sacred, political, and cosmic order.

However, the sun continued to rise.

Mother arrives

In those dramatic times, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, a Nahua convert to Christianity, of noble but poor origin, was walking at dawn on the slopes of Tepeyac Hill, the same place where the Nahua mother goddess Coatlicue (or, in any case, a female deity called Tonantzin, «our beloved mother,» which could be a title attributed to Coatlicue), he heard a sweet woman's voice calling him in Nahuatl, using a poetic and ritualistic register (Nahuatl is an extremely complex language with different colloquial registers among speakers, depending on social class or degree of affection or kinship).

The woman named him Juandiegotzin (like saying: Juandieguito) and addressed him with terms of endearment such as noicnocahuatzin, noconetzin («my beloved, my little son»), delicate linguistic forms, typically Mexica, which we find today in Mexican Spanish (hijito, etc.).

Juan Diego did not immediately understand who she was, because the mestizo features of this female figure did not correspond to the image of the Virgin that the Spanish missionaries had shown him. He understood when the woman, dressed like a Nahua princess, introduced herself as the ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God.

The apparitions

For a detailed reconstruction of the events, I invite you to read Nican Mopohua, the chronicle written in Nahuatl around 1550 by Antonio Valeriano.

Here we will only give a chronological summary of the five apparitions:

• December 9, 1531 (first). The Virgin appears to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill and asks him to tell the bishop to build her a church.
• December 9 (second). Juan Diego sees the Virgin again after the bishop's refusal; she encourages him to persist.
• December 10 (third). The bishop asks for a sign, and the Virgin promises it to the visionary.
• December 12 (fourth). The Virgin instructs Juan Diego to gather some Castilian roses that have miraculously bloomed and then imprints her image on the seer's cloak (tilma).
• December 12 (Friday). The Virgin appears to Juan Diego for the last time and promises to protect him, announcing that his uncle Juan Bernardino, who was ill, has been cured. She also appears to his uncle, presenting herself for the first and only time with the title by which she is famous («of Guadalupe»).

The words spoken by the Lady of Heaven

The woman of the apparitions said, in Nahuatl (Nican Mopohua, nos. 26-28), among other things:

«Nicuicahua in noisotlaxōchīuh, nicān nicān niquīz;
Nehuatl in teteoh īnantzin, in tloque nahuaque,
in īpalnemoāni, in teyocoyani;
nicān nimitstlatlauhca, nimitstlatlauhtiliz:
nicān niquimati in notech monequi in notech nehua;
Nicán Nimitzmotlaloa,
ca ni in monantzin,
in the night of the stars,
in Monantzin in Tlalticpactlacatl,
in monantzin in nochi in intlācah.

What it means

«I am the Mother of Teteoh (the true God of the teōtl, that is, the Divinity from which all others emanate),
from Tloque Nahuaque (He who possesses all that exists),
of Ipalnemoani (He through whom men live),
from Teyocoyani (He who creates people).
I am your Mother,
the Mother of all of you who live on this earth,
and the Mother of all men and peoples who will invoke me, love me, and trust in me.

However, his most famous words are as follows:

«Listen, my son, the youngest, the youngest of my children:
Do not let your heart be troubled; do not be afraid.
Am I not here, who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not the source of your joy?
What else do you need?.

At Tepeyac, a Mexica saw a Mother who was very different from Coatlicue, who had previously been venerated there. This new mother was sweet and respectful, like the one who appeared to Bernadette in 1858, and spoke the seer's language in such a kind manner that Bernadette said that the Lady had spoken to her «as one person speaks to another» (the poor girl was not used to being treated that way).

La Guadalupana proclaimed herself not only the mother of the true and perfect God, but also of Juan Diego and of all men and peoples who invoked her and whom she would be willing to listen to, console, protect, and guide.

Guadalupe

Why is the Virgin who appeared to Juan Diego known as «Our Lady of Guadalupe»?

Two things should be clarified: the Lady never used this expression with him; the «original» Virgin of Guadalupe is located in Extremadura (Spain) and is linked to the Reconquista and the expeditions to the New World, to such an extent that Columbus and many conquistadors from that region (Cortés, Pizarro) were devoted to her and took her name to America.

If today we know the Virgin of Tepeyac by this title, it is perhaps due to a phonetic distortion, also related to a European interpretation. On December 12, 1531, in fact, Juan Diego's uncle, Juan Bernardino, who was ill at home, also had an apparition of the Virgin, who appeared to him saying:

«Nican nicā Tepēuh ican nicā Tequantlazopeuh»
«I am the one who is born/appears on the hill, the one who crushes the serpent.».

Probably, then, when both Juan Diego and his uncle recounted the episode, the Spaniards who did not speak Nahuatl understood Tequantlazopeuh as if it were Guadalupe. Or the indigenous people, knowing the Europeans' veneration for the Virgin of Guadalupe, associated that title with the one that had been defined as Tequantlazopeuh.

However, the meaning was very clear to both the indigenous people and the Europeans: for some, this Mother crushed the serpent, overcoming and replacing the deity worshipped on that hill; for others, she defeated evil and fulfilled the prophecy of Genesis 3:15.

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