Mary K. Daly
Staff Writer
AS A PART of its celebration of “125 years of faith in action,” the Knights of Columbus have recently commenced a national lecture tour, entitled “Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Woman Who Changed the Face of the Hemisphere.” The purpose of this lecture tour is to spread the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe and to honor the 475th anniversary of the apparition.
On Monday, September 24, 2007, Notre Dame’s Knights Council No. 1477 hosted lecturer Father Eduardo Chavez, a leading expert in the apparition’s history and message and St. Juan Diego’s sainthood cause postulator. Giving the lecture in Spanish, Fr. Chavez stated that the ultimate goal of the tour is to spread the message of Guadalupe because of its relevance to all of the people of the American continents. This message, Fr. Chavez said, is centered upon Christ, as it places emphasis on the importance of love for Christ and on Christ’s love for us, His children. However to fully understand the universal applicability of Our Lady’s message revealed at Tepeyac, Mexico, it is essential that we know the true history which led to the events, the message, and the theology of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Problems of the Time
In the years leading up to Our Lady’s apparition in Tepeyac, Mexico, the Indian population of the region underwent significant trauma following the 1521 Spanish Conquista of the Aztec Empire and the continuous arrivals of European Catholic missionaries. One such trauma was a decimating small pox epidemic following the European conquerors’ arrival that resulted in the death of more than one-half of the Indian population. Still greater injury was done to the natives by what Fr. Chavez referred to as a “dramatic death of [Indian] gods.”
Prior to the Conquista, Indians held the belief in the necessity to sacrifice to pagan gods so to maintain harmony in nature and in the life cycle. These worship rituals had consisted of human sacrifice to “feed” the gods by paying homage to the ‘four cardinal points’ of the earth with the blood from the heart of the sacrificed. Following the Spanish conquering, the Indians were no longer allowed to continue these practices. Seeing that the natural order of the universe continued in the absence of their worship and sacrifice, the Indian population quickly began to experience a “moral, spiritual, cultural, and religious collapse” as they realized that their previous sacrifices and worship had been for naught, Fr. Chavez explained.
At the same time that the Indian culture was undergoing radical change, Catholic missionaries present in Tepeyac were experiencing instability and change of their own. The Church in Europe was in the midst of Reformation turmoil, as Henry the VIII, Martin Luther, and John Calvin, and their supporters, broke off from the Roman Catholic churches of England, Germany, and France, respectively.
Between the years 1519 and 1531, missionaries from the Franciscan and Dominican Orders, as well as Diocesan priests, had been arriving in Tepeyac from Europe with the hope of evangelizing the pagan Indian population there. However, Fr. Chavez explained, there were numerous factors that made evangelization nearly impossible. In addition to language barriers (there were close to 20 Indian languages and more than 50 dialects) and geographic impediments, there was a pronounced lack of unity amongst the clergy in Tepeyac, stemming from the instability in Europe. Instead of working together in their mutual evangelical goals, an intense rivalry grew amongst the three groups. Chavez also cited the fierce governmental opposition to the Church in Tepeyac as another enervating factor in the effectiveness of evangelization.
The Guadalupan Event: Its Symbolism, Message, and Theology
The Blessed Mother appeared at Tepeyac at a critical point in history, when no solution seemed possible. Following a government-led assassination attempt in 1529, Bishop Juan de Zumárraga ordered all signs of Catholicism to be removed from the town, saying that, “If God does not intervene to provide an instant remedy, this land is on the verge of being lost forever.” This, Fr. Chavez asserted, was a direct plea to God for help to which the appearance of Mary is a direct answer, an intervention to a situation that seemed hopeless.
Mary’s message at Tepeyac is entirely centered upon Jesus Christ and the love that He has for His people and the Church. She does not preach of herself, but rather requests a church to be built to Christ so that, as Fr. Chavez explained, “she might be able to give all of her love to Christ.” In this, we see Mary submitting to her Son and His love, an example she wishes for us to emulate.
A most important aspect of Mary’s appearance, Fr. Chavez emphasized, was that she appeared to Juan Diego, “a humbled and simple Indian.” Even when Diego had beseeched Mary to send someone else more important and distinguished to the bishop bearing Her message, She lovingly insisted that he be the one to deliver Her message. In doing this, Fr. Chavez described, Mary seeks to underscore the important role and need of the layperson to be actively involved in the Church’s work. This was accomplished through Our Lady’s making Juan Diego, himself, the sign to the bishop.
In the Indian culture, flowers symbolize truth. Thus, when the Blessed Mother sent Juan Diego to the bishop with a cloak-full of flowers, he was bringing a sign that his message was truly divine. But more important than the flowers was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe left on Diego’s tilma. In presentation of the flowers and the tilma, Chavez noted, Juan Diego was presenting “his total being” to the bishop as a sign from heaven for the bishop to build the church requested by Mary.
“I am the source of your joy”
The events of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe contain numerous teachings that are immensely important in the Church today. All of these teachings can been drawn from the four-fold meaning of Saint Juan Diego’s tilma, on which the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appears: Dignification, Matrimony, Protection, and Sustenance.
Dignification of the laity: In the Spanish-Indian society, clothing signified status, Fr. Chavez explained. Because Juan Diego was an Indian member of what would probably have been the lowest echelon of the society, his clothing would have to have been very simple, as only distinguished persons of society could have clothes with detailing. In allowing her image to become imprinted on his tilma, the Virgin calls attention to the dignity of Juan Diego. In this, she highlights and elevates the importance of the role of all of the laity in the Church.
Matrimony: The tilma also symbolizes a ‘marriage’ between the Virgin and the people. In Indian culture, matrimony was formalized by a knotting of the robes of the man and woman being married. In a similar way, the tilma that bears the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe serves as the “knot” between the heavenly and earthly Kingdoms of God.
Protection: In the exchange between the Virgin and Juan Diego, Diego despairingly exclaimed, “We are here [on earth] to work and wait for our death.” The Blessed Mother soothed Juan Diego, saying, “Do not be afraid…Am I not here who am your Mother?” And indeed, Fr. Chavez proclaimed, Mary gives us a symbolic proof of her ever-present maternal protection by imprinting her image on Juan Diego’s cloak.
Sustenance: As described earlier, at the time of the apparitions the Indians were in the midst of a depression resulting from a “dramatic death of their gods.” Previously, the Indians had believed that they bore an obligation to feed the gods. Now, however, Mary sought to have a church built to her Son so that the Indians could give all of their love to Jesus, who would be the “source of [their] joy” and could feed (sustain) the people with the Holy Eucharist. Mary wanted them to cease sacrificing because Christ had already performed the maximum sacrifice for them, for us.
Queen of the Americas
Although much of the symbolism in the tilma is understood through an understanding of Indian culture, Fr. Chavez references the late Pope John Paul II’s explanation of how the Virgin’s message is meant for the Universal Church, not just the Church of Mexico. In examining the image of Mary, it is evident that she is mestizo, or of mixed race. Paraphrasing John Paul II, Fr. Chavez emphasizes the importance of Mary’s mixed race because the Americas traditionally have been, and still are, “a melting pot of people.” Therefore, the mestizo identity of the Virgin’s face is an important component of the “enculturation of evangelization,” or the uniting of the high points of numerous religious cultures as “one culture that finds fullness and abundance in Christ.” It was for this reason that John Paul named the Mary of Guadalupe the Queen of the Americas.
Contact Mary at mdaly4@nd.edu. Mary would also like to thankfully acknowledge Victor Saenz for his assistance in the writing of this article.
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