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![](http://media.brownpride.com/history/our_lady/lady_guadalupe.jpg)
Artist: unknown Photo: Sal Rojas
Our Lady of Guadalupe
The most revered shrine in Mexico, it honors the nation's
patron saint, The Guadalupe Virgin.
Mexican Catholics believe that on December 9, 1531
the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego, a humble Indian, while
he was walking to church in Tlateloco over Tepeyac Hill...
speaking to him in Nahuatl language told him that a church
should be built on the spot. Reporting back to the local
bishop, Diego was treated with some skepticism... the bishop
requested proof.
The Indian returned on December 12 - the Virgin reappeared, asking
him to take roses to the Bishop as proff...using his mantle to gather
the roses, on opening his cloak before the Bishop, they found a vivid
image of the Virgin imprinted on the cloth. The cloth hangs over the
main altar in a frame of pure gold; vistors can pass beneath the cloth
via a moving sidewalk.
December 12 remains a high point in the religious calendar; the shrine
brings thousands of pilgrims year-round from all over the world.
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