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The Miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe

Presentation · January 2005

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3680.6482

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 The Miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe:
Catholic Tradition and Scientific Evidence
By Alan Garfinkel and Joseph Scott
Prayer
• Hail Mary full of grace
the Lord is with thee.
• Blessed art thou among
women and blessed is
the fruit of thy womb
Jesus.
• Holy Mary, Mother of
God, pray for us sinners
now and at the hour of
our death.
• Amen
Faith versus Science
• What is Faith?
!
• Faith is a Gift of God - a belief in the
absolute Truth. It is unlimited in essence
and only partially understood. Faith is
"certain" and seeks understanding (this
is where science comes in).
What is Science?
!
• Science is man's use of the gift of
reason. It is his experience and thought
applied to pursue a fuller understanding
of the absolute Truth - GOD, the Will of
God. This "reasoned approach" applies
not only to our scientific studies in
physics, mathematics, chemistry,
medicine, and astronomy, but also in
anthropology, history, philosophy,
sociology, etc.
 Faith versus Science

• According to the Catechism of

the Catholic Church "there
should never be any real
discrepancy between Faith
and Reason (science).”
• The human heart is drawn to
understand the things he has
put his faith in.
• For this purpose we have the
gift of reason and the
application of reason, in the
light of the truth.
• That is our definition of
science.

Virgin of Guadalupe
Juan Correa, Mexico (b. 1646, active: 1671-1716)
Oil on Canvas | 78 in x 52 in
 Mary Among Us: Apparitions
• Virgin of Guadalupe (1531)
• One of the most astounding
apparitions in the history of the
Church took place in 1531 in
Mexico.
• According to tradition on
December 9, 1531 a poor Aztec
man named Juan Diego was
walking near a hill at Tepeyac just
northwest of Mexico City when our
blessed Mother Mary appeared.
• This was a unique apparition of
the Blessed Virgin Mary: the only
one where she left us a
miraculous life-sized portrait of
herself.
 Virgin of Guadalupe: Controversy
• The nature of the apparition
and its validity has been
controversial from its
inception.
• As recently as 1996 some in
the Catholic church denied
the account and identified
Juan Diego “as a symbol
not a reality.”
• Some have recently
questioned the miraculous
nature and said her image is
simply a painting and not a
supernatural artifact.
 Virgin of Guadalupe: Defense
• As Catholics we should be
prepared to defend the
legitimacy and truth of our
faith.
• The Catholic Church has
approved the Guadalupan
apparition as valid.
• One of only three considered
so, this being the most
ancient.
• The church has also recently
canonized Juan Diego as a
saint.
Guadalupe Apparition:
The Event
• Juan Diego was attracted to the
apparition, since he heard
beautiful bird songs.
• Flowers and songs represent
the full truth to the Aztec
Indians.
• Mary told him to tell the bishop
to build a chapel where he was
standing.
• Juan obeyed her direction but
the Spanish Bishop, Fray Juan
de Zumarraga, did not believe
him and asked for a sign
verifying his claim.
 Guadalupe Apparition: The Tilma
and Castillian Roses
• Juan returned to the same spot
on December 12 and found
Castillian roses blooming.
• These roses did not grow
naturally in Mexico and were
indigenous to the Bishop’s
native home in Spain and they
were blooming in the dead of
winter.
• Mary again spoke to Juan and
asked that he pick the roses as
a sign to the Bishop.
• Juan did as he was told and
gathered up the roses in his
outer garment known as a tilma
or ayate.
Guadalupe Apparition:
The Tilma Image
• When Juan opened
his tilma to pour out
the roses for the
bishop an image of
Mary appeared on his
cloak.
• All were amazed at
what they saw and
believed Juan’s story.
 The Tilma: Composition
• Juan’s "tilma" or "ayate", is a kind
of cloak worn by native
Mexicans. Upon this cloak is
where the Image of the Virgin of
Guadalupe was miraculously
manifested on December 12th,
1531.
• The tilma consists of two pieces
of coarse cloth (hemp) made
fibers joined together in the
center by a seam of thread made
of the same material.
• The seam is visible up the middle
of the figure, turning aside from
the face.
 Virgin of Guadalupe
• The image on Juan Diego’s
tilma is often recognized as a
coded message full of symbols
and metaphors meant for the
indigenous Aztec Indians of
Mexico.
• Perhaps it is also a symbol with
veiled meanings still timely and
current for us today.
• Let us explore the meanings in
this message first as seen
through the veil of Aztec
culture, metaphor and
symbolism.
The Tilma Image: A Guadalupan Aztec
Codex
• First, the lady on the tilma appeared
to be Indian, olive skinned and
spoke Nahuatl, the Aztec language,
and appeared to an Indian (Juan
Diego), not a Spaniard!
• Second, Juan Diego explained that
she appeared at Tepeyac, the place
of Tonantzin, the mother god,
sending a clear message that the
woman on the tilma was the mother
of the true God, and implying that
the Christian religion was to replace
the Aztec religion.
• And third, the Indians, who learned
through pictures and symbols,
readily understood the images and
meaning of the tilma, which
revealed the beautiful message of
Christianity.
Aztec Culture and Guadalupe
• Mary appears as a beautiful young
woman with a look of peace, love,
compassion, and humility, her
hands folded in prayer.
• Her blue mantle symbolized the
royalty of the Aztec gods, and the
blue color also symbolized life and
unity.
• The stars on the mantle signified
the beginning of a new civilization.
• Most important are two crosses
and the black maternity band,
signifying she was with child.
• On the brooch around her neck
was a black Christian cross,
indicating she is both a bearer and
follower of the true God
The Tilma Image: A Guadalupan Aztec
Codex
!
• At the center of the image is found an
Aztec cross, the center of the cosmic
order to the Indian. This symbol
indicated that the baby Mary carried
within her was the new center of the
universe.
• This symbol is called the nahuiollin,
indicating the expected apocalyptic end
of the current Aztec era governed by
the fifth sun created for them.
• In fact, so important was this design
that their capital city Tenochtitlan was
designed in a quatrefoil pattern with the
temple as its nucleus.
• Most importantly, this design apparently
symbolized the Indians’ highest deity,
Ometéotl.
• The Virgin’s image speaks to the
Indians profound desire for God.
The Sun
• The image shows the Lady
surrounded by a sunburst. The sun
was the greatest of the Aztec gods.
!
• Mary stands in front of and hides
the sun, but the rays of the sun still
appear around her, signifying she
is greater than the sun god, the
greatest of the native divinities, but
the rays of the sun still bring light.
!
• Twelve rays of the sun surround
her face and head.
!
• By standing in front of the sun,
Mary shows that she is greater
than all their ancient gods.
 And the Moon
• To the Aztec the moon represented
the God of darkness and death.
• She stands on the moon,
supported by an angel with wings
like an eagle: to the Aztec, this
indicated her superiority and defeat
of the moon god, and her divine,
regal nature.
• Standing with her foot treading on
the moon is a sign that these
powers have been defeated.
• Yet the people understood that
Mary was human.
• Her hands were joined in a prayer
of supplication, therefore not a
goddess herself; there is someone
greater than her.
The Angel
• Supporting the Mother of
God is an angel with
eagle's wings. The eagle
was 'the bird of the sun'
and sacred in Aztec
culture.
• Here the eagle is seen as
a servant of the Virgin.
• This spirit being is holding
her mantle with one hand
and her robe with the
other.
Human Sacrifice
• It was the traditional Aztec
belief that the sun God
necessitated human sacrifice
otherwise it would not continue
to rise and set or cooperate in
the needs of the Indians.
• The Aztecs sacrificed 20,000
victims a year and at special
events featured sacrifices of as
many as 80,000 persons over
four days.
• These sacrifices did not
completely cease until after the
Virgin of Guadalupe appeared!
 Tepeyac, Tonantzin, and The Nahuatl Name of Guadalupe

• Tepeyac was the pre-columbian

worship site for the Aztec mother
goddess Tonantzin where Mary
appeared to Juan Diego.
• Tonantzin became one of the
Nahuatl Indian names for the
Virgin Mary.
• Extensive studies and
comparative research strongly
indicate that Mary told Juan
Diego that her name was “te
Coatlaxopeuh” (pronounced as
tay quatlasupay) meaning the
one that crushes or stamps out
the stone serpent.
• That is in fact the name still used
by those that speak Nahuatl in
Mexico.

!
The "Nican Mopohua" is the original narration of the apparitions written in nahuatl
(Aztec language). It was written in 1545, only fourteen years after the Guadalupe event
of December 9 to 12, 1531
 Quetzalcoatl, Satan, and Mary

• The Aztec feathered

serpent god Quetzalcoatl
was the fierce serpent god
that the Indians annually
offered thousands of human
sacrifices.
• This pagan god and stone
serpent of the Aztecs, as
Christians we take to
represent Satan, and this
metaphor reminds us of the
biblical passage in Genesis.
Virgin of Guadalupe and Scripture
• “And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because
you have done this thing, you are cursed among
all the … beasts of the earth… I will establish a
feud (conflict) between you and the woman
(understood as referring to Mary), and your
seed (seed of the devil) and her seed: she
shall crush your head; and you shall lie in
wait for her heel (the serpent can do nothing
to stop this).” (Genesis 3:14-15)
 The Virgin of
Guadalupe Image:
Christian Symbolism

• Image 78 inches in length

(over 7 feet) and 42
inches in width
• We see an adolescent
woman around 15, oval,
clear, dark face, a little
mother. She measures
just 4 feet 8 inches in
height in the picture.
Probably a bit taller in real
life as she bends one
knee and her head is
bowed in reverent prayer.
The Virgin of Guadalupe Image:
Christian Symbolism

• Dress her garment in

a reddish-orange or
even a pastel pink and
has designs of gold
thread overlaying it.
• The latter is a common
Middle Eastern garment.
• These designs appear
superimposed over
the fabric.
 Virgin of Guadalupe:
The Jewish Maiden?
• Cuffs at the end of dress
rolled back over the
sleeves and are of white
fur, these are elements of
typical dress for Jewish
nobility - nothing Indian
about it and are a
remarkable detail attesting
to the Jewish roots of our
faith.
Virgin of Guadalupe and
the Book of Revelations
• Juan Diego’s tilma
appears as a mirror of
sacred scripture.
• Revelation 12:1-3 points
to this fact.
• “And there appeared a
great wonder in heaven a
woman clothed with the
sun with the moon under
her feet and upon her
head a crown of 12 stars.”
• The image painted by this
word picture is a startling
reflection of the tilma…
 Virgin of
Guadalupe
• Rays bright near body, fade out
away from body 129 rays - 62
on right, 67 on left equidistant
alternating forms: straight like
swords also akin to undulating
flames
• Red Border because of a rising
sun - new life
- blood
• Clouds surround the entire
image – wind, breath
The Miracle of Conversion
• The most astounding aspect of this
event is the result.
• Benavente, recorded in his Historia de
los Indios, published in 1541, that
• "I have to affirm that at the convent of
Quecholac, another priest and myself
baptized 14,200 souls in five days. We
even placed the oil of catechumens and
Holy Chrism on all of them."
!
• Between nine and fifteen million Indians
converted to Catholicism as a result of
Juan’s meeting with Mary.
• This is the greatest mass conversion in
the history of the Catholic church and
this transformation caused an abrupt
end to the demonic period of mass
human sacrifice.
 Pope Pius XII and
the Guadalupe Tilma Miracle
• “And it happened,” Pope Pius XII
proclaimed in a radio address in 1945, “the
sounding of the Hour of God … when on
the shores of Lake Texcoco there flowered
the Miracle … brushes which were not of
this earth painted an Image most tender,
which the corrosive work of the centuries
has marvelously respected.”
Virgin of Guadalupe: Miracles
• Replicas of Juan Diego’s
tilma made with the same
type of fiber materials last
only a short time before
disintegrating.
• After almost 500 years
Juan’s tilma is still well-
preserved with the image
of our Lady. This same
tilma is on display in the
basilica in Mexico City.
The Hemp Tilma

• It is miraculous that
the tilma maintains its
structural integrity
after nearly 500 years.
• The tilma is made of
rather sturdy and
resilient hemp fiber.
The Basilica of Guadalupe
• The Basilica of
Guadalupe in Mexico
City where the tilma is
on display is the most
visited Catholic shrine
or pilgrimage site in
the world.
• 18 to 20 million
pilgrims visit the shrine
to our Lady of
Guadalupe each year.
Virgin of Guadalupe and Science
• In 1936 a Nobel prize-
winning chemist, Dr
Richard Kuhn,
analysed the fibers
and coloring of the
tunic. He discovered
the color was not of
vegetable, mineral, or
animal origin and was
not of any known
earthly element!
Virgin of Guadalupe and Science
• In May 1979, a NASA
scientist after studying the
image concluded “There is
no way to explain the
quality of the pigments
used for the pink dress,
the blue veil, the face and
hands, their
permanence… or the
vividness of the colors
after several centuries,
during which they
ordinarily should have
deteriorated.”
 Virgin of Guadalupe
• The picture is miraculously
“imprinted” onto the tilma and
microscopic study attests that
there are no brush strokes.
• The image is rendered on an
unsized canvas.
• At very close range one can
discern the uneven texture of
the handwoven cloth and its
apparent transparency – a poor
canvas for any sort of
“painting”.
• Infrared photos completed by
Dr. Philip Callahan and Jody B.
Smith, University of Florida
biophysicist, in 1979 reveal no
undersketch.
Scientific Study
• The portrait of Mother Mary
created by supernatural means
has not been exempt from
human interference
• Just as treasured statues and
images are adorned with jewels
and golden trinkets so also
have the devotees of
Guadalupe expressed their love
and gratitude with various
trimmings
• Additions to the image have
included angels in the clouds
that soon faded and fell away;
rays of the sun were gilded and
are flaking; and the white moon
sheathed in silver has turned
black and is still chipping off.
 Miracles
• The tilma resisted a 1791
muriatic acid (an
ammonia) spill that could
have created a
considerable hole –
instead only a light
staining exists.
!
• In 1921 an anarchist !
placed a bomb in an !
offering of flowers that !
destroyed the shrine but !
left the image undamaged. !
• Brass candelabra bent from 1921 explosion
 The Eyes of the Virgin
• Photographers and
ophthalmologists have reported
minute images reflected in the
eyes of the Virgin.
• Alfonso Marcué, the Basilica’s
official photographer in Mexico
city, discovered in 1929 what
seemed to be the image of a
bearded man, reflected in
Mary’s right eye.
• More than 20 years later, on
May 29, 1951, Jose Carlos
Salinas Chavez, rediscovered
the same image located on the
left eye too.
 The Eyes of the Virgin
• Upon further inspection they
said that the reflections are
analagous to what is termed the
Purkinje-Sansome effect,
commonly found only in human
eyes.
• There are multiple reflections in
the exact places and with the
proper distortion as they would
only appear in human eyes.
• Dr. Jose Aste-Tonsmann has
intensively studied the images
and enlarged them using
computerized digital
magnification to 2500X power.
The Eyes of the Virgin
• Dr. Tonsmann published his studies
on the eyes in "El Secreto de sus
Ojos" (The secret of her eyes), with
complete details and photographs.
• His analysis started in 1979, while
working at IBM he scanned at very
high resolution a very good
photograph, taken from the original,
of the face on the tilma.
• After filtering and processing the
digitized images of the eyes to
eliminate "noise" and enhance
them, he made some astonishing
discoveries: not only the "human
bust" was clearly present in both
eyes, but other human figures were
seen reflected in the eyes too!
 The Eyes of the Virgin
• In the eyes of Mary (only
about 1/3rd inch in size),
miniscule human figures
were discovered that no
artist could have painted.
• The same scene is
repeated in each eye.
• Each eye reflects the • According to Dr. Tonsmann, from left to right we can
see "the Indian", “Bishop Zumarraga", the
figure of the Aztec Indian "translator", "Juan Diego showing the tilma" and
Juan Diego opening his below "the family".

tilma in front of Bishop

Zumarraga.
 The Eyes of the Virgin
• In the identified images
are a small family, an
interpreter, another Indian
man, and the Bishop
himself.
• The images within her
eyes are only 1/100 of an
inch in size.
• Her eyes reflected and
captured the scene of
what was in front of Our
Lady in 1531.
 Virgin of Guadalupe

!
!
!
!
• Juan Diego was canonized as a saint in 2002.
What is the message of Guadalupe?
• In the center of her eyes is the
family image
• A baby is carried on the back of
one woman
• Is this not a message of the
importance of the family
especially now that the family is
under such tremendous attack?
• Is the secret and message of
Our Lady telling us to stay
strong and bold?
• Fight for the Culture of Life and
Light in the face of a Culture of
Death and Darkness…
What is the message of Guadalupe?
• Just as she appeared in the 16th
century, she reappears to our new
eyes today through her eyes and the
help of modern technology to remind
us to see and envision the
importance of our true faith
• Of the reality of God, her son, and
the love and tenderness of our
savior and his mother
• She reassures us with her words…
• “Let not your heart be disturbed.
Do not fear sickness or anguish. Am
I not here, who am your Mother?
Are you not under my protection?
Am I not your health? Are you not
happily within my fold? What else
do you wish? Do not grieve nor be
disturbed by anything.” (Words of
our Lady to Juan Diego).

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