There's something about Mary.
No, not the perky blonde from the Ben Stiller flick, charming though she may be. The Mary I mean is the one we see fluttering on banners in Latino neighborhoods and printed on candles in the ethnic food aisle. This Mary is, physically, the exact opposite of Cameron Diaz: She has dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin. This is Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas.
Under this title, the mother of Jesus is as familiar to many of our Latin-American neighbors as their own mother. In an often fractious political and social atmosphere, full of revolutions, poverty, oppression and unrest, she always has been a unifying force ' a sign that all are one family under her mantle.
Although alien to many of us in the United States, recent waves of immigration have given the Virgin of Guadalupe a much higher profile here.
She has begun to make her appearance on clothing, on tote bags, on items of ever-increasing kitsch. Some Americans feel confused and vaguely threatened by her ubiquitous image, but their unease is usually remedied by the charming story surrounding her picture.
The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe begins in 1531 with the journey of a native Mexican peasant named Juan Diego. A simple weaver and farmer,
Juan was in the habit of making the 15-mile trek from his village to the future Mexico City, where it was possible to hear daily Mass. One December morning, as he passed a place called Tepeyac Hill, he was stopped short by a vision of a woman who looked every inch an Aztec princess.
Speaking in his own language, the beautiful lady informed Juan that she was the Virgin Mary. She asked him to go to his bishop and request that a church be built on the spot where she had appeared. The awe-inspired Juan Diego hurried to the seat of the local diocese and told the bishop all that he had heard. His Excellency was impressed by the peasant's fervor, but he had his qualms. He insisted that Juan come back with some proof.
Before the peasant could return to the place where he had seen Mary, word reached him that a beloved uncle had fallen seriously ill. Hurrying to find a priest to take to his ailing relative, Juan went home by a different route. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him again, however, and gently reassured him that his uncle had been cured. She told him to go up on a snow-covered hill top and gather some of the Castilian roses he would find miraculously blooming in the middle of winter. These blossoms could be taken back to the bishop as proof.
Juan Diego hurried back to the bishop with a cloak full of roses. As he opened the garment to reveal the blooms, they floated to the ground. The bishop dropped to his knees, not so much because of the flowers, but because of the image he saw imprinted on Juan's cloak. There before him was a beautiful replica of the radiant woman Juan Diego had seen dressed as an Aztec princess.
The Lady of Guadalupe's request for a church was granted years ago, and a basilica built on the site of the apparition draws millions of pilgrims every year. Today the miraculous cloak hangs inside the church, still marked with the celestial image of the Virgin Mary. Its former owner was canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
Why has Our Lady of Guadalupe been the recipient of so much enthusiasm and devotion in Latin America through the years? The reasons are legion. Perhaps the element with the greatest significance is that when Mary appeared in the New World, she came with the clothes and language of a native princess and not with the white skin of a European noblewoman. She thus proclaimed herself one with the often oppressed natives, establishing that Christianity was not merely the province of the Spanish conquistadors.
Ultimately, however, her appeal has its roots in more universal longings which find some expression in every culture. From haunting Russian iconography to more familiar medieval European art, Mary has always been depicted as a mother ' mother of Christ, and adoptive mother of humanity. It is probably in this role ' as a loving parent, offering a warm, maternal embrace ' that Our Lady of Guadalupe has won the hearts of so many on our side of the globe.' Maggie Kostendt is a senior journalism major and copy editor for The Post. Send her an e-mail at mk657603@ohiou.edu.
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