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Mary, Mother of Life Our Lady of Guadalupe By: Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted on St. Juan Diego’s cloak, speaks a message about life. First, it shows that Mary is carrying Christ within her. She is wearing a dark cord with two tassels hanging down from her waist, called a cinta, which was worn only by pregnant women. And photographs of the image, studied by scientists, reveal a slight protrusion of the abdomen, indicating Our Lady is carrying the Christ Child in her womb. An interesting symbol of life on the...

On November 8, 1519 - only two years after the start of the Protestant Reformation in Western Europe - a Spanish conquistador named Hernando Cortes, led his army into the sprawling city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire in modern-day Mexico. This was the symbolic start of the conquest of the Meso-America by the Spanish. The Spanish conquistadors were seeking fame and fortune. They were accompanied, however, by Catholic missionaries who were seeking to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the indigeonous peoples of Meso-America. For more than a decade, the labor of the Catholic missionaries among...

[SNIP] "He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." Scripture scholars over the years have debated regarding the word he. Should it be translated he or she or even they? But does it matter? In another words, does the he refer to the Messiah who is to come? Does the she refer to Mary? Does the they refer to the descendants of Mary; i.e., Christ and the Church? [SNIP] ...all three lead us to the same conclusion. Since it depends which original text is being used for the translation into our modern languages (the Septuagint or...

Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548) St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548). Little is known about the life of Juan Diego before his conversion, but tradition and archaelogical and iconographical sources, along with the most important and oldest indigenous document on the event of Guadalupe, "El Nican Mopohua" (written in Náhuatl with Latin characters, 1556, by the Indigenous writer Antonio Valeriano), give some information on the life of the saint and the apparitions. Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name "Cuauhtlatoatzin" ("the talking eagle") in Cuautlitlán, today part of Mexico City, Mexico. He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca people, one of...

Source URL's used/referenced: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarco_El%C3%ADas_Calles -- In particular, the heading Cristero War: Anticlerical [Anti-Catholic] legislation enactmenthttp://milujciesie.org.pl/nr/catholic_church/painted_by_a_heavenly.html -- Painted by a Heavenly Hand In the 1920s and 1930s, the infamous Calles Persecution occurred in Mexico. During this time, Freemasons tried to bomb the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The bomb did go off, but not even the glass was cracked, which was not bullet proof and very thin [supernatural protection, apparently]. A 5 foot brass cross on the altar was not as fortunate. The tremendous force of the blast caused the cross to be curved. Many Roman Catholic priests were martyred...

(Reuters) - Light up the grill for July 4 and get six months in jail under stringent new burn rules imposed by one Texas county in response to a devastating and record-breaking drought. An effort to stem wildfires, which have already taken out millions of acres of ranch land here, has encroached on the unofficial Texas pastime of backyard grilling -- as much a part of Texas as football and pick-up trucks.

Encinitas, CA residents in bogus construction worker uniforms installed a 10x10 foot stained glass mosaic of La Señora, riding a surf board a few days before Easter. Since the Easter appearance of this artwork that celebrates surfing culture, the Virgin Mary and ocean conservation, all at the same time, calls have been pouring into the office of Encinitas Councilman Jerome Stocks, some begging the official to not take down the luscious stained glass piece, some calling for the immediate destruction of a blasphemous image that defaces public property. Stocks, who used to be a cartoonist said he likes the piece...

GUNMEN have kidnapped the sole police officer in a northern Mexican town, a 28-year-old woman working alone after her colleagues resigned or were killed in the region's brutal drug war. A dozen unidentified gunmen set Erika Gandara's home ablaze last week and torched two cars parked outside before abducting her, the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office. Guadalupe, the town of 9000 inhabitants she helped keep safe, is located just off the US-Mexico border in the heart of one of the country's most violent regions where 3100 people were killed this year alone. In late November, unidentified gunmen killed another female crime...

St. Juan Diego's tilma: "completely outside" science Monday August 24, 2009 Take a look: A physicist who has spent years researching the tilma bearing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is affirming that there is no scientific explanation for the phenomenon. Adolfo Orozco stated this in a presentation given at an International Marian Congress that took place Aug. 6-8 in Phoenix. The congress, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, the Phoenix Diocese and the Institute of Guadalupan Studies, was dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Orozco gave a presentation on the image of the Virgin imprinted on St. Juan...

Science Sees What Mary Saw From Juan Diego’s TilmaZENITDigital technology is giving new leads for understanding a phenomenon that continues to puzzle science: the mysterious eyes of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Digital technology is giving new leads for understanding a phenomenon that continues to puzzle science: the mysterious eyes of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The image, imprinted on the tilma of a l6th-century peasant, led millions of indigenous Indians in Mexico to convert to the Catholic faith. Earlier this month in Rome, results of research into the famed image were discussed by engineer José...

Guadalupe: A Living ImageSun. September 26 at 10 PM ET, Tue. September 28 at 1 PM ET & Thu. September 30 at 5 AM ET Msgr. Eduardo Chavez, postulator of the cause for canonization of St. Juan Diego, discusses the importance of the Nican Mopohua, a document that presents the original authentic history of the Miracle of Guadalupe. Narrative of the apparition of the Virgin of GuadalupeAppearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe The Nican Mopohua is considered a kind of “gospel” of Mexico, and reports on how the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531, about ten years after the conquest of...

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - He may have sanded his jagged edge, but Joe Eszterhas still, apparently, has the basic instinct. The polarizing scribe, who hasn't had a film released theatrically in the U.S. in more than a decade, has signed on to a project about the mystical sighting of a virgin in 16th century Mexico. Eszterhas will write the screenplay about the virgin of Guadalupe, a vision that appeared to the Aztec peasant Juan Diego in 1531. While some scholars question Diego's existence, the event is credited with helping to spread Catholicism at a time of economic and social...

Dr. Adolfo Orozco at the International Marian Congress on Our Lady of Guadalupe in Glendale, Arizona. Phoenix, Ariz., Aug 7, 2009 / 04:10 pm (CNA).- Researcher and physicist Dr. Aldofo Orozco told participants at the International Marian Congress on Our Lady of Guadalupe that there is no scientific explanation for the 478 years of high quality-preservation of the Tilma or for the miracles that have occurred to ensure its preservation.Dr. Orozco began his talk by confirming that the conservation of the Tilma, the cloak of St. Juan Diego on which Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared 478 years ago, “is...

Congressmen Chris Smith Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2009 / 01:25 pm (CNA).- In an impassionate address to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ,) argued that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the speech delivered immediately after, in Houston, Texas, during Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award  were completely  inexcusable. Smith said that Clinton’s visit to the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where she presented a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the American people, was “a very nice gesture.” But the gesture...

Secretary of State Clinton expresses admiration for Margaret Sanger and confusion about Our Lady of Guadalupe. A day before receiving the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s highest honor – the “Margaret Sanger Award” – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, leaving a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” and asking the basilica’s rector, “Who painted it?”

A classic gaffe, as reported by the Catholic News Agency and a couple of Mexican papers, out of Mexico City Friday: During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” after asking who painted the famous image. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the appearance on Mary’s...

Thus far, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made two diplomatic blunders during her visit to Mexico that the U.S. Old Media are shockingly uninterested in highlighting. One was a policy blunder and the other a cultural/religious one. Clinton's first mistake was in imagining she is still a Senator that can make pronouncements on pending laws and policy plans instead of a mere envoy of the president, a mouth piece that hasn't the same freedom to invent policy prescriptions and laws that a Senator does. Last week, Clinton told Mexican officials that "we" -- as in the U.S. government --...

A day before receiving the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s highest honor – the “Margaret Sanger Award” – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, leaving a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” and asking the basilica’s rector, “Who painted it?” In response to Clinton’s question, basilica rector Msgr. Diego Monroy responded, “God!” The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the cloak of St. Juan Diego in 1531. According to a report from Catholic News Agency, Msgr....

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 27, 2009 / 04:59 pm (CNA).- During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” after asking who painted the famous image. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the appearance on Mary’s eyes of those present in the room when the tilma was...

Congress, Festival for Our Lady of Guadalupe   Events will take place Aug. 6 -8 in Phoenix following Supreme Convention. The Knights of Columbus will hold its First International Marian Congress on Our Lady of Guadalupe from August 6-8, 2009, following the organization’s 127th annual convention in Phoenix.  The Congress will conclude with a Guadalupe Festival at Jobing.com Arena on August 8. Nearly 20,000 attendees are expected from throughout the United States and from Mexico.Co-sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, the Diocese of Phoenix, the Archdiocese of Mexico City and the Center for Guadalupan Studies, the Congress will be held at...