December 12 we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas and of the Philippines. The shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage destination in the world. The image is described as the Woman of the Apocalypse (Revelation 12:1): "clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" Mother Mary, pray for us!

May she put an end to the human sacrifice of our day, namely abortion, which is done all in the name of choice and convenience.

It was most scandalous in Los Angeles a few years ago, when a Mexican woman ran for political office using La Virgen de Guadalupe as a campaign poster image, even while her platform included her support of abortion "rights" and related things.  She won the election.  

Meanwhile, all over southern California, the spill-over from Mexico continued to grow, and does even today, whereby the Image on the tilma of Juan Diego is given "poetic license" and many alternative images are found, showing a very different kind of thing, something that is obviously not Our Lady.  I would say it is a deception of the devil.  These alternative images are made into statues and are also commonplace among Mexican gang members as symbols of their gang, and as code language.

I know a number of traditional Catholics who are Hispanic descent here in L. A., and they will have nothing to do with the now-corrupted "Mananitas" celebrations that go on in key parishes all over town, including Santa Rosa (St. Rose of Lima) in San Fernando, and Immaculate Conception in Pacoima (where a most impressive exterior bronze of St. Jude stands 1.5 scale for all to see, surrounded by candles and flowers 24/7/365).   They realize that the commercialization and utter disregard of doctrine and Sacred Tradition is the rule of the day.  There is no longer anything holy or beautiful about this event, except for the Image itself, which is maintained (so far) in its original form, which devoted admirers from far and wide bring flowers to place in front.  By morning time, there are literally thousands of bouquets of all kinds of flowers, but a significant proportion of them are Castillian Roses, which were the kind that St. Juan Diego brought to Bishop Zumarraga in A.D. 1531 on December 12th.

There is nothing holy going on, in regards to the other sights and sounds.  And this I regret having to say because I have seen it develop.  Only 25 years ago, there was a lot of holiness to be found.  That was in 1988 to 1994, but the change was in the works.  Curiously, these are the same years that the "change" was in the works in the SSPX, as well, as that was the end of ABL's life and the beginning of the Superior Generalship of the current imposter-bishop, who is bringing to the SSPX what John XXIII brought to Newchurch, and the way Paul VI enforced it.  

There is nothing holy going on, because the loudspeakers are cranked up to 85 decibels and nobody can hear themselves think.   If you came there to "pray," well, FUGGEDABOUDIT, as they say in the Bronx.

From 9:00 pm on December 11th to 4:00 am on Dec. 12th, there is a non-stop lineup of "ministries" who have their contribution to make.  They parade around like pagans in ancient Mexico, and they shake their ankle-rattles made of seashells and blow their conch shells that make a hooting whistle sound, and they prance down the center aisle wearing next to nothing if it were not for the profuse array of exotic tropical bird feathers on their heads and worn as a "skirt" about their waists.  They skip and bounce, turn around, wiggle and writhe, as if it is important JUST HOW they move.  It's a cultural thing, you understand.  

I told one fanatic years ago this is the same dancing and costumes the Aztecs used in the ancient human sacrifice rituals that involved the ripping out of live, beating hearts using obsidian (volcanic glass) knives, as a "religious" ritual.  He replied to me, "You can't prove that this is how they dressed and danced at those ceremonies!"  I was happy to hear he did not deny that the ceremonies had ever happened.  

Oh no?  So the tradition handed down from father to son for 482 years, or only 24 generations, isn't reliable?  Why would they have such curious tribal behavior on display if it had never happened?  Do you think it has been the Catholic Church that has kept all this alive for over 4 centuries since Our Lady converted Mexico to the one, true Faith without which there is no salvation?

As a matter of historical fact, our local parishes had very limited use of these tribal dances until JPII came along and welcomed it in his Mexico visits.  Prior to 1980, local Mananitas celebrations were very quiet, prayerful, spontaneous, beautiful and peaceful.  People would come and go all night long, some staying for only a few minutes, and amidst the silence, every now and then someone would start singing a song in Spanish and others would join in:  "Adios, Renia del cielo, adios adios, adios!"

But no more.  The band has drums.  And they use them.  EVERYTHING is LOUD.

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I have an update from my small corner of the world.  

This year, I didn't go to Santa Rosa or Immaculate Conception, because I don't want to be scandalized again.  Instead, I went to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Santa Clarita.  They have a nice big shrine to La Virgen de Guadalupe, and there were about 40 people standing in the pews near the front of the church at 3:00 am, praying the Rosary in Spanish, as newcomers brought in their flowers, every minute or two.  

After the Rosary was finished, gradually, the people sat down, and there was silence.  I had enough time to pray another Rosary (in English!!) before a sister in a traditional habit came up to the "ambo" and began to speak, in Spanish.  She gave a kind of pep talk, which may have been a sermon, but I don't know enough Spanish to be sure.  She said that we should make our bodies and our hearts temples of the Holy Ghost, and that Our Lady of Guadalupe is our Mother in grace.  That much I got okay.  That's not too shabby, I suppose.

Then she stopped, and erupted with three chants:  "Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!" to which the congregation replied, "VIVA!"  And she repeated, "Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! --- VIVA!"  Then she cried, "Viva Cristo Rey!"  --- "VIVA!"  "Viva Cristo Rey!"  --- "VIVA!"  "Viva Cristo Rey!"  --- "VIVA!"  

I was starting to think, "Well, this isn't so bad -- much more traditional!"

By then the church was half full, with about 200 people.  It was 4:15 am.

Then another nun came out, holding a guitar.  She started to sing some Guadalupe-themed songs.  

I think this is the one that was used most often:

Desde el cielo una hermosa mañana (2)
La Guadalupana (2)
La Guadalupana bajó al Tepeyac.
La Guadalupana (2)
La Guadalupana bajó al Tepeyac.

(Translation)
From heaven on a beautiful morning
The Guadalupan
The Guadalupan came down to Tepeyac
The Guadalupan
The Guadalupan came down to Tepeyac

I say "most often" because there was a lot of singing.   If I had had a sheet with the words on it, I would have joined in, but I didn't know what to say.  I could fake the harmony okay, but then my words wouldn't be lining up right, etc.  

She finished her song, and then stood there in silence for about two minutes, and everyone around me sat quietly, looking at the nice shrine.  It is a statue of Our Lady, about 7 feet tall, surrounded by a 15' x 15' archway of white diaphanous fabric billows containing white Christmas tree bulbs lit up to make the fabric look like clouds, and inside of that is a shimmering backdrop of 12" tall tinsel-like horizontal rows of gold, red, green, yellow, blue and white sparkles.  Actually, I think all the colors are in there somewhere.  I have heard it explained that when the Image on the tilma of Juan Diego was new, la Virgen's dark blue/green robe with 46 golden stars on it had this appearance, like the feathers of a peacock when it moves;  the aspect of color is indescribable.  From one angle it looks like red, and another angle it looks like green, and from another angle it looks blue or white or indigo. This effect is due to the miniscule fibers in the feathers of the bird, which reflect light at all angles.  

It actually makes for a very effective sight for contemplation.  

They say that when Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego and left this image on his tilma, and the image was put on display for all to see, people came from all corners of Mexico to stand in line, bringing flowers to her.  They would take one look and they were immediately eager to be baptized.  The priests there in Mexico City did nothing every day from dawn to dark, but baptize and say Mass.  The lineup of people went on for miles, and it did not stop for about 8 years.  The priests' hands became raw and sore from baptizing literally 9 million people.  

They say that the Aztec people were very image-oriented, and there is a lot of imagery in this tilma sight, such that merely by looking at it, the viewer was able to "see" the Catholic Faith.  Our Lady is an Aztec princess, with a black sash around her waist, which means she is with child.  This is during Advent, you see.  There are 46 golden stars on her robe, the location of which are the astronomical position of the principal stars that GOD would see, when looking at the earth from infinity.  Since Our Lady had no human spouse from whom the sperm would have contributed two chromosomes, the 46 stars would be analogous to her own immaculate chromosomes, which God could see from eternity, and was pleased.

The other two chromosomes were invisible, and so there were no stars to show for them.  

And in Europe at the same time, the Protestant revolt was taking away the faith of millions.  

After a few more short speeches and interludes with songs, a Mariachi group assembled in the choir loft, behind all the pews.  This was a tremendous relief to me, because too often these guys are all around the altar, sort of Neo-Catechumenal Way style, with Kiki and Fufu or whatever.  

The 'band' played profane instruments, of course, a trumpet, two violins, a big Mexican bass guitar and a lead vocalist with a Flamenco guitar (but he just strummed it).  There was a man singing solo and a woman soloist, sometimes as a duet, and sometimes prominent one and background the other.  Their intonation was fine, and their rhythm was very good.  Their tone was a bit harsh for my taste, but I think that's a cultural thing.  The most important thing is they were not out of TUNE.

As the band played, two processions of local groups came forward bringing various arrangements of flowers and articles of statuary with Our Lady on them.  By the time that was done, I counted 12 different images of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the sanctuary (without any altar rail).  Then in came the liturgical procession, and the priest was adorned with a cassock sporting two more images, one front and one back.  I guess you could say that makes 14.  It was about 5:15 am and it was time for the Newmass.  The priest stood behind the altar with his back to the tabernacle, and addressed the crowd in broken Spanish.  He was obviously a Gringo, but he was trying pretty hard.  He had a lot of trouble with his verbs.  The name of the verb is the name of the game.  

That was my cue to make like a tree and leave.  

I didn't want to ruin a good experience with witnessing a Newmass.

My overall impression was that these people are starving for the Faith of Catholics.  They are simple people who believe what their priest tells them, and if their priest was to start offering the Canonized Traditional Latin Mass, I suspect the crowd would double, maybe triple.  

But that's just my guess.  

Across the driveway is an empty lot of about 2 acres, where they are preparing to build a new church.  I expect the choir loft won't be in the back in the new structure.  Maybe that's why they want a new one...  :thinking:


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Here is a picture of Juan Diego as he let fall the roses that Our Lady had personally arranged in his arms:





This is an artist's rendition, of course.  The color of the mantle is rather well done, for it shows how it is alternately blue and green but has no divisions of color, for as the fabric moves, it changes hues like the feathers of an exotic tropical bird.

There are 60 stars shown here but the original has 46 stars.

But it seems to me that the expression of Juan Diego is not accurate.  There is no reason to think that Juan Diego would have lightly let these roses fall to the floor.  To him, they were most precious, not only for their miraculous origin, but for the fact that it was the Virgin's ARRANGEMENT of them in his arms that was going to be for him the SIGN that he was going to take to the Bishop.  If he were to let the roses fall, the ARRANGEMENT of them would be destroyed, and so there would be no sign.  

The way it makes sense to me that he let them fall is, because he was surprised.  When he started to open his tilma for the bishop to see the roses, Juan Diego saw appear on his breast the Image of the Lady, which he had NOT SEEN THERE BEFORE.  

Of course, he knew what she looked like because he had seen her and spoke to her. But seeing her on his tilma was a complete surprise, and one that caused him to do the unthinkable:  he dropped the roses!  

This picture shows him with a calm expression on his face.  But it should be one of utter shock and astonishment.

Nor did Bishop Zumarraga escape being astonished, for he had been praying to Our Lady to help him in his crisis, for the social problems in his church were getting to be impossible.  And he had asked her to bring him Castillian roses as a sign that it was her whose aid was coming.  So when he recognized the roses as if they were freshly picked in Castille, Spain (5,000 miles over the sea!) he knew that this was his answer to his prayers.  He fell to his knees.  

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This reconstruction shows what is possibly the layout of how the original was made to appear (not the face of Our Lady, but the 'crown' and what else surrounds her) about 200 years ago, after the additions were made -- all of these additions having since fallen away, over the years:





I find it interesting that while this version does have the correct number of stars on her mantle, 46, they are improperly distributed, that is, they are in some of the wrong places, and there are 17 on the left and 29 on the right side, whereas there should be 22 on the left and 24 on the right.



The 4 oval pictures, one in each corner, depict a moment in the story of Juan Diego's experience.  Using this type of layout, teachers were able to point to each part and tell the story to students.  (The next example, below, is a better diagram for what I'm saying here.)  The top left is the beginning, when Juan Diego was walking through the hills on his way to morning Mass, the day after December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Recognize that for him to get to morning Mass on time, he would have had to leave his house at about 4:00 am, which is the time today that Masses are begun in many places, in commemoration of Juan Diego's early morning departure to go to Mass.  

He was on his way, when he heard a voice softly calling his name, "Diegito! Juan Diegito!" (This means, little Juan Diego! - or, "My little one, Juan Diego!" - as if a mother is calling her son.) He turns off his path to go see what this voice is, and as he passed over the top of a rise, there he saw her, suspended in air, held up by an angel under her feet.  This was his first encounter.

Our Lady told him to go to the Bishop in Mexico and tell him that she has a message for him.  Juan Diego was afraid that he would be unable to have an audience with the Bishop, and Our Lady assures him that she will assist him to be able to fulfill this request.  One wonders if the modern popes have asked Our Lady for her assistance in fulfilling her requests today, in their making the collegial consecration of Rome to her Immaculate Heart?  

The second picture, on the right, shows Juan Diego diverting his path in an attempt to avoid facing La Virgen after he had been unable to see the Bishop as he had feared, and being embarrassed, he did not want to have to explain this problem.  We are reminded of our modern popes who have tried to avoid the consecration by consecrating and "entrusting" just about everything imaginable OTHER than Russia to her, or to something like her Immaculate Heart.  

Even though he attempts to circuмvent a second encounter, La Virgen seeks him out and calls his name again, with a tone of mild severity, which disturbs Diego.  Not only has he failed to meet with the Bishop, he has failed to avoid having to explain his failure!  He tries using the excuse that his uncle is sick and he is on the way to see him.  La Virgen tells him that his uncle is now in recovery from his illness, almost in imitation of the Scripture when Our Lord healed the centurion's  servant without having to come in person to his house, "under his roof."  This seems to say that she is asking Juan to have greater faith, for the centurion in Mt. viii. 8, spoke words that we have even today in the Mass, "Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum:  sed tantum dic verbo et sanabitur anima mea." We replace "my servant" with "my soul" -- and Our Lady is asking Juan Diego, and by extension our modern popes, to have faith greater than that of all Christianity, for Our Lord told this faithful centurion, "Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel" (Matt. viii. 10).  

Juan Diego goes to visit his uncle and finds him well, and he reports to his nephew the time of his healing, and he recognizes that very moment as the time when La Virgen had said to him that his uncle was in recovery (cf. viii. 13;  xv. 28; Jn. iv. 53).  It seems that might be the story behind the small picture in the center, below, under the angel, where Juan went running to visit his uncle who had already been cured before he had arrived.



This second version, above, could be a more accurate depiction of the additional paintings that were made on the tilma of Juan Diego during the first two centuries, all of which additional figures have fallen off the tilma since, leaving only the original Image, which was not painted by human hands.

The small picture on the bottom left shows Juan Diego receiving the roses from La Virgen on the top of the remote and arid Tepayac Hill.  

Finally, the picture on the bottom right shows the eventual delivery of the roses to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga in Mexico City, December 12th, A.D. 1531.

The four small pictures in the corners have the same subject matter in both the first version above and this second version, even though the styles of depiction of the small images are different.  It's noteworthy that very little difference is seen in the image of Our Lady in these two versions, even though everything outside of her is of various degrees of variety.  This is as a first stage in the variation story, when the artists have been not so daring as to change Our Lady herself.  The changes that had been seen prior to Vat.II were all little pictures added OUTSIDE of the image of Our Lady.  After Vat.II, however, that all changed.


Here is how the original Image in the Mexican Basilica is displayed today (notice that the frame crops off the top portion where the vestiges of the painted crown are found):




Regarding the variations that have emerged in the past 60 years, some of these changes are innocent enough:







Then, there are the more brazen versions, below, all of which seem to be consequent to the aggiornamento agenda of the unclean spirit of Vat.II:












There is a subculture element as well, since the Virgin of Guadalupe has been made into a sort of secular national logo for Mexico, even devoid of religious attachment:









As you might imagine, there are utterly scandalous versions worse than that above, which are quite unsuitable for putting up here even for reference.


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I find it a bit odd that on a Catholic forum like CI, only 167 views of this thread have occurred since its opening a week ago.  

The apparition of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill began the intercession of Our Lady that would overshadow all others in recorded history.  It is commonly known as the beginning of the Marian Age, as all the other major apparitions have taken place since then.  

Her shrines are now worldwide, but principally in Mexico, the Philippines and the southwest USA.  

It's interesting to see, that when one travels in Latin America, outside of Mexico people are wont to reply that La Virgen de Guadalupe is Mexico.  They actually say, "That's Mexico."  They do not say that she is Mexican.  They say, "That is Mexico."  They are possessive of their own version of Our Lady, and there are many.  Every region of South America and Central America has its own Virgin Mary.  

But of them all, Guadalupe is by far the most popular, all considered.  And the fervor that Mexicans have for their Queen is abiding and real.  It spans generations, and it is something that only increases with age.  Grandparents teach their grandchildren and great grandchildren.  

Perhaps a second place goes to Our Lady of Fatima, which also enjoys a worldwide following, but cannot account for the many millions of converts that Our Lady of Guadalupe does.

I have a friend who thinks that the Church will be restored when a good Pope comes to Mexico to live, instead of in Rome, because he expects that in fulfillment of prophesy, Rome will be destroyed.  And the Basilica of Tepeyac Hill will become the new seat of the Holy See, he says.



Maybe then this thread will get more views?    :surprised:


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