Saint Juan Diego

Feast Day: December 9

• Juan Diego was born in 1474 in Cuauhtitlán, a small village near present-day Mexico City, in the Aztec Empire.

• Juan was raised in the Aztec pagan religion, but he later converted to Catholicism with his wife, María Lucía, following the arrival of Spanish missionaries in 1524. The couple was among the first indigenous people in the area to be baptized by Franciscan missionaries, and they led devout Christian lives.

• Juan Diego was a simple, humble man who worked as a laborer and farmer. He would frequently walk long distances to attend Mass and receive catechesis. On December 9, 1531, while on his way to Mass in Tlatelolco, he had a miraculous encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill, which was near Mexico City.

• The Virgin Mary, speaking to Juan Diego in his native Nahuatl language, appeared in an apparition to him as the "Mother of the True God", and asked him to request that a church be built in her honor on the site. Juan Diego, obedient and humble, went to the Bishop of Mexico City, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, to relay the Virgin's message. The bishop, however, was skeptical and asked for a sign to prove the authenticity of the apparition.

• On December 12, the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego again and instructed him to gather roses from the barren hilltop -- which was unusual for that time of year. Juan Diego found Castilian roses blooming miraculously. He gathered them in his tilma, and returned to the bishop.

• When Juan Diego opened his tilma before the bishop, the roses fell to the floor, revealing an image of the Virgin Mary imprinted on the fabric. The bishop was convinced by this miraculous sign and ordered the construction of the church on Tepeyac Hill, as the Virgin had requested.

• The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as she came to be known, is still preserved on Juan Diego's tilma, which remains on display at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The image has been the object of devotion for millions of people over the centuries and is considered by the Church to be a miraculous sign of Mary's special care for the people of the Americas.

• After the apparitions, Juan Diego lived a life of deep prayer and devotion. He moved to a small hermitage near the chapel where the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was enshrined and spent the rest of his life serving the church, welcoming pilgrims, and sharing the story of the Virgin's appearance.

• St. Juan Diego passed away on December 9, 1548, exactly 17 years after his first encounter with the Virgin Mary. He was buried in the chapel at Tepeyac, and his memory was revered by the indigenous people and the growing Catholic community in Mexico.

• Pope John Paul II beatified Juan Diego on May 6, 1990, and canonized him as a saint on July 31, 2002. St. Juan Diego is the first indigenous saint from the Americas, and his feast day is celebrated on December 9th, the anniversary of his first encounter with Our Lady of Guadalupe.

• St. Juan Diego is the patron saint of indigenous peoples.

Saint Juan Diego, pray for us!