We visited the Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral in Dallas Texas on December 14, 2020. The Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Texas. The structure dates from the late 19th century and is located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas. The church oversees the second largest Catholic church membership in the United States.
Main Altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral Shrine Dallas, Texas
We prayed in the Divine Mercy Chapel in the Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dallas, Texas.
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There are five parts to the original history of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City, Mexico.
Part I
The Miraculous Story and Apparitions of Our Lady Guadalupe, appearing to an indigenous man, Saint Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac, has captured the hearts of millions of people around the world. The image of Our Lady on the tilma still stands in superb condition today after more than 400 years. The image of Our Lady has many symbolisms and meanings both to not only us Christian Catholics, but also to the indigenous Aztec and Mayan peoples of Southern Mexico. Her image still to this day is being examined and studied by many people all over the world and over the years more hidden messages are being found. Her image even has some predictions about the future in relation to the Book of Revelations, that is why she is also known as Our Lady of The Apocalypse.
It is not possible to write the full story and explain everything about our Our Lady’s Tilma just in one blog article, therefore I have decided to split this in 5 parts.
• 1st Part: The detailed apparition story.
• 2nd Part: Controversy over Our Lady’s title and the destruction attempts.
• 3rd Part: The hidden meanings of the symbols and colors to the Aztecs.
• 4th Part: Recent findings that have a connection with the Mayans.
• 5th Part: The Scientific Analysis Discoveries.
(All images used are for educational purposes only, if you are requesting source information of my research, please contact PAPA Mio.org,
Part 1: The Apparition Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Juan Diego, an indigenous native indian, born from Cuauhtitlan, lived in a region near Ecatepec. He would go to Tlatelolco to attend catechesis and mass. As you can see looking at the map below, to get to Tlatelolco, you have to go through a cross way, it’s an island, in the middle of the lake. To get to that cross way, Juan Diego would have to go through a massive region of mountains. It would take him approximately 4 hours to get to church.
One day while he was walking, arriving to the Tepeyac hill, he suddenly sees a bright light shining from above and the birds around him start singing. For a moment he thought he was dead and thought, “…this is the paradise of my ancestors, the 2nd underworld, paradise on earth”, because he felt pure joy and happiness.
He then hears a voice calling him in the Nahuatl language. (Juan Diego spoke no Spanish)
Our Lady appears to him and then tells him, “I am the Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of the One True God for who one lives, I wish to have a house built on this place, […] I will give all my love and compassion to all of my children united in this land”. (This is only a small version of what she said). Our lady then sends off Juan Diego to tell the Bishop everything he saw and heard. As soon as he arrives to tell the bishop everything, the bishop did not believe anything, so Juan Diego was left devastated.
He goes back to Our Blessed Mother and tells her, “Please send someone else, send a priest, a Spaniard, someone with status, fore I am nothing, I am the end of the latter, the bottom of the rope, I am nothing”.
Our Lady tells him, “No, it has to be you, I need it to be you, you are my ambassador”.
With just that word, “Ambassador”, she gives back the dignity that was taken from the Natives. She raises every single Native to the position as equal to the Spanish.
So he then goes home and goes back the next day to tell the Bishop again everything he has seen and heard. As for the Bishop, there was something nagging in the back of his head since the very first time that Juan Diego came with the message. Everything that Juan Diego had said was theologically and mariologically perfect, there was no error. So the Bishop asks, “Who is this Juan Diego?”. He then finds out that Juan Diego is a recent convert, a catechumen, he’s been married, but now a widower, a grandfather, a good and honest man and a man that is respected in his community.
So, to test him, the Bishop then tells Juan Diego to bring him concrete proof that what he is saying is true and he will build the church. The Bishop thought this was all a hoax, wondering why would someone request to have a church built in the middle of nowhere, out on a dry barren hill on the edge of a lake.
Two guards were then sent after Juan Diego to follow him, but the two followers ended up losing him through the distance while crossing over the bridge from Tlatelolco to Tepeyac.
Finally when Juan Diego arrives to the top of the hill of Tepeyac, he tells Our Lady of the request the Bishop had asked for and Our Lady tells Juan Diego to go home and come back the next day.
Juan Diego arrives home and found his uncle sick and dying of a fever. His uncle requests that Juan Diego go find a priest to give him a final blessing that next day. This next day was when Juan Diego was supposed to meet Our Lady at the hill of Tepeyac once again, but Juan Diego decides to go a different route and goes behind the hill of Tepeyac, but little does he know mother’s can see everything and they know everything.
As he is walking, he looks up at the hill and sees Our Lady walking down and starts to call him. Juan Diego starts running, but suddenly Our Lady appeared in front of him and he falls on his knees terrified explaining to her his situation with his uncle and thinking Our Lady is about to zap him because the Aztec gods were revengeful and not merciful. She then tells him, the 5 questions below…
While she is speaking to Juan Diego, she appears to the uncle, heals him, and tells him to go to the Bishop and tell him everything he has seen and heard. Our Lady then tells Juan Diego, “Do not fear this illness…do not fear death, your uncle is now healed”. She then says to Juan Diego to go to the top of the hill where they first met and to cut some roses and bring them to her so she can arrange them to have them delivered to the Bishop.
Off went Juan Diego to go see the Bishop and once he arrived at the house of the Bishop, the guards made him wait almost 4 hours. The guards were hoping Juan Diego would lose his patience and leave, but there he waited, not moving. The Bishop finally decides to see Juan Diego and asks Juan Diego for the proof. Juan Diego then lets go of his cloak and the image of Our Lady appears before the Bishop and about 20 witnesses.
As we all know, the church was then built for Our Lady. Juan Diego spend the last 17 years of his life telling the story to everyone and also asked the Bishop to be the one to sweep the church. He died in 1548 and people revered him as a Saint, he was a very holy man.
Today, you can still visit the Hill of Tepeyac in Mexico City. A statue has been built where the apparition happened.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is visited by almost 20 million pilgrims a year and 9 million of those come around the weeks of December 12th for her feast day.
The two photos below, I took during my last visit in 2015. It’s a picture of the plaza and the inside of the Basilica, where you can see the Tilma of Our Lady is shining. This does not happen often.
