OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CATHEDRAL
DALLAS TEXAS
Part 2: Controversy over the title “Guadalupe” & destruction attempts
Guadalupe springs from an arab word, which translates as “the river of light of love”. The Bishop in the story is from Extremadura, Spain, and he recognizes that name promptly because of the Spanish Statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe from Extremadura, Spain. This statue of Our Lady in Spain is also known as The Black Madonna, La Morena.
The controversy arose because of the name “Guadalupe” and many Spaniards requested that the name “Our Lady of Guadalupe” (Mexico) be changed to “Immaculate Conception of Tepeyac”.
Obviously, nothing was changed and the name of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico remained.
Destruction Attempts on the Tilma
- During the year 1917 in Mexico, an anti-religious movement started to arise in hopes to ban Catholicism all over Mexico, which later led to the Cristero War. A few years before the Cristero War started, a man visited the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe and placed a bouquet of flowers bearing a bomb at the altar several feet below the image. The blast destroyed the altar and a Crucifix near by was bent 20 degrees, but the Tilma of Our Lady was undamaged.
- In 1785, a worker who was cleaning the glass covering of the Tilma, “accidently” spilled strong nitric acid onto a large portion of the image. A smeared stain on the image was the only result.
Parts 3, 4 and 5 will be published at a later time.
