The Wonders of the Tilma

Our Lady of Guadalupe—one of the greatest Marian miracles

On December 12 was the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most impressive Marian apparitions ever. Within seven years of her appearance to Mexican peasant Juan Diego, 9 million Mexican Aztecs—yes, those guys who used to cut the hearts out of people and sacrifice them to the gods— converted to Christianity.

Here’s a short rundown of the story:

The first time Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego as a beautiful, pregnant woman was on December 9, 1531, just one decade after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. She told him she was “the mother of the true God” and asked for a chapel to be built on the hillside in her honor.