Juan Diego
Click on the following to hear Juan's conversation with Lupe.
Prologue: Juan Diego
Dialogue: A Conversation between Juan Diego and Lupe
Epilogue: Juan Diego
Prologue (spoken by Lupe):
Juan Diego was born in 1474 near Mexico City. Between 1524 and 1525, the
Indian farmer Juan Diego and his wife Maria Lucia became Christians. In
1529, after Maria died, Juan went to live with his uncle in a village
nine miles from Mexico City.
Today is December 12, 1531. A young man named Lupe has come to Mexico
City to give Juan Diego a message. Juan's uncle told him that Juan would
be at the bishop's palace. As he approaches a palace, he sees a man standing
before its locked gates.
Lupe: Do you know
Juan Diego? Is he with the bishop now?
Juan: I am Juan.
Lupe: I have a message from your uncle!
Juan: Did the girl cure him?
Lupe: Yes! How did you know? After you left this morning, he suddenly
got well. A native girl appeared to him and healed him. She said that
she'd sent you to the bishop. She said that her name was Holy Mary of
Guadalupe.
Guard: The two of you! Go away! The bishop won't see you today!
Juan: Please, let me in!
Guard: Why would the bishop see you two nobodies!
Juan: I have something for the bishop!
Guard: Go away, or you'll be sorry you didn't! I'll wait by the
guardhouse, but I'll be back in ten minutes!
Lupe: Quick! Tell me! Who is the girl? Why are you clutching your
tilma?
Juan: The bishop's sign is in it!
Lupe: Why does he want a sign?
Juan: I'll tell you if you'll wait with me.
Lupe: I will wait with you. Your uncle told me that you were a
man of goodness.
Juan: No! No! It is as I told the lady! I am a nobody. Still, she
asked me to do this.
Lupe: Tell me about her.
Juan: I met her on Saturday, as I passed Tepeyac Hill. I was on
my way to Mass, and I heard music, like birds singing. Then I heard a
voice say my name.
Lupe: Was it the girl?
Juan: It was. Her clothes shone like the sun! The mesquite looked
like emeralds!
Lupe: What more did she say?
Juan: She told me that she was the Holy Mary, the Mother of the
True God. She said that she loves my people and that she knows our sorrows.
She told me to go to the bishop and say that she wanted a temple built
on that spot.
Lupe: On Tepeyac? Isn't that where your people worshiped the goddess
Tonantzin?
Juan: Yes. We believed that she gave us golden corn. We worshipped
her at the ruins of an ancient temple on the hill, but the missionaries
told us to stop going there.
Lupe: But this girl appeared to you there?
Juan: Yes. Then I rushed here and told the bishop. He said he had
to think about it.
Lupe: He didn't ask for a sign?
Juan: Not then. I went back to the hill on Saturday, after Mass,
and I met the lady again and told her that I was a nobody and that the
bishop needed to think about this and that she should send a somebody
to talk to him.
Lupe: What did she say?
Juan: She said I was the one she wanted and that I should see the
bishop again--on Sunday. Then I went home. The next day, I went again
to Mexico City. I went to Mass, and talked to the bishop.
Lupe: Is that when he asked for a sign?
Juan: Yes! So I started for home.
Lupe: Was the girl waiting for you again?
Juan: On the road! ! I told her what the bishop said. She said
to come back on Monday for the sign. So I went home, but when I got there,
my uncle was sick.
Lupe: He told me that you took care of him Sunday night and all
day Monday. You must not have gone to see the girl as she asked.
Juan: No, I couldn't. My uncle was sick! I had to take care of
him.
Lupe: Your uncle said that today he asked you to go for a priest
because he knew he was dying. So you left for Mexico City. Then the young
girl came and healed him and he sent me here. What happened after you
left his home this morning?
Juan: I walked around the other side of Tepeyac!
Lupe: So the lady wouldn't see you!
Juan: Yes! I had to get a priest. I had no time to visit with her!
But she found me anyway! I explained about my uncle, and she said, "Do
I not hold you close within the folds of my mantle?" Then she told me
that my uncle was well. She told me to climb the hill and gather the flowers
growing there. I gathered them and she arranged them in my tilma. Then
she told me to show them to the bishop.
Lupe: The bishop's sign! Flowers in December!
Juan: If only the guard will let me in so I can give them to the
bishop!
Lupe: I'll rattle this gate! Perhaps he'll let you in just to keep
me quiet!
Guard: Stop that racket! Who do you think you are? Two nobodies
trying to see the bishop! Wait! What's that you're holding in your tilma?
Show me! Now!
Juan: No! It is for the bishop! Stop pulling at me! Let go of me!
Guard: What is this, a flower?--in December? Perhaps I'd better
take you to the bishop. Come on, get a move on!
Lupe: I'll wait for you here, Juan!
Juan: Pray for me! I'll show the bishop this sign. Then you and
I can walk back to the village. I want to hear from my uncle what Our
Lady of Guadalupe said to him!
Epilogue
The guard took Juan Diego into the bishop's palace. He stood before the
bishop and opened his tilma. Red roses tumbled to the floor, but the bishop
did not look at them. Instead, he stared at the image imprinted on Juan's
shawl, an image of Our Lady. She looked like an Aztec princess with her
dark face and black hair. This was the sign!
The bishop placed Juan's tilma within his chapel. Soon he built a church
where the native people could come and see the image.
Juan died at the age of 74 on May 30, 1548, but each year we still celebrate
the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.