OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE:

The Image On The Tilma

           Of Our Lady of Guadalupe

 

“Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness (of his uncle)   nor any other sickness of anguish. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.”

 

            Words of Our Lady to Juan Diego

Background:

 

In 1521, the Aztecs in Mesoamerica, who ruled much of Central and South America, fell under Spanish forces. For many centuries earlier the Aztec culture professed a polytheistic religion that utilized human sacrifice. Aztec priests, believing that the end of the world was near, sacrificed thousands of men, women and children to their gods to appease the gods and stall the end. They would cut out the human hears of their unwilling victims.

 

It is recorded that in 1487, in a single four day ceremony for the dedication of a new temple in Tenochtitlan, over 80,000 captives were killed in human sacrifice. When the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1521, the Spanish missionaries stopped the sacrifices and attempted to convert the Aztecs to Christianity. They were having little success. 

 

The Basic Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe:

 

An event occurred in 1531 that changed the course of Aztec history and religion. A humble peasant, Juan Diego, a native American at Tepayac, was walking many miles to Church as he did each week. Juan was on a hill about 20 kilometers (14 miles) northwest of what is now Mexico City.  Suddenly, Our Lady appeared to him wanting to help the people. Our Lady told Juan that she wished a Church to be built on the site and directed him to go to the Bishop and make this request. Juan went to see Bishop Juan de Zumarraga who was naturally skeptical and asked for a sign.

 

When Juan returned to the hills, Our Lady appeared to him again "speaking to him as a beautiful Aztec princess talking to him in his own Aztec language.” (www.catholic.or/saints). The Virgin Mary asked that he climb a hill and bring back flowers as a sign to the Bishop. It was December 12, 1521 and it was cold. The hill was bare and Juan knew that no flowers grew at this time. However, he trusted the Lady and climbed the hill, hearing many beautiful song birds and finding many sweet smelling Castilian Roses not common to the area. Juan placed them in his TILMA (his mantle consisting of a poor quality cloth made from the Cactus plant also called Ayate) and brought them to the Bishop who was understandably shocked. Everyone present suddenly noticed the Image of Our Lady on the Tilma.

 

Meanwhile, nearby, Juan's uncle, Juan Bernardino, had an apparition from Our Lady and it was claimed that he was miraculously cured of an ailment from which he had been dying. This cure is relayed to the Bishop. Our Lady tells Juan Bernadino to call this as being "of Guadalupe" and he relayed this to the Bishop who then had a Church built on the site.

 

The Name of Guadalupe:

 

The question of why this name was used has been discussed by scholars. Many believe that the Lady called herself "of Guadalupe" because of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Estremadura, Spain given by Pope Gregory the Great to the Bishop of Seville, Spain. The statue was lost for 600 years and found in 1326. The village of Guadalupe was located near the place of discovery.

 

Conversion of the Aztecs:

 

Within a short period of time, astonishingly, over 9,000,000 Aztecs were converted to Christianity - a feat that the local Spanish missionaries were unable to accomplish. This fact alone is considered by many to be a miraculous result of the vision. The story of the apparitions is described in the "Nican Mopohua" a 16th century document written in the native Nahuatl language. The first formal investigation by the Church about the events, the "Informaciones Guadalupanas", was written in 1666.

 

The Basilica of Guadalupe:

 

The new Basilica of Guadalupe (built between 1974- 1977) is a circular structure 330 ft. in diameter and accommodates up to 50,000 people. It was built on the site of the earlier 16th century church finished in 1709 which in turn replaced the first Church in 1567. Each year between 18-20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica, making it Christianity's most visited sanctuary. Pope John Paul II visited the Basilica in 1999 and in 2002  Juan Diego was canonized and named as a Saint.

 

Brief Description of the Image:

 

The Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe represents an Aztec Pictograph and it is believed the Virgin Mary did this so that it would be quickly and easily understood by the Aztec Indians. In the Image, Mary stood in front of the Sun (showing her to be greater than their dreaded sun-god Huiltzilopochtli). Her foot rested on the Crescent Moon (symbolizing the vanquishing the Aztec’s foremost deity, the feather serpent Quetzalcoatl). There were stars strewn across the mantle (which some scholars indicate were the stars of Dec. 12, 1531 showing the constellation of stars that appeared in the sky that day).  Cf: www.catholiceducation.org .

 

The Science of the Tilma:

 

There are some remarkable facts that lend support to the authenticity of this event, elevating the event to a truly miraculous phenomenon.

 

In the Image, Mary is standing on a serpent, crushing its head. The Serpent was an almost universal symbol of the Aztec religion. "Temples were richly decorated with snakes. Human sacrifices were heralded by the prolonged beating of huge drums made of the skins of huge snakes. Nowhere else in human history had Satan, the ancient serpent, so formalized his worship with so many of his own actual symbols." Courtesy of: www.sancta.org/nameguad.html.

 

1. The “Radiant” Image of Mary: 

 

The Tilma measures approximately 6 1/2 by 3 1/2 feet. Many believe, based on Juan Diego’s description, that the Virgin Mary appeared in her glorified body, ("a young girl of fifteen to sixteen surrounded by light" radiating the image onto the cloth). Juan Diego noted that when he reached the summit, he saw a Lady. Approaching her, he marveled at her superhuman grandeur.

 

"Her garments were shining like the Sun; the cliff where she rested her feet pierced with glitter, resembling an anklet of precious stones, and the earth sparkled like the rainbow." Courtesy: www.sancta.org.

 

A 1772 report described the “rays of light” around the Guadalupe image. There are great similarities to the Image on the Holy Shroud (described earlier in this book) which many modern physicists believe was a result of the radiant energy emanating from within the body of Jesus at the moment of Resurrection. This same phenomenon of radiant light (auto radiation) was described by the Gospel writers in their recounting the Transfiguration of Jesus. They described His appearance as brighter than the Sun or a flash of lightning while not hurting the eyes of the three Apostles Peter, James and John who witnessed this manifestation of the glorified body of Jesus before His Crucifixion.

 

It should be noted that there is no under-sketch or outline used by an artist nor any sizing and no protective over-varnish. There are no brush strokes. This also bears similarity to the Image of the Holy Shroud.

 

2. Song Birds and Flowers:

 

It was mid-winter and there were normally no birds in the area, and certainly no flowers. More surprisingly, the many fragrant flowers were Castilian Roses native to the Bishop's home not indigenous to the area. This greatly surprised the Bishop. Juan Diego was surprised by the singing of many birds.

 

3. The Image is Almost 500 Years Old:

 

The Image on the cactus Tilma has not disintegrated in almost 500 years, defying the normal disintegration of the cactus fibers. The area normally has  high salt and humidity in the air and local fabrics of the cactus plant disintegrate within 20 years.

 

...In 1979 Dr. Phillip Callahan took 40 frames of infra-red photographs of the image and later concluded that the original image is unexplainable as a human work. He concluded that portions of the face, hands, robe and mantle appeared to have been painted in one step, with no sketches or corrections and no apparent brush strokes.

 

... Biochemist Richard Kuhn analyzed a sample of the fabric in 1936 and found "he could not identify the pigment used as being from mineral, vegetable or animal sources." The image did not have natural animal or mineral colorings. "Given that there were no synthetic colorings in 1531, the image is inexplicable." 

                     Courtesy:  www.catholiceducation.org 

 

 4.  The Remarkable Eyes of the Virgin:

 

One of the most fascinating discoveries involved the eyes of the Virgin which appear to reflect images.

 

...in 1929, Alfonso Marcue, the official photographer of the old Basilica, found in his black and white photos what appeared to be a clear image of a bearded man reflected in the right eye of the Virgin. This reflection appeared to fit the description of Juan Diego before the Bishop. This was kept secret at the request of authorities.

 

...in 1951, however, Jose Carlos Salinas Chavez examined a good photograph of the face and rediscovered the image of what  seemed to be t

...Also in 1956, Ophthalmologist Dr. Rafael Torrijo Lavoignet with an ophthalmoscope observed the apparent human figure in the corneas of both eyes, with the location and distortion of a normal human eye. He found that the eyes looked strangely "alive" when examined.

 

...In 1979, Dr. Jose Aste Tonsmann, Ph.D., a graduate of Cornell University, worked with an IBM scanner at high resolution off a good photograph from the original face on the Tilma. He filtered and processed the digital images to eliminate "noise" and enhance them and noted not only the human bust clearly present in both eyes, but other human figures. He wrote this in his book "El Secreto du sus Ojos" that he noted the image of various human figures that seem to constitute a family, including various children. He insisted that the basic image "has not been painted by human hands" As early as the 18th century, scientists demonstrated that it was impossible to paint such an image in a fabric of that texture. The "ayate" fibers deteriorate after 20 years.

 

...In 2009, Dr. Aldofo Orozco told participants at the international Marion Congress of Our Lady of Guadalupe that:

 

"one of the most bizarre characteristics of the cloth is that the back side is rough and coarse, but the front side is as soft as the most pure silk, as noted by painters and scientists in 1666, and confirmed one century later in 1751 by the Mexican painter Miguel Cabrera." Courtesy: www.catholicnewsagency.com.

 

5. An Acid Spill: 

 

Another feature noted was that in 1791 a worker accidentally spilled a 50 percent nitric acid solvent on the right side of the cloth.

 

"Besides any natural explanation, the acid has not destroyed the fabric of the cloth, indeed it has not even destroyed the colored parts of the image." according to Dr. Aldofo Orozco.  

                Courtesy: www.catholicnewsagency.com.

  

6. A Mysterious Bomb Explosion:

 

In 1921 a bomb was set off near the image. According to Dr. Aldofo Orozco, the explosion broke the marble floor and windows 150 meters away from the explosion but "unexpectedly, neither the Tilma nor the normal glass that protected the Tilma was damaged or broken." The only damage near it was a brass crucifix that was twisted by the blast."  

Courtesy: www.catholicnewsagency.com.

7. Miracles Ascribed to the Image of Guadalupe:

Finally, numerous miracles including healings have been attributed to the image.

 

The official Sanctuary Web Site:      http://www.virgendeguadalupe.org.mx 

 

This fascinating information on the Image of Guadalupe has remarkable similarities to the images on the Holy Shroud. We hope that the authorities who control the Tilma at the Basilica in Guadalupe, Mexico will continue to allow non-destructive testing of the Image. God’s use of such images-on-cloth, not-made-by-human hands (acheiropoietos) will continue to intrigue the world and open up new dimensions in the physics of the universe and our understanding of the mysteries of our faith.

FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE SCIENTIFIC AND HISTORICAL INFORMATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE HOLY SHROUD, THE VEIL OF VERONICA AND THE TILMA OF GUADALUPE, PLEASE SEE MR. IANNONE'S NEW BOOK:

                   THE THREE CLOTHS OF CHRIST:
          THE EMERGING TREASURES OF CHRISTIANITY

   
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