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The Virgin of Guadalupe

The Virgin of Guadalupe, 1531, cactus fiber fabric, Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City.

According to tradition, the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego, an Aztec convert to Christianity, several times in December of 1531. Speaking in Nahuatl she requested that a shrine to her be built for her on the hill where she appeared. The site was already considered a holy site of an Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin. When the archbishop requested proof of the sighting, the Virgin impressed her image on to his cloak and madeCastilian roses grow on top of the usually barren Tepeyac Hill. The cloak displayed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to be the tilma worn by Juan Diego in 1531. Our Lady of Guadalupe became Mexico's most popular religious symbol, and in the 19th century a rallying point for Mexico's independence struggle against Spain.

The Virgin of Guadalupe, 1531.

(verb) To change one's beliefs, practices, and self-identity to those of a religion. (noun) One who has changed his or her beliefs, practices, and self-identity to those of a religion.

Associated with a deity; exhibiting religious importance; set apart from ordinary (i.e. "profane") things.

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