The Miracles of Our Lady of Guadalupe 

Yesterday was the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, commemorating when Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531 on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico. The Virgin Mary asked Juan Diego to go to the bishop and request that he build a church on that hill. The bishop initially rejected this request and later asked for a sign to prove that Mary was indeed making this appeal. A few days later, Mary again appeared to Juan Diego and told him to gather Castilian roses, which were miraculously blooming on this barren hill during a time of year when they were out of season. Mary arranged the flowers in Juan Diego’s tilma, or cloak, and instructed him to present the roses to the bishop again. When Juan Diego appeared before the bishop, he opened his tilma to reveal the roses, and the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe remained on the fabric. For over 490 years, Our Lady of Guadalupe has been a source of comfort and hope to many seeking her intercession.

The image of Our Lady on the tilma has many extraordinary and miraculous attributes that have puzzled scientists for centuries. The tilma itself is made from the fibers of an agave plant, and the delicate composition of this type of fabric typically disintegrates naturally within 10 to 20 years. However, Juan Diego’s tilma has maintained its chemical and structural integrity since the apparition. Additionally, before the tilma was preserved behind protective glass, as it is now, it was displayed for the first 115 years without any protection and was exposed to soot, fire, candle wax, incense, and the hands of hundreds of pilgrims, and even close proximity to bomb explosions and acid being poured on it. There is currently no scientific explanation for how the tilma has survived in its current state for so long. A researcher and physicist, Dr. Adolfo Orozco, spoke about this at the International Marian Congress on Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2009. Another aspect he mentioned was that the back of the cloth is rough and coarse, but the front is as soft as pure silk. This was also noted by scientists and painters observing the tilma in 1666 and 1751.

The image of Our Lady was also not painted onto the cloth; however, several parts were added later, including the moon beneath Mary’s feet, the angel holding the cloth, and the rays emanating from the image. The original image of the Virgin, however, does not show any signs of being created by the hands of a human artist: there are no sketch lines beneath the coloring, no brush strokes, and no corrections. Much like the image on the Shroud of Turin, it appears to have been produced in a single step. This was identified by Dr. Philip Serna Callahan, a biophysicist at the University of Florida and a consultant for NASA. After photographing the image under infrared light, Dr. Callahan observed that the original image had not cracked, flaked, faded, or decayed since its creation, even though the added paint and gold leaf on the image had deteriorated.

Additionally, the eyes of Our Lady in the image have qualities that could not be explained in 1531, and even with today’s technology, they are difficult to replicate. José Aste Tonsmann, an engineer, was able to amplify the image in the eyes of Our Lady by 2,500 times, which allowed him to identify the reflection of the bishop and several other witnesses of the miracle. The image in her eyes displays the triple reflection called the Samson-Purkinje effect, which explains how the brain perceives color differently when light levels change. In her eyes, you can see up to four images reflected.

Even though her feast day has passed, we continue to invoke the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas and unborn, as we pray:

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mystical Rose, 
Make intercession for Holy Church, protect the sovereign Pontiff,
Help all those who invoke you in their necessities, 
And since you are the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the True God,
Obtain for us from your Most Holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, 
Of sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life, 
Of burning charity, and the precious gift of final perseverance. 
Amen. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!