Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with four Marian apparitions to Juan Diego and one to his uncle, Juan Bernardino, in December 1531, when Mexican territories were part of the Spanish Empire.

A revered image on a cloak (tilmahtli), linked to the apparition, is enshrined in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

Pope Leo XIII issued a decree for the canonical coronation of the image on February 8, 1887. The coronation rite was carried out by the former Archbishop of Mexico, Próspero Alarcón y Sánchez de la Barquera, on October 12, 1895. Pope Paul VI elevated the sanctuary to the status of Minor Basilica through his pontifical decree Sacra illa Ædes on October 6, 1976. It is the most visited Catholic sanctuary in the world and the third most-visited sacred site globally.

Description of the Marian Apparitions

According to the Nican Mopohua, included in the 17th-century Huei tlamahuiçoltica, written in Nahuatl, the Virgin Mary appeared four times to Juan Diego, a Chichimeca peasant, and once to his uncle, Juan Bernardino. The first apparition took place on the morning of Saturday, December 9, 1531 (Julian calendar, equivalent to December 19 in the current proleptic Gregorian calendar). Juan Diego had a vision of a young woman at a place called the Hill of Tepeyac, which later became part of the Villa de Guadalupe, a suburb of Mexico City.

According to accounts, the woman, speaking to Juan Diego in Nahuatl—his native language and the language of the former Aztec Empire—identified herself as Mary, "Mother of the true deity." She reportedly requested that a church be built in her honor at that location.

Following her words, Juan Diego went to the Archbishop of Mexico City, Juan de Zumárraga, to report what had happened. As expected, the Archbishop did not believe him. Later that same day, Juan Diego saw the young woman again (the second apparition), and she urged him to continue insisting.

The next day, Sunday, December 10, 1531, according to the Julian calendar, Juan Diego spoke with the Archbishop for the second time. The Archbishop instructed him to return to Tepeyac and ask the woman for a miraculous sign to prove her identity. Later that day, the third apparition occurred when Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac. Upon meeting the same woman, he informed her of the Archbishop’s request for a sign, which she agreed to provide the following day (December 11).

However, on Monday, December 11, Juan Diego’s uncle fell ill, and he was forced to care for him. In the early hours of Tuesday, December 12, as Juan Bernardino’s condition worsened, Juan Diego traveled to Tlatelolco in search of a Catholic priest to hear his uncle’s confession and assist him on his deathbed.

The Fourth Apparition

To avoid being delayed by the Virgin and embarrassed for not meeting her on Monday as agreed, Juan Diego took a different route around Tepeyac Hill. However, the Virgin intercepted him and asked where he was going (fourth apparition). Juan Diego explained what had happened, and the Virgin gently reprimanded him for not seeking her help. She then spoke the now-famous words of the Guadalupe apparitions, which are inscribed above the main entrance of the Basilica of Guadalupe:

"Am I not here, I who am your mother?"

She assured him that Juan Bernardino had already recovered and instructed him to pick flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, which was typically barren, especially in the cold of December. Juan Diego obeyed her instructions and found Castilian roses—non-native to Mexico—miraculously blooming there.

According to the story, the Virgin arranged the flowers in Juan Diego’s tilmàtli (cloak), and when Juan Diego opened his cloak that same day before Archbishop Zumárraga, the flowers fell to the ground, revealing the image of the Virgin imprinted on the fabric.

The Fifth Apparition and the First Miracle

The next day, December 13, Juan Diego found his uncle completely recovered, just as the Virgin had assured him. Juan Bernardino recounted that he too had seen her after praying at his bedside (fifth apparition). She had instructed him to inform the Archbishop of her apparition and his miraculous healing and to say that she wished to be known under the title Guadalupe.

The Archbishop kept Juan Diego’s cloak, first in his private chapel and later in the church for public display, where it attracted great attention. On December 26, 1531, a procession was formed to transfer the miraculous image back to Tepeyac Hill, where it was installed in a hastily built chapel.

During this procession, the first miracle was said to have occurred. An indigenous man was mortally wounded in the neck by an arrow accidentally fired during stylized martial demonstrations in honor of the Virgin. Deeply distressed, the indigenous people carried him before the image of the Virgin and pleaded for his life. When the arrow was removed, the man completely and immediately recovered.