Members of Our Lady of the Mountains Parish in Estes Park gathered on Thursday evening for a vigil prayer service to mark what many Catholics venerate as the Miracle of Guadalupe, accompanied by drumming, dancing, and singing in the church’s sanctuary.
The evening began at 6 p.m. with the rosary, a Catholic devotional practice that is used to meditate on the miracles in the life of Jesus.
Rather than using beads strung on a chain to count the traditional 59 prayers of the rosary – or rosario – worshipers placed candles on the floor before the altar in the shape of a rosary for an illuminated rosary.
The Danza De María, a matachines troupe from Loveland, performed the traditional ceremonial dances in honor of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego, a Chichimec peasant, near present-day Mexico City in December 1531.
Male and female dancers dressed in vests and aprons elaborately decorated with sequins, hollow tubes, bells, and images of crosses, stars, doves, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Divine Mercy, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Our Lady of Guadalupe moved to loud rhythmic drumming.
The hollow tubes, traditionally made from river reeds, are sewn in horizontal lines, resembling a fringe, with small bells attached at the end. As the dancers move, the tubes and bells sway and knock against each other, creating a distinctive cascading sound.
One member of the troupe wore a purple headpiece with feathers and led the religious, trance-like dance, which blends Christian traditions honoring the Mother of God, Aztec tribal dances, and Iberian influences brought to the Americas by the Spanish Conquistadors.
Holding a maraca in one hand and a small bow and arrow in their other hand, the dancers’ movements tell stories of how Moctezuma, the ninth Emperor of the Aztec Empire, was killed and then how the Indigenous people were baptized and converted to the Christian faith.
A seven-foot by five-foot framed image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, surrounded by red and white roses, pink carnations, white lilies, and baby’s breath, was placed in front of the altar.
The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, a Nahua peasant, and the miracle of how her image was imprinted on his tilma or cloak are credited with the widespread conversion of the Aztec people to Christianity.
According to the story, a woman who identified herself as “Mary, the mother of the true deity” appeared to Juan Diego and asked him to go to the Bishop of Mexico and request that he build a chapel in her honor on Tepeyac Hill, which is now part of Mexico City.
Juan Diego – whose birth name, Cuauhtlatoatzin, means “talking eagle” – attempted to deliver the message, but the bishop, a Spanish Basque Franciscan named Juan de Zumárraga, was dismissive and told the peasant to return at another time.
Again, the woman appeared to Juan Diego. He told her that, as a poor man with little influence, he had not been successful in securing the bishop’s commitment to build the chapel.
The Virgin told him to try again. The bishop had asked for a sign that Juan Diego was indeed a messenger from the Virgin Mary. She instructed him to gather a bouquet of flowers, wrap them in his cloak, and give them to the bishop.
Since it was December, flowers were not in season, but the Virgin led Juan Diego to flowers that were actually in bloom in winter. He gathered a bouquet and placed it in his cloak, which was made of ayate fiber, made from the agave plant.
When he was presented to the bishop, he unwrapped the flowers, and miraculously, the image of the woman was imprinted on his cloak. The bishop recognized the image as that of the Virgin Mary and also recognized the flowers as Castilian roses, which are not indigenous to Mexico but are native to Spain. He agreed to build the chapel.
A miracle of survival, a sign of hope to millions
Today, Juan Diego’s cloak hangs above the altar of the Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe in Mexico City, 494 years after the alleged apparitions. Believers venerate the cloak as a relic of a Marian miracle. Usually, agave fibers degrade within two to three decades, but both the cloak and the image on it are preserved, defying scientific explanation.
The image of the Virgin contains symbols that the Indigenous people and Europeans understood. The Virgin is positioned in front of the sun, signifying that she was greater than the sun god of the Aztecs. She also stands on top of the moon, meaning that she was more powerful than the Aztec god of night.
Her blue cape is indicative of royalty, and her rose-colored robe is decorated with a map of Mexico. The cross at her neck is the Spanish missionary cross, indicating that her God was the God of the missionaries, and the belt around her waist was a sign that she was pregnant. Her hands folded in prayer were a sign that she was not God but was praying to God.
While the Catholic Church does not require adherents to believe in specific apparitions, many Catholics and others believe in the story of the apparition and venerate the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the patron of Mexico and the Americas.
Pieces of the story have been scrutinized by skeptics and scientists who have asked how the image came to appear on Juan Diego’s cloak, called a tilma, and how it has survived for nearly 500 years.
The sacred relic is now protected in a sealed and temperature-controlled enclosure, but for 115 years, the tilma was displayed without protection and exposed to candle smoke, wax, and being touched. It was not until 1647that the garment was first placed under glass.
Over time, the tilma has survived some significant incidents that might have destroyed it. In 1791, a worker spilled nitric acid on it while cleaning its gold and silver frame. The acid left some watermarks but did no other damage.
On Nov. 21, 1921, a bomb placed in a floral arrangement detonated under the image. The explosion caused extensive damage to the cathedral and its stained glass windows. The impact bent bronze candelabras and a crucifix on the altar, but the cloak and its glass covering were unharmed.
The role of apparitions and miracles like Guadalupe in the journey of faith
The Catholic Church recognizes several Marian apparitions as worthy of veneration, including those that have occurred in Guadalupe, Mexico; Fatima, Portugal; Lourdes, La Salette, Paris, and Pontmain, France; Beauring and Banneux, Belgium; Akita, Japan; Kibeho, Rwanda; and Knock, Ireland; Champion, Wisc.
These apparitions have been investigated by Church authorities and found to offer messages that encourage an increase in faith through prayer and penance.
For Catholics, veneration means showing deep respect, honor, and reverence for saints, relics, and images. Worship or adoration is reserved for God and involves devotion, sacrifice, and recognition of the divine source.
While popular with many people, the Catholic Church has not declared the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a group of teens that began in 1981 in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina to be authentic. In 2024, the Vatican granted the apparitions a “Nihil Obstat,” meaning that nothing stands in the way of focusing on the spiritual experience and message of the apparitions rather than their veracity.
On July 31, 2002, the humble Nahua peasant Juan Diego was canonized by Pope John Paul II at the Basilica of Guadalupe.