Our Lady of Guadalupe: the incredible miracles of her mantle and the greatest conversion in the history of Christianity. Patron Saint of Latin America

Mexico, year 1531. It was a very troubled period: the country had just been discovered by the Spaniards; the indigenous civilizations (the Aztecs being the most powerful) were depressed as they saw their religious cultures disappear quickly with the imposed bans, as well as half of them were dying of the smallpox that came in the European ships; and, the Franciscan priests were in great discouragement for not being able to catechize, since they did not even dominate the local native languages, little progress was made. 

Bishop Don Juan de Zumárraga, from Mexico, calls out to God before his people to change that situation. And God answers his prayer. It was when Our Lady made her appearance to the indigenous Juan Diego that same year asking for the construction of a church in that place. The bishop sometimes resisted the indigenous man's statements, asking for proof. Our Mother answered, requesting that Juan gather from the top of the mountain of the apparition some bouquets of diverse and beautiful roses that never appeared in that place, since it is an arid soil where only thorny bushes grow - in addition to being winter at that time. He collected them, wrapped them in his tilma (a cape/mantle that the Indians used against the cold, made of agave), said goodbye to the Mother and ran to present them to the bishop. 

As they unrolled the mantle with the flowers along with other witnesses (who already left them perplexed), the beautiful image of Our Lady was "being painted" on the mantle in front of them, as the mantle was opened and the flowers fell. It was a live miracle! The Bishop falls to his knees in tears, asking for forgiveness and giving thanks. Soon they begin the construction of the church in the place indicated by Our Lady.

The Incredible Miracles of the Image on the Mantle

The robe became sacred because of the grandiose and detailed image that miraculously appeared on it and also because of seven other miraculous facts, described below:

1 - Mantle does not deteriorate. 

The mantles of the natives were customarily made of cactus material, which were supposed to last for about fifteen years. However, it has remained intact for over 500 years without any sign of deterioration.

2 - There are no signs of painting with brushes.
The painting was "printed" simultaneously across the entire mantle. It is an unknown technique in the history of painting, according to the scientists' conclusions.

3 - It was observed that the disposition of the stars and the flowers in the image form a musical composition, a melody. Listen to the music conducted by the Orquestra Sinfonica y Coro de la Vienna Music in the video below (10 minutes long with a 1 hour loop).

^{Source: Ave Maria Pictures}

4 - Colors made with supernatural materials

In 1531, dyes for paint did not yet exist, just as it was found that the material used in painting does not exist in nature, according to Dr. Kuhn - Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938. No artist has ever managed to reproduce it until today.

5 - Microscopic details in the eyes of the image

Experts in ophthalmology, engineering and NASA managed to magnify images of the pupils of the eye by up to 2500 times. Incredibly , they visualized an image in both eyes : the moment when Juan unrolled the image to the Bishop, with 13 people in the place (as it really happened). The reflection of the image is the same as what appears in human eyes. Experts guarantee that a human would not be able to paint such small details with the naked eye.

6 - The cloak and the painting are indestructible .

It first survived an unintentional disaster in 1735, when while washing the glass that protected it, a large amount of nitric acid, a solvent, fell onto the entire mantle. This one and the painting self-healed after 30 days! Already in 1921, in a deliberate act, they installed 29 charges of dynamite in a vase in front of the image and it exploded.... Inside the cathedral, everything within 150 meters of the image broke, twisted and shattered. Nothing happened to the image or the glass that protected it .

In total, four investigations were carried out on the image. None could explain how this painting was done. One of the scientific commissions considered it to be the work of God , as its miraculous characteristics are above nature.

The Greatest Conversion in the History of Christianity

And, mainly, as a consequence of these miracles (by the way, being the objective of these) was the massive conversion of the indigenous civilizations, who started to desire all the sacraments of the Catholic Church: baptism, confession, communion and marriage! The priests were unable to meet all the demand: up to 17,000 baptisms were performed in one weekend. When the right arm got tired of baptizing, they switched to the left. It was considered the greatest conversion in history to this day. Eight years later, in 1539, an estimated eight million Aztecs had converted and been baptized! This phenomenon occurred because the miraculous mantle proved to have a very close relationship with indigenous peoples and local civilizations, who communicated through images and not in writing. Our Lady, aware of this, left several detailed visual messages on the mantle to carry out the conversion of the indigenous people to Her Son:

1 - Our Lady appeared with mixed features between Spanish and indigenous people (prophesiing the fusion of the races). Her hair was loose and parted in the middle, as virgin Indian women did.

2 - The joined hands indicate that Our Lady is always in prayer as well as signaling the "sacred little house of Tepeyac", that is, the foundation of a new nation with two cultures in fusion. The black band above the belly was also worn by pregnant Indian women, signaling to those civilizations that She is pregnant with Her Son God.

3 - On his neck there is a rounded brooch with a cross stamped just above, the same one that the Spaniards used. This indicated to the Indians that the true religion is the one preached by the Spanish priests who wanted to catechize them.

4 - The ancient civilizations of Mexico revered and knew the heavens a lot. So the fact that the Mother wore a mantle in the painting containing the positions of the 46 stars with their constellations on that night when she appeared to the Indian was fundamental for their massive conversion. The blue-green color of the mantle was only used by Aztec emperors, indicating their importance in the kingdom of God.

5 - The strong light behind the image demonstrates that Our Lady is also dressed in the sun . Additionally, a four-petal flower is stamped on her belly, which in Aztec culture symbolized the sun. Those civilizations worshiped the sun. She demonstrated that her God is above their sun. In this way, the indigenous person she carried in her womb was the Sun Child.

6 - Our Lady has the moon under her feet , representing that her God is the one who commands this star in the sky. Additionally, the angel who appears in front of the moon with bird wings represents in Aztec culture the "center of the moon"

7-The indigenous people believed that their gods looked directly into the eyes in order to impose their superiority. The image appears Our Lady with her head bowed down, that is, clearly declaring that she is not a goddess, and therefore her God is greater than her.

Several complementary interpretations are still offered by the indigenous culture to these explanations and other details of the image, realizing that God sought the conversion of these children of His through His Holy Mother!

_{REFERENCES: TV EVANGELIZAR, MIRACULA DEI, MINHA BIBLIOTECA CATÓLICA, INSTITUTO HESED, PARÓQUIA NOSSA SENHORA MÃE DA IGREJA, DIOCESE DE UMUARAMA, EDITORA CLEÓFAS, AVE MARIA PICTURE}