In Victoria, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12, is a day of cultural and religious significance as the La Virgen de Guadalupe is not just the Patroness of the Americas but the Catholic Dioceses of Victoria, Texas as well.
The feast day remembers the Virgin Mary appearing to a peasant named Juan Diego in 1531 in Mexico City. According to accounts, Mary appeared to Juan Diego and identified herself as Mary, the mother of the very true deity and asked for a church to be erected at the site in her honor.
Juan Diego then sought the Archbishop of Mexico City, Juan de Zumárraga to tell him what had happened. The archbishop did not believe Juan Diego. Later that same day, Mary asked him to keep insisting.
The next day, Juan Diego spoke to the Archbishop for a second time. The archbishop told him to return to Tepeyac and to ask for a miraculous sign to prove her identity.
When Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac he saw Mary again and told her of the archbishopƵs request for a sign which Mary told him she would provide the following day.
But the following day Juan DiegoƵs uncle, Juan Bernardino, fell ill and he stayed to care for him. As his uncleƵs condition deteriorated in the early morning hours, Juan Diego made his way to Tlatelolco to find a Catholic priest to minister to his uncle on his deathbed.
Juan Diego avoided being delayed by Mary, ashamed he had failed to meet her, and took another route around Tepeyac Hill. Yet Mary intercepted him and asked where he was going. Juan Diego explained his situation and Mary gently chided him for not having come to her for help. She asked, ƵAm I not here, I who am your mother?Ƶ
Mary assured Juan Diego that his uncle had recovered and told him to collect flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. Normally at winter time, the hill is barren but Juan Diego found Castilian roses, which are not native to Mexico, blooming there.
Mary arranged the flowers in his cloak and when Juan Diego opened his cloak before the archbishop, the flowers fell to the floor and revealed the image of the Virgin Mary.
When Juan Diego returned home the next day, he found his uncle fully recovered. His uncle recalled that he had seen Mary after praying at his bedside. She had told him to inform the archbishop of her siting and of miraculous cure. She also told him she desired to be known under the title of ƵGuadalupe.Ƶ
A procession led Juan DiegoƵs miraculous image of Mary back to Tepeyac Hill where it was placed in a small, hastily erected chapel a week or so after Juan Diego first spoke to the archbishop.
December 12 celebrates the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego. Her title, Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrates her apparition in Mexico City in 1531. In Victoria as the patroness of the Catholic Dioceses for the city, celebrations and processions were held in honor of the feast day.
Throughout the month of December the story of MaryƵs immaculate conception is widely known and told. The story of Our Lady of the Guadalupe highlights the cultural significance of the Virgin Mary to the region.