A LEADING EXPERT ON OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE.Byline: ANA PACHECO Today, Catholics around the world are celebrating the feast day of Juan Diego For the actor, see . Saint Juan Diego (1474 – May 30, 1548) was an indigenous Mexican who reported an apparition of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531. He had a significant impact on the spread of the Catholic faith within Mexico. , whom the Vatican canonized can·on·ize tr.v. can·on·ized, can·on·iz·ing, can·on·iz·es 1. To declare (a deceased person) to be a saint and entitled to be fully honored as such. 2. To include in the biblical canon. 3. July 31, 2002, as the first native-born Mexican saint. For the millions of faithful followers, the legacy of Juan Diego's encounters with an apparition apparition, spiritualistic manifestation of a person or object in which a form not actually present is seen with such intensity that belief in its reality is created. of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe, also called the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or Virgen de Guadalupe) is a 16th century Roman Catholic Mexican icon depicting has forever been established. Some naysayers contend the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to this Aztec Indian almost 500 years ago was merely a tactic that the Catholic Church used to evangelize e·van·gel·ize v. e·van·gel·ized, e·van·gel·iz·ing, e·van·gel·iz·es v.tr. 1. To preach the gospel to. 2. To convert to Christianity. v.intr. To preach the gospel. Mexico's Native Americans. But for people around the world who will be celebrating her feast day this Friday, the four visions that appeared to Juan Diego of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December 1531, when she spoke to him in his native Nahuatl language Nahuatl language Uto-Aztecan language of Mexico, which continues to be spoken by more than a million modern Mexicans in various markedly divergent dialects. Nahuatl was the language of perhaps the majority of the inhabitants of pre-Conquest central Mexico, including , document the existence of one of the most important female icons of any religion. As Marian scholar Jacqueline Orsini Dunnington says, "It's remarkable that a woman has played such an important role in one of the world's major religions." Dunnington, 78, is the author of three books and countless articles on Our Lady of Guadalupe. She was born on the outskirts of Geneva Geneva, canton and city, Switzerland Geneva (jənē`və), Fr. Genève, canton (1990 pop. 373,019), 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surrounding the southwest tip of the Lake of Geneva. , Switzerland, in 1929 and was raised by her grandmother, Marie-Louise Oggier, because her father died before she was born and her mother was unable to care for her. As a toddler, she moved with her grandmother to Vietnam, where her great-uncle Armand was a chef for the French Embassy in Hanoi. Later they moved to Pondicherry, a French colony in south India. "I was raised by Catholics, so we'd go to Mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception every morning," Dunnington remembers. "In the afternoon, I would listen to the Hindu monks chant as I walked up and down the beach, looking at sacred cows." Dunnington attributes her devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe to her grandmother. "When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe that was placed over my bed. She had obtained the painting in 1910; it had come from Mexico on four different ships. That painting has traveled all over the world with me," she says. It was when Dunnington moved to the United States that she truly became inspired, she recalls. "I was around 9 years of age when we came into the New York harbor New York Harbor, a geographic term, refers collectively to the rivers, bays, and tidal estuaries near the mouth of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City. This is sometimes construed in the sense "the Ports of New York and New Jersey". . As we were passing the Statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty great symbolic structure in New York harbor. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 284] See : America Statue of Liberty perhaps the most famous monument to independence. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 284] See : Freedom , I noticed that she had a crown on her head and was wearing a robe. I asked my grandmother if that was our Lady of Guadalupe, and she said, 'Not exactly, but they're both Lady Liberties.' " The fascination with Our Lady of Guadalupe that began more than 60 years ago has led Dunnington around the world in search of information. She has traveled to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and across Asia, South and Central America, and -- most importantly -- throughout Mexico in her quest for information. In 1992 and again in 1997, the Vatican gave Dunnington two apostolic blessings for her work on Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is on the national speaking circuit as one of the most knowledgeable Marian scholars in the country. Recently, she has given presentations at the University of Texas, Columbia University and Notre Dame. In the 1950s, Dunnington attended the Sorbonne in Paris, where she studied religious and Gothic art. She has degrees from Smith College, Columbia and New York University New York University, mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the , where she also taught comparative religion. She speaks several languages, including French, Italian, Sanskrit, Tibetan and Pali, a language of south India. In addition to her religious research, Dunnington frequently travels to California to visit her daughter, India, who works as an administrator at the Art Center of Design in Pasadena, and to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of to see her son, Walter, who works in the advertising industry. In between her travels, writing and speaking engagements, she also manages to take Rascal, her jack russell terrier Jack Russell terrier, breed of dog developed in the 19th cent. by an English clergyman, the Reverend John (Parson Jack) Russell, 1795–1883, for hunting. , on her daily walk. Dunnington moved to Santa Fe in 1981 because, she says, "I wanted to live in a place that has an open landscape." This Friday will be her 17th visit to the basilica in Mexico City, where millions of people will be paying tribute to Our Lady of Guadalupe and offering their gratitude to San Juan Diego. Ana Pacheco is the founder and publisher of La Herencia, a culture and history magazine (www.herencia.com, 505-474-2800). Her weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Tuesday. |
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