Saint Juan Diego
Nahua man linked to the Guadalupe event of 1531, first indigenous saint of the Americas
- Rank
- Saint
- Kind
- Layperson
- Life
- 1474 – 1548
- Era
- 16th century
- Feast
- 9 December
- Countries
- Mexico
Life story
Juan Diego, whose native name was Cuauhtlatoatzin, was born in 1474 at Cuautitlán, near Mexico City, in a Nahua community. He was baptised around 1524, a few years after the Spanish conquest, together with his wife, María Lucía, according to the traditions. He lived by farming and weaving mats in a village near the Valley of Mexico.
According to Mexican tradition, in December 1531 on the hill of Tepeyac a woman who identified herself as the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego and sent him to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga to ask for a chapel to be built. The oldest surviving account is the Nican Mopohua, a text in Nahuatl that many attribute to Antonio Valeriano; the origin and exact date of the text are still debated by historians.
Also according to tradition, Juan Diego's cloak, the tilma, bore an image of the Virgin and was accepted by the bishop. A chapel was built on the Tepeyac hill and, according to tradition, Juan Diego went to live nearby to look after it and to care for pilgrims until the end of his life.
He died in 1548. Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1990 and canonised him on 31 July 2002 in Mexico, the first indigenous saint of the Americas. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is now one of the largest pilgrimage sites in the world. Historians still discuss the sources, but the shrine at Tepeyac, rebuilt in the twentieth century, continues to receive millions of pilgrims every year.
Works and witness
- Baptised around 1524, a member of the Nahua community
- According to tradition, received the Tepeyac event in December 1531
- According to tradition, lived near the chapel at Tepeyac until 1548
- Beatified in 1990
- Canonised on 31 July 2002
Saints from the same country
References
- Nican Mopohua (Nahuatl account of the Guadalupe event)
- Martyrologium Romanum
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.