SANCTUARY OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, MEXICO.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 180, 8 September 1876, Page 14

SANCTUARY OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, MEXICO.

What Our Lady of Loretto has been to Italy; Our Lady of Fourvieres, La Salette, Lourdes, to France ; Our Lady of Foye and Halle to Belgium ; Our Lady of Navan and Trim to Ireland, Our Lady of Guadalupe is to our neighboring republic, Mexico. The Blessed Virgin, as is piously believed, appeared to Diego, an Indian, and sent him to the bishop to direct a church to be built on a site indicated. The bishop sent him back to gather roses there, and winter as it was, he found roses, and filled his cloak v ith them ; but at the bishop's palace the roses had vanished, and on the rude canvas of the cloak was painted a beautiful picture of Our Lady, still preserved. The Bishop of Mexico, the holy Zumarraga, placed the picture in a chapel till a church was erected on the spot miraculously designated by the Blessed Virgin. The first church soon proved insufficient to accommodate the thousands who crowded it. In 1695, Francis de Aguiar, Archbishop of Mexico, laid the corner-stone of the magnificent basilica, on which vast sums were lavished by the faithful.

On the first of May, 1709, the picture was translated to it, and placed on a silver throne that cost $80,000. Altars of beautiful marble are erected in the church and chapels, and the serviceplate is of the most costly description. The great silver lamp is a marvel of elaborate work. The altar railing is of silver, and is protected by a second railing of costly wood, exquisitely carved and inlaid with silver. The venerated picture is surrounded by a frame of pure gold, the offering of Don Antonio Maria Pucareli, Viceroy of Mexico.

As Our Lady of Guadalupe was deemed the especial Patroness of the Indians, the revolution, which made Mexico a Republic, increased devotion to her. She is the Patroness of Mexico ; and even in the present time when religion is so much opposed there by the so-called Liberals, Our Lady of Guadalupe is still honored and respected.