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| Juan Diego by Miguel Cabrera, 1752 |
The 9th of December is the feast day of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. He is also known as Juan Diegotzil. He is the patron saint of indigenous peoples.
Saint Juan Diego lived between 1474 till 1548. He was a poor but humble peasant, the lowest class of Aztec Indians in today’s Mexico. He had native name which was Cuauhtlatoatzin, it means “eagle that talks.” At the age of 50 he was baptised by a Franciscan missionary priest and took up the Christian name of Juan Diego. On the 9th of December 1531, which was the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady appeared to him as he went on his way to mass. She appeared as a pregnant Aztec princess on the hill of Tepayac in what is today’s Mexico City. She left her image on Juan Diego’s tilma as proof of her appearance to the local bishop. The image is now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe and the tilma can still be seen in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Saint Juan Diego was canonised in 2002 by Pope Saint John Paul II. He is the first indigenous saint from the Americas.
