December 9th - St. Juan Diego
Weedy
In April of 1990 Juan Diego was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II
at the
Vatican. The following month, in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
in
Mexico City, during his second visit to the shrine, John Paul II
performed
the beatification ceremony. On July 2002 he was canonized by the
Church,
during a ceremony celebrated by John Paul II, again in the Basilica
of
Guadalupe.
Who was this Juan Diego?
Most historians agree that Juan Diego was born in 1474 in the calpulli
or
ward of Tlayacac in Cuauhtitlan, which was established in 1168 by
Nahua
tribesmen and conquered by the Aztec lord Axayacatl in 1467; and was
located
20 kilometers (14 miles) north of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City).
His native name was Cuauhtlatoatzin, which could be translated as "One
who
talks like an eagle" or "eagle that talks".
The Nican Mopohua describes him as a 'macehualli' or "poor Indian",
one who
did not belong to any of the social categories of the Empire, as
priests,
warriors, merchants,...but not a slave; a member of the lowest and
largest
class in the Aztec Empire. When talking to Our Lady he calls himself
"a
nobody", and refers to it as the source of his lack of credibility
before
the Bishop.
He devoted himself to hard work in the fields and manufacturing mats.
He
owned a piece of land and a small house on it. He was happily married
but
had no children.
Between 1524 and 1525 he was converted and baptized, as well as his
wife,
receiving the Christian name of Juan Diego and her wife the name of
Maria
Lucia. He was probably baptized by the famous and loved Franciscan
missionary Fray Toribio de Benavente, called "Motolinia", or "the poor
one",
by the Indians for his extreme kindness and piety.
According to the first formal investigation by the Church about the
events,
the Informaciones Guadalupanas of 1666, Juan Diego seems to have been
a very
devoted, religious man, even before his conversion. He was a
solitary,
mystical character, prone to spells of silence and frequent penance
and used
to walk from his village to Tenochtitlan, 14 miles away, to receive
instruction on the doctrine.
His wife Maria Lucia became sick and died in 1529. Juan Diego then
moves to
live with his uncle Juan Bernardino in Tolpetlac, which was closer (9
miles)
to the church in Tlatelolco -Tenochtitlan.
A macehualli
He walked every Saturday and Sunday many miles to church, departing
early
morning, before dawn, to be on time for Mass and religious
instruction
classes. He walked on naked feet, as all the people of his class, the
macehualli. Only the higher social classes of the Aztecs wore cactlis,
or
sandals, made with vegetal fibers or leather. He used to wear in
those
chilly mornings a coarse-woven cactus cloth as a mantle, a tilma or
ayate
made with fibers from the maguey cactus. Cotton was only used by the
upper
Aztec classes.
During one of this walks to Tenochtitlan, which used to take about
three and
a half hours between villages and mountains, the First apparition
occurred
(See The apparitions page), in a place that is now known as the
"Capilla del
Cerrito", where the Blessed Virgin Mary talked to him in his
language,
Nahuatl. She called him "Juanito, Juan Dieguito ", "the most humble of
my
sons", "my son the least", "my little dear".
He was 57 years old, certainly an old age in a time and place where
the male
life expectancy was barely above 40.
After the miracle of Guadalupe, Juan Diego moved to a room attached to
the
chapel that housed the sacred image, after having given his business
and
property to his uncle; and he spent the rest of his life propagating
the
account of the apparitions to his countrymen.He died on May 30, 1548,
at the
age of 74
Juan Diego deeply loved the Holy Eucharist, and by special permission
of the
Bishop he received Holy Communion three times a week, a highly
unusual
occurrence in those times.Pope John Paul II praised Juan Diego for
his
simple faith nourished by catechesis and pictured him (who said to
the
Blessed Virgin Mary: "I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder,
the
tail end, a leaf") as a model of humility for all of us.
This Version Taken From:
http://www.sancta.org/juandiego.html
Saint Quote:
Virtue is nothing without the trial of temptation, for there is no
conflict
without an enemy, no victory without strife.
-Pope St. Leo the Great
Bible Quote:
Purify your souls in the obedience of charity with a brotherly love.
(I Pet
1:22)
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Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead
"Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because
the hand
of the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.
ELEVENTH DAY
St. Francis de Sales tells us: "Devotion to the Souls in Purgatory
contains
in itself all the works of mercy, which super-naturalized by a spirit
of
Faith, should merit us Heaven.''
Prayers: Our Father, Three Hail Marys, Gloria, De Profundis.
De Profundis
Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee,
O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive to the
voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand it?
For with Thee there is merciful
forgiveness: and by reason of Thy
law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on His word;
my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even until
night; let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy;
And with Him plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from
all its iniquities.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
And let perpetual light shine upon them:
May they rest in peace. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, deliver the souls of the faithful departed from
the
flames of hell, and let Thine angels bring them into the holy light.
We
offer Thee, O Lord, a sacrifice of prayer and praise, accept them in
behalf
of all the Souls in Purgatory, that they may pass from death to life
everlasting with Thee in Heaven.
See entire prayer at:
http://halfthekingdom.com/daily%20thoughts%20and%20prayers.html