Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Makati - Makati's Heavenly Pro-Life Protectress

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Makati

In the busy streets of Guadalupe Nuevo in Makati City, known as the place of the urban poor in the city, there lies a simple yet important Church which is now known as the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe - the Celestial Patroness of the Philippines. It is not a mere coincidence that the site would later become a pilgrimage site where the Lady of the Tilma will shower her graces to her devotees, at the same time, to protect her poor children.

The Guadalupe Apparitions 

On the morning of December 9, 1531 Juan Diego was on his way to mass when he saw symbol of a a maiden at the Hill of Tepeyac, in what would become the town of Guadalupe  in the suburbs of Mexico City. Speaking to him in the native language, the maiden asked that a church be built at that site in her honor; from her words, Juan Diego recognized the maiden as the Virgin Mary. Juan Diego recounted the events to the Archbishop of Mexico City, Fray Juan de Zumarraga who instructed him to return to Tepeyac Hill, and ask the “lady” for a miraculous sign to prove her identity.

The Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe
to St. Juan Diego

The first sign was the Virgin healing Juan’s uncle. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, where he found Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, blooming in December on the normally barren hilltop. The Virgin arranged the flowers in his tilma or cloak, and when Juan Diego opened his cloak before Bishop Zumárraga on December 12, 1531, the flowers fell to the floor, and on the fabric was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

After a few days, Juan Diego, accompanied by Spanish clergy, officers and new converts to his home to check on his uncle Juan Bernardino. All of them were amazed when they say Juan Bernardino in robust health and he too was graced with an apparition of Our Lady. The Virgin cured him and revealed that she wished that the image will be known as "Santa Maria de Guadalupe". The title Guadalupe that Juan Bernardino revealed might have been mistranslated by the Spaniards for it is believed that what the Virgin actually wished to be called as "Santa Maria de Tecoataxopeuh" which literally means "The one who crushes the head of the Serpent", a further Confirmation of her Immaculate Conception which at that time, was not yet declared a Dogma of Faith.

The original image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico

Her likeness was given as a sign to Bishop Zumarraga, who abided by her wishes and constructed a church on Mt. Tepeyac, the site of the apparitions. Millions of natives were converted to Christianity during the period following her visit. Our Lady of Guadalupe has been designated as the Patroness of Mexico and the Empress of the Americas.

In 1533, The first sanctuary is erected at the request of the Virgin. With the Bishop's permission, Juan Diego lived the rest of his life as a hermit in a small hut near the chapel where the miraculous image was placed for veneration. Here he cared for the church and the first pilgrims who came to pray to the Virgin. Juan Deigo died and was buried in the first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe in May 30, 1548.

The Tilma 

The image on the tilma is composed of pigments that have not been identified by chemical analysis as being the product of animal, vegetable, or mineral dye. No undersketch has been identified below the painting. The tilma was made from cactus fibers and as such should have turned into dust after approximately twenty years.
Instead it has survived and been on display to the faithful for nearly 500 years despite being exposed to the smoke of candles throughout the centuries. Infrared spectroscopy has confirmed the integrity of the image.

An extraordinary discovery was made in the tilma of the Virgin. In the examination of the eyes of the image by photographers and ophtamalogists has suggested that the reflections of Juan Diego, the bishop, and the interpeter can be distinguished.

An examination on the eyes of the Virgin in the tilma

On December 22, 1981, at the Observatory Laplace Mexico City, Father Mario Rojas and Dr. Juan Hernández Illescas, a medical doctor and amateur astronomer, performed an astronomical study of the Image and analyzed the stellar arrangement that appear in the Mantle of Our Lady. They surprisingly discovered that the stars stunningly and accurately map out the various constellations of the Mexican sky. Even more remarkable is the "star map" on the mantle is in the reverse (the cardinal axis rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise): providing a view of the constellations from beyond them, as would be seen looking through them towards the earth.

The constellations are consistent with what astronomers believe was in the sky above Mexico City on the day the apparition occurred - in the winter-morning solstice of December 12, 1531, Saturday, at 10:26AM.

The official tapestry portrait of St. Juan Diego
on the day of his canonization.

Church Approval and Pontifical Recognition

In 1555 In the Provincial Counsel, the second archbishop of Mexico, Alonso de Montúfar, formulated canons that approved the apparitions. A formal inquiry and investigation was conducted by the Church from February 18 to March 22, 1666 and again by Archbishop Lanziego y Eguilaz in 1723 to further validate the apparitions.

Pope Benedict XIV, in the Papal bull Non Est Equidem of May 25, 1754, declared Our Lady of Guadalupe patroness of what was then called New Spain, corresponding to Spanish Central and Northern America, and approved liturgical texts for the Holy Mass and the Breviary in her honor.
In 1887, Pope Leo XIII granted the Canonical Coronation of the image, which occurred on October 12, 1895. Pope Pius XII accorded her the title "Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas" in 1945, and "Patroness of the Americas" the following year.

Juan Diego was beatified on May 6, 1990 and canonized by Pope John Paul II on July 31, 2002. His feast day is December 9th. Pope John Paul II, during his third visit to the sanctuary on March 25, 1999, declares the date of December the 12th as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent.

The Patronage of the Philippines

Contrary to the claims that the Virgin of Guadalupe is the Secondary Patroness of the Philippines, A Papal Bull was issued on July 16, 1935 by Pope Pius XI, issued a Papal Bull declaring that: 

"Forsooth with our certain knowledge and mature delibreration, and from a plenitude of Our Apostolic Authority, according to the purport of these letters and in perpetual manner, we define and declare that the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the aforesaid title of Guadalupe is before God THE CELESTIAL PATRONESS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.  Wherefore we command that all the Liturgical Rights and privileges which are proper to such a Patronage shall be bestowed upon Her Heavenly Patronage. [...]

Given at Saint Peter’s at Rome, under the Seal of the Fisherman, on the sixteenth day of July in the Year Nineteen Hundred and Thirty Five."

The first image of the National Shrine of
Our Lady of Guadalupe carved by Maximo Vicente

On November 13, 2001, the celebration of the Feast of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in the Philippines was declared an Obligatory Memorial. On September 8, 2002, Bishop Socrates Villegas, DD declared the Virgin of Guadalupe as Pro-life Patroness in response to the issues on human reproduction and mortality in the country.

The National Shrine in Makati City

The center of the devotion to the La Guadalupana in the Philippines is located in a simple yet unlikely location, the area of Guadalupe Nuevo in Guadalupe, Makati City.

The place was notoriously known for its urban poor population and out of concern to them, Archbishop Gabriel Reyes, DD, then the Archbishop of Manila, established the parish of the La Guadalupana in 1951. The parish became the solace of the people who clings to her protective mantle of protection.

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Makati City

On August 15, 2002, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His Eminence, the late Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin issued a decree of erection making the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was attested by the Archdiocesan Chancellor, Msgr. Roberto C. Canlas.

With the increase of pilgrims to the Shrine in Makati, the people of Guadalupe Nuevo together with the clergy of the parish clamored for the elevation of the Shrine as a National Shrine. On February 5, 2010, Most Rev. Nereo F. Odchimar, DD, then CBCP President, signed the Decree of Establishment of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was formally declared during the Mass officiated by His Eminence, Archbishop Emeritus Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, former Archbishop of Manila on May 31, 2010, the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth.

The devotion

The devotion to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe makes a stronghold in the country since the Spanish Era and it continues to flourish up to this day. Her Feast day, December 12th is still highly observed by her devotees every year. Masses every 12:00 noon in the National Shrine is always filled with devotees from all over the country. Numerous testimonies of miracles were known and were attributed to the Lady of the Tilma.

As we end this blogpost in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe, let us meditate on the words of Our Lady that she gave to St. Juan Diego to help her continue his mission that would be also be her consoling words for all of us.

“Listen, my beloved son, have no fear or anxiety in your heart. Do not try to do anything about your uncle’s grave illness or about any other trouble of yours. For am I not here with you, your mother? Are you not safe in the shadow of my protection? Am I not the source of your life and your happiness? Am I not holding you in my lap, wrapped in my arms? What else can you possibly need? Do not be upset or distressed. Climb again, my beloved son, to the summit of this hill, to the place where you saw me and heard me speak. You will find flowers growing there. Pick them and gather them and bring them down to me.”

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Patrona Celestial de Filipinas, iRuega por nosotros!

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