"You're walking to church one day, and you see the Virgin Mary appear to you. If you're Juan Diego, you may have thought there was something wrong with you," since there's a slim line between vision and hallucination. Then Mary told the Indian, in clear terms, that it was time for Mexico City's Catholic leaders to build a new church large enough for people from all quarters.

"He had to convince the bishop of Mexico City, a man who is not native, who was seen as an oppressor, that he had had this vision," Colosimo continued. "Juan Diego was a peasant; he didn't have much education. The bishop threw him out of his office three straight times."

Juan Diego gathered up his courage three straight times, returning to ask again for an audience. Finally, the bishop told him he had to produce proof that he had seen Mary.

"Now, I'm well-educated, but if I had to go to Bishop Niederauer (of the Diocese of Salt Lake City)" amid such circumstances, "I'm not sure if I'd have the perseverance and courage to keep going back," Colosimo said.

As it turned out, Our Lady reappeared to Juan Diego after his meetings with the bishop. She told him that Castilian roses were growing on top of a rocky hill known as Tepayac outside the city. Since the bishop was from Castile, Spain, he would be moved by the sight of such flowers. Climb Tepayac and gather them, Mary instructed.

It was the first week of December, not the season for roses, much less a variety not native to Mexico. Juan Diego had a hard time believing he would find what he needed on that hilltop.

But the Castilian roses were there, Colosimo said. The peasant filled his cloak with the deep red blooms and went back to the bishop. Unfolding the cloth, he let the flowers fall to the floor.

The bishop looked up at Juan Diego's empty cloak and saw, resplendent in her own golden light, the image of Our Lady.

Not long after, construction of the basilica began. Since the 16th century, the shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the most-visited pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.

The image of Our Lady is a constant in Mexicans' daily life, said Juan Diego High School junior Alan Garcia. "She's in our homes and in our cars," reminding people they needn't be wealthy or powerful to be close to God. Garcia, 16, added, "As long as you're a spiritual person" you're worthy, as Juan Diego was.

Juan Diego was named a saint just last year when Pope John Paul II traveled to Mexico City to canonize him. So even if he lived almost five centuries ago, he may seem more relevant to these high school students than, say, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Yet Colosimo wants to make even the physically distant saints relevant to young people.