Celebrating a Saint: Juan Diego

DRAPER — Though he was a poor peasant in a remote 16th-century Mexican village, the Catholic Church canonized him earlier this year, making Juan Diego not only the true patron saint of the nation's largest Catholic high school here, but a model for Catholics throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Father Virgil Elizondo, an internationally known expert on the story of Juan Diego and the Virgin of Guadalupe, told the Deseret News that though some scholars have questioned whether the events ever happened or even whether Juan Diego ever existed, he doesn't put any stock in such questions. Fr. Elizondo spoke to students at the school on Friday to wrap up their three-day celebration honoring the church's newest saint.

Some have charged that Pope John Paul II sainted Juan Diego, during a celebration attended by millions last summer in Mexico City, to appease Hispanics angry that he hadn't yet been elevated to the same status as others in the church involved in miraculous events.

"Some people question whether Christ ever existed," Fr. Elizondo said. "It's a legitimate question, but I think the massive witness tradition and the faith of the people in Mexico is very real." That, combined with historical documents detailing the tradition that date back to about 1548, leave no question in Fr. Elizondo's mind — or that of most Catholics, he said.

Many scholars have long argued that sainthood for the 16th century peasant was merely a formality, because the Mexican people had long ago sainted Juan Diego in their minds and hearts.

According to Catholic belief, Juan Diego encountered a young woman who identified herself as Mary, the mother of Christ, on Dec. 9, 1531, as he walked to Mass. She asked that a "temple" be built on a hill called Tepeyac and urged the peasant to take her request to the local bishop, a Franciscan from Spain. The skeptical priest said he wouldn't believe unless there was a heavenly sign.

The virgin again appeared and asked Juan Diego to pick some roses from a hilltop and take them to the bishop. When the peasant made his second request for a temple, he released his cloak or "tilma" revealing the now-famous image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the cloth. Tradition says Juan Diego then spent the rest of his life recounting the story for believers.

The event ignited a spark of religious devotion that spread throughout the country in the ensuing centuries and helped various indigenous people in the region — who were at the time of the virgin's appearance under the spear of Spanish conquerors — unite to form their own national identity .