St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548) was a Nahua peasant convert to Catholicism and the visionary of the Marian apparitions at Tepeyac, near present-day Mexico City, in December 1531 — the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Born Cuauhtlatoatzin ('Talking Eagle') in the Anáhuac valley before the Spanish conquest, he and his family were baptized by Spanish Franciscan missionaries around 1524 — among the first Nahua converts. On December 9, 1531, walking to Mass in Tlatelolco at dawn, he encountered the Blessed Virgin Mary at the hill of Tepeyac. She spoke to him in his native Nahuatl, identified herself as the Mother of God, and asked him to request that the local bishop (Juan de Zumárraga, a Spanish Franciscan) build a chapel on the site. The bishop demanded a sign. Mary told Juan Diego to gather Castilian roses from the frozen winter hilltop and bring them to the bishop in his tilma (the Nahua-style cloak of woven cactus fibers). When Juan Diego opened the tilma in the bishop's presence on December 12, the roses fell and the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on the tilma itself — the same image preserved at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe today. The image is one of the most-studied religious objects in the world; the tilma's preservation (cactus-fiber cloth that would normally degrade in twenty years, intact for nearly five hundred), the pigmentation that does not correspond to any known organic or inorganic pigment, and the iconography (Mary depicted pregnant, in indigenous Nahua clothing, with Aztec cosmological symbols) have been documented in numerous Vatican-commissioned studies. Pope St. John Paul II beatified Juan Diego in 1990 and canonized him in 2002 at the Basilica in Mexico City — the first indigenous American canonized as a saint. He is the patron of indigenous peoples worldwide and a particular intercessor for Latin American Catholic identity. The novena is appropriate for: any indigenous Catholic discerning vocation; Latin American Catholic identity formation; first-generation immigrant Catholics navigating the gap between homeland and new-country Catholicism; humility in vocation (Juan Diego doubted his own worthiness — Mary told him, 'Am I not your Mother?'); and as the companion novena to Guadalupe devotion (the Juan Diego novena leads naturally into the Guadalupe novena, which celebrates the same apparition arc from Mary's side).
10 min
Duração
9 dias
Compromisso
Para iniciantes
Nível
St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Santo padroeiro
Pray once daily for nine consecutive days. The novena is traditionally prayed in the nine days leading up to the Feast of St. Juan Diego (December 9, the date of his first encounter with Mary at Tepeyac), or as preparation for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). The structure: (1) Sign of the Cross; (2) Reading of a brief passage from the Nican Mopohua — the 1556 Nahuatl-language account of the Guadalupe apparitions, attributed to the Nahua scholar Antonio Valeriano, which is the principal source for Juan Diego's biography; (3) The novena prayer; (4) Three Hail Marys (in Nahuatl if known, in Spanish, or in English); (5) Name the intention. The Mexican Catholic tradition pairs the novena with a small home altar to Juan Diego — a holy card, a Mexican tile of his image, or a small statue, often beside a print of the Guadalupe tilma. Many Mexican Catholic families also wear a Juan Diego medal during the novena. The novena is especially appropriate for: indigenous Catholics worldwide reclaiming their pre-conquest spiritual heritage within the Catholic faith; first-generation Latin American immigrants whose Catholic identity feels strained between homeland and adopted country; humility in any vocational discernment; and as the spiritual companion to the Guadalupe novena during the December devotional season. The Mañanitas (the traditional pre-dawn Mexican Marian serenade on the night of December 11-12) often include a particular acknowledgment of Juan Diego's role.
O God, who through Saint Juan Diego didst show us the love of the Most Holy Virgin Mary toward your people, grant, through his intercession, that we who follow the counsels of Our Mother of Guadalupe may strive always to do your will. Through your humble servant Juan Diego — the indigenous Nahua peasant whom Mary chose as her messenger, the cactus-fiber tilma on which she imprinted her image, the witness of a faith that crossed the bloody chasm of conquest — obtain for me the grace I now ask (mention your intention). San Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, ruega por nosotros. St. Juan Diego, pray for us. Amen.
Coordene oração sustentada por alguém que você ama. Voluntários preenchem horários de 30 minutos cobrindo dias ou semanas; a família recebe um buquê espiritual no final.
Convide um pequeno grupo para rezar isto a cada dia com você. Todos recebem o mesmo texto, o mesmo ritmo, a mesma intenção.