The Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe comes to the Iowans for LIFE Banquet!
By Tom Quiner
The mysterious tilma
The day was December 9th, 1531. It was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Spanish Empire.
A peasant by the name of Juan Diego was walking and encountered the vision of a teenage girl bathed in light.
She asked the peasant to have a church built on this site in her name.
Who was she?
Juan Diego determined that it was the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God.
Juan took the message to the Bishop who asked for a miraculous sign that would prove her identity.
When Juan returned to the hillside to convey the request, Mary told him to gather roses that would be found at the top of the hill.
In December? Roses in December?
But Juan found Castilian roses growing, which are not native to Mexico. And he found them in a spot that was normally barren.
He took them to Mary who placed them in the peasant’s tilma cloak. (Tilma is a flimsy fiber made from the cactus plant.)
So the miraculous sign was the roses, right? The bishop was going to be amazed when he saw a mound of roses this time of year in a peasant’s cloak. Right?
As the saying goes, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Juan Diego opened his cloak before the bishop.
The roses tumbled to the ground.
What the bishop saw astounded. Imprinted on the cloak, against which the roses had been pressed, was a startling image that is now known as “Our Lady of Guadalupe,” which you can see above.
A nice little folk tale?
‘What a nice little folk tale’ is what you may be thinking, and I would agree if that was all there was to the story.
Let us set aside the many miracles attributed to this mysterious icon. Let us just reflect on a few scientific observations.
Tilma is a material that has a shelf life of about 30 to 40 years. The tilma bearing the image of “Our Lady” is still intact and in good condition today, 488 years later. A scientist who analyzed the material, Dr. Adolfo Orozco, offers no explanation as to the super durability of this particular tilma.
Inexplicably, UV rays didn’t break down the material
The tilma received no protection for the first 116 years of its existence, which subjected it to UV rays that break down the material over time. It was also subjected to the relentless kisses and tears of the faithful who were allowed to press their face to the icon in those early decades of its existence.
Another scientist, Dr. Aste Tonsmann, a civil engineer with a doctorate from Cornell University, was allowed to use new, sophisticated digital imagery on the eyes of the icon.
He magnified the eyes 2500 times and made a startling discovery. There is a reflection embedded in the irises of the eyes of Mary of thirteen people who were allegedly present when Juan Diego opened his tilma and let the roses fall to the ground.
What artist could have accomplished all of this?
These images are undetectable without very modern scientific instruments. They would have been impossible for an artist of the 16th century to have created them.
In 1938, another scientist tried to figure out how the icon was painted. Richard Kuhn, the 1938 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, discovered that the image wasn’t made with natural animal or mineral colorings.
There were no synthetic colorings in 1531. He can’t explain how the image was created.
Even more, there are no brush or sketch marks present.
Now, take a look at the stars on Mary’s mantle. Another scientist analyzed their placement back in 1981 at
the Observatory Laplace Mexico City.
Dr. Hernández Illescas, a medical doctor and amateur astronomer working with Fr. Mario Rojas, performed an astronomical study of this star pattern.
They discovered the stars weren’t randomly placed. Rather, they are precisely aligned to create a stellar replication of constellations seen in a Mexican sky in the winter-morning solstice of December 12th, 1531, Saturday, at 10:26 AM.
Interesting, isn’t it?
Science raises more questions than it answers.
How come the fabric survives?
Don’t know.
How in the world was the thing painted?
Don’t know.
How could an artist have painted microscopic reflections in the irises of Mary’s eyes?
He couldn’t, it is impossible.
How could a dumb peasant have done any of this along with accurately depicting the constellations?
Maybe he didn’t.
Maybe it is just another mystery of our faith.
***
Coming to the Iowans for LIFE Banquet on October 3rd!
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe which converted the Aztecs has been replicated and travels the United States on an explicit mission to end abortion. It is carried into Churches and it is brought in front of abortion clinics nationwide. Iowans for LIFE is proud for the opportunity to display it at our upcoming banquet on October 3rd.
The Missionary Image you see is one of four actual (4’X6’) replicas of the original Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They were made from a digital image of the tilma in 1999 and the digital image was blessed by Pope John Paul II, and by Monsignor Ponce, Rector of the Basilica of Guadalupe to bring conversions, reverence for life, respect for the sanctity of the family and solidarity of the Church in America.
The images have visited every state in the U.S. and traveled around the world. Many signs, wonders, conversions, healings, reconciliations and graces have been reported. Abortions have been prevented and many abortion centers have closed after visitations by the Miraculous Image. In Iowa, since the 2012 visitation of the Missionary Image, 18 of 26 Planned Parenthood centers have closed. You are invited to touch this important sacramental and ask our Mother to pray for you and your intentions.
[Don’t miss out at the opportunity to view and pray before the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Register now for the IFL Banquet on October 3rd.]