The Eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Missionary Image of
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Site Map
Section C
This is the story of a miracle that took place in what is now
In 1525, four years after the conquest of
Before the Spaniards brought the Church to the
people of “Mexica”, the Aztec and Myan indian populations were,
of course, pagan. The high
priests of the Aztec religion offered human sacrifice to their gods.
Their principle pagan gods demanding human blood sacrifice were
Texcatlipoca and
Huitzilopochtli. Their less-demanding god of sacrifice was Quetzalcoatl,
who did not require human blood sacrifice. They also worshipped the
goddess Tonantzin, believed to be a manifestation of the Earth Mother,
Coatlicue.
As many as 20,000 human beings were sacrificed annually to Texcatlipoca
or Huitzilopochtli.
The hearts of the victimes were cut out and laid on the altar atop the
Aztec temple, which, in design, were pyramids that rivaled those of
On
In this apparition, the Blessed Virgin Mary became known as the virgin
of Guadalupe, because the location of her apparition was Guadalupe
Hildago, now in the northeastern section of
“she who crushes2 the serpent”.1
Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, identified herself as the woman in
Genesis, who, according to the traditional translation, “will crush the
head of the serpent with her heel.”4 In the Missionary Image
portrayed above, one can see that the left leg is slightly elevated and
bent at the knee---as if she were about to step on something.
The left moccasin is not showing from under the royal maternity
robe; the right one is visible.
The Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe also shows “grand
proportions”, or perfect anatomical placement of joints and limbs.
Also by bone measurement, it is
revealed that the apparition of the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe was 4
feet, 8 inches tall.5 This estimation of height was confirmed
by St. Bernadette at
In the native language of Náhuatl, The Blessed Virgin Mary asked Juan
Diego to go relate to the local bishop her request that a church be
built on Tepayac hill. When
she appeared to Juan again, he told her that the bishop did not believe
him. She told him to return
to the bishop the following Sunday and repeat her appeal to him a second
time. When the Blessed Virgin
appeared to Juan a third time, he told her that the bishop wanted some
proof of her apparitions.
On December 12th, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan
for the fourth and last time.
Juan’s uncle had been seriously ill and he on his way to summon a
priest to give him the last rites of the Church.
He even took an out-of-the-way path to try to avoid the most holy
Mary so that he could accomplish his mission.
The Blessed Virgin appeared to
him anyway and told him not to worry; that his uncle would be cured.
She said to him:
“No estoy Yo a qui que soy tu Madre
(“Am I not here who am your Mother?”)
Here is the text of her message to Juan Diego:
“Listen and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little son. Do not be
troubled or weighed down with grief. Do not fear any illness or
vexation, anxiety, or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you
not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are
you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there
anything else you need? Do not let the sickness of your uncle worry you
because he is not going to die of his sickness. At this very moment, he
is cured.”1
As for the sign that the bishop requested, the Blessed Virgin of
Guadalupe told Juan to pick some Castilian roses that were growing
nearby. Now it was winter
and the presence of roses in December, especially at that location, was
miraculous. She told Juan to
place the roses in his ayate or tilma, a sort of a front and back cape,
which was made out of coarse cactus cloth.
She told him to take the roses to the bishop and
not to open his tilma until he
was standing before him.
So, Juan Diego walked obediently into town and went to the bishop’s
residence. When he was
admitted into the presence of Bishop Zumárraga, Juan opened his tilma
right in front of him. The
Castilian roses cascaded to the floor between the two men. In amazement,
the bishop brought his hands to his face and
fell to his knees; but not at the
sight of the roses; he was astounded at the image of Our Lady of
Guadalupe that had been miraculously imprinted on the front of Juan’s
tilma. It was the same image
that appears at the beginning of this story.
It is important to realize that Our Lady of Guadalupe was
appearing---invisibly--- in the room at the same time that Juan opened
his tilma in front of Bishop Zumárraga.
Our Lady left a miraculous visual imprint of this apparition on
Juan’s tilma. In other
words, when we look at the image on Jaun’s tilma, we are seeing the
mystical sign that the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe left for us in order
to depict her apparition in the room. Evidence for this is specified in
studies of the corneal reflections in the eyes of the imprint of Our
Lady of Guadalupe on Juan’s tilma.
After leaving the bishop’s residence, Juan went home and found that his
uncle had been cured, just as the Most Blessed Virgin had said. In the
years following the apparition, because of the graces from God that came
through Our Lady of Guadalupe, almost the entire population of Aztecs
and Myans were converted to Christianity.
More than 470 years have passed since Our Loving Mother appeared to Juan
Diego on the hill of Tepayac, in a northeast suburb of what is now
* * *
The cactus cloth that made up Jaun Diego’s tilma has a useful life span
of about ten to twenty years.
After about fifty years the cloth disintegrates---it breaks up
into small pieces. Juan’s
tilma continues to hang on display in the Basilica of Our Lady of
Guadalupe in
Over the centuries, science has studied Juan’s tilma.
Scientists are always baffled as to how the image of Our Lady of
Guadalupe was applied to the cactus cloth.
It is simply too rough in texture to paint visual depictions of
tiny and delicate anatomical structures.
In May of 1979, studies by infra-red photography were undertaken by
Philip C. Callahan, a research biophysicist at the
Scientists eventually discovered that the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
as imprinted miraculously on Jaun’s tilma, contained human shapes
reflected on the cornea of each eye.
With the aid of computer technology, some investigators have
imaged human figures in the corneal reflections.
For example, some scientists say that there are four or more
persons imaged in the corneal reflections of the right eye.
For the following presentation we did not use an imaging computer---but simply outlined the corneal images in Photoshop. The reason that we claim seeing only two human silhouettes in the corneal reflections is that we only outlined images that were contained within the corneal area of the eye. The sclera, the white portion of the eye, does not reflect images as does the cornea, which has the dark background of the iris and the pupil to create a mirror effect.
Above is the un-retouched photographic print of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe
that we scanned for the following presentation.
It is an extremely high quality fine-grain print that was
processed in
2. Retouched corneas are on the top and un-retouched corneas are on the
bottom.
Following is the retouched image of the right cornea:
4. The images are the retouched reflections of the right cornea---of
Juan Diego and Bishop Zumárraga.
Juan has just opened his tilma.
6. The images are the retouched reflections of the left cornea. Notice
the different positioning of the figures from those of the right cornea.
This is due to the stereoscopic effect of one eye being nearer an
object than the other eye. The Blessed Virgin’s right eye was rotated
laterally and her left eye was rotated medially. Because of the
positions of Juan, the bishop and Our Lady, her right cornea shows a
frontal reflection. The
left cornea shows a reflection on the inferior-lateral-dorsal aspect.
This is also clearly evident in image No. 2, above.
Because of the commentaries of previous studies performed on the tilma,
something should be said about the black figure (below) appearing on the
scans of the right cornea.
Upon gross examination with a magnifying glass, this figure, which
appears immediately near the bishop’s back, is most certainly not
a reflection of the right cornea, as it appears in front of the eye
itself. Following is the un-retouched scan of the right cornea:
7. The mysterious black figure which appears near the bishop’s back was not
retouched. It can be seen in the above scan and in No. 4 scan, above.
There is a spatial difference between the surface of the right cornea
and the black figure. This is evident because the resolutions of the
black figure and the surface of the right cornea are obviously
dissimilar. This is exactly the perspective acquired when using a
magnifying glass to grossly examine the photographic print. Possible
explanations that have been offered to explain the black figure are:
that it is an angel with wings; there are two figures instead of one; it
is an artifact which has attached itself to the tilma after the
apparition. We maintain that it is not in the interest of qualifying the
miraculous authenticity of the tilma to investigate the black figure,
because, optically, it is plainly anterior to and separate from, the
surface of the right cornea.
The Constellations
There has been a study on Juan Diego’s tilma that concludes that the
stars on the mantle of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe are in the
exact positions of stellar constellations that were in the skies over
Mexico in December of 1531. Following are two images. The left image is
a constellation map from a documented source.6 The right
image is the Missionary Image that has been retouched to enhance the
locations of the stars on the mantle of the image.
Conclusion
We agree with the general impressions of previous investigations and
observations of the tilma of St. Juan Diego, that, in any age, it would
be humanly impossible to create the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, let
alone the dozens of minute images within the image itself---without the
aid of computer technology---coupled with the challenge of imprinting
the image on rough cactus cloth by any means available.
A lengthy dissertation would be required to discuss the
discoveries associated with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
This is beyond the scope of this presentation.
After further investigation, we are sure that you will agree with
us that the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in
February of 1531 are authentic and miraculous.
Technical
Aspects
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in No. 1 above is a JPG image of
56KB. All of the images of
the eyes were cropped from a scanned image
identical to No. 1, except that it is a BMP image of 45 MB. The scanner
resolution for the BMP image was
set, after experimentation for resolution v. file size; at 400 (3400 x
4680). Exposure
automatically read at 4 and gamma read at 2.16. The only manual setting
was shadow, at 40.
Footnotes
1Catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Faith/11-12-98
2English and Latin translation notes on Genesis 3:15:
"her seed" (semen illius): illius, a bi-gender pronoun, refers to
Christ, the seed of Mary; "she shall crush"(ipsa conteret): "ipsa" is
feminine because it refers to "the woman" (mulierem), Mary; "ipsus"
would be masculine. English: (Gen3:15; Douay-Rheims; Tan) Latin:
(Gen3:15; Biblia Sacra Vulgata v.; Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft,
3
Rengers, Christopher OFM Cap.
Mary of the
4See “The Immaculate Conception and Other Truths
of Mary” on this Web site: www.holyhillcross.com
5Dan Lynch, postulator for the Missionary Image of Our Lady of
Guadalupe, The Abundant Life, EWTN.
6
Testoni, Manuela. Our Lady of
Guadalupe - History and Meaning of the Apparitions .
Copyright 2005-2011
Holy Hill Cross Web Site
All rights reserved.