Guadalupe County, Its Early Years
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Appearances to St. Juan Diego
According to tradition, Mary appeared to Juan Diego, who was an Aztec convert to Christianity, on four occasions between December 9 and December 12, 1531. During her first apparition she requested that a shrine to her be built on the spot where she appeared, Tepeyac Hill (now in a suburb of Mexico City). However, the local bishop hesitated to act on this request. Mary appeared to Juan Diego a second time on December 9 after his meeting that day with the bishop and told him to return and try again.
On December 10 Juan Diego met with the bishop, who this time demanded a sign before he would approve construction of a church. Mary then appeared a third time to Juan Diego, who told her of the bishop’s demand for a sign.
On December 12, she made her fourth appearance, ordering Juan Diego to collect roses from the hill and bring them to the bishop. Miraculously, there were roses blooming on the hill, despite it being winter. Moreover, the roses were native to Castile, a region in Spain that was the homeland of the bishop. In his audience with the bishop on that day, Juan Diego opened his tilma (cloak), letting dozens of roses fall to the floor and revealing the image of Mary imprinted on the inside of the cloak—the image that is now venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe. Mary is also said to have appeared to Juan Diego’s dying uncle, Juan Bernardino, and restored him to health.
About Guadalupe County
Guadalupe County was founded in 1891 and named after our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas. The legislature of the Territory of New Mexico carved out Guadalupe County from the southern portion of San Miguel County.
The name of our county, Guadalupe, has religious significance and importance as does the name of our city, Santa Rosa. With those two names the founding fathers of Guadalupe County and the city of Santa Rosa made a very important statement about the importance of the Catholic religion and our Hispanic culture. Only four of New Mexico's thirty-three counties have religious names--San Miguel, San Juan, Santa Fe, and of course Guadalupe. Only a few communities have names that are associated with Catholicism and those are either in northern New Mexico or are Indian pueblos.
It is especially significant that the names of the two most important saints of the New World were chosen for our county and our community. Santa Rosa de Lima is the "Patroness of the Americas" and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is Mexico's most popular religious and cultural icon. The founding fathers certainly believed that their religion should be reflected in the names of their county and community, especially by selecting the two most important religious Catholic icons in the Western Hemisphere.
Daniel B. Flores- Historian
