by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Note: Our Lady of Guadalupe
appeared on 9th December 1531 to St. Juan Diego (1474–1548, canonised in
2002 by Pope John Paul II) on Tepyac Hill. The Blessed Virgin spoke in
his native tongue, Náhuatl. The indian was 57 years old and had been
baptised. The third and last apparition took place on 12th December of
the same year. As a proof of Her appearance, Our Lady left Her image
miraculously impressed on St. Juan Diego’s tilma.
Today
is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the book written by Edésia
Aducci, Mary and Her Glorious Titles, one can read the dialogue between
Our Lady and Juan Diego:
During the first apparition, Our Lady,
speaking in the Mexican language, said, “Listen, you whom I tenderly
love as a small and delicate son, where are you going?” He answered,
“My noble Lady, I am on my way to your house at Mexico-Tlatilulco; I
will attend Holy Mass celebrated by the minister of God and your
subject.”
Our Lady: “Know, my dear son, that I am the ever Virgin
Mary, Mother of the true God, and it is my desire that they erect a
temple to me in this place from where, as a loving Mother of you and
your people, I will show my loving clemency and compassion that I have
for the natives and those that love and seek me. I will hear their
prayers and supplications to give them consolation and relief. And so
that my will be done, you should go to Mexico City to the bishop’s
palace and you will tell him that I sent you and that it is my will that
he build a temple in this place. You will tell him what you saw and
heard. I will thank you for this you do for me and I will give you
prestige and exalt you.”
Juan Diego: “I will go immediately, most noble Lady of mine, to execute your commands as you humble servant.”
Second
Apparition: Juan Diego returns from the bishop’s palace that
afternoon. The Most Holy Virgin was waiting for him. “My very dear
Queen and noble Lady, I did what you requested and, even though it was a
long time before I could speak to my lord bishop, I communicated to him
your message as you commanded. He heard me amiably and attentively,
but his manner and questions led me to understand that he did not
believe me. Therefore I ask you to give this charge to another … more
worthy of respect who will be believed, because you know, my Lady, …
that this is not something for me to do. Forgive me, my Queen, my
boldness if I in any way lacked respect to your grandeur; may I not
deserve your indignation, nor may my answer have displeased you.”
The
Most Holy Virgin insists with Juan Diego. He then returns to the
bishop and the prelate demands a sign of the apparition. The Indian
returns and Our Lady tells him to return the next to this same place, at
which time She will satisfy the wish of the bishop. But Juan Diego,
having the need to call a priest for his uncle who had fallen ill,
deviates from the accustomed route, certain that the Most Holy Virgin
would not see him. But behold, Our Lady appears to him in another
place.
“Where are you going, my son, and why did you take this way?”
Juan
Diego: “My very beloved Lady, may God keep you! How are you this
morning? How is your health?... Do not be irritated with what I will
tell you: Your servant, my uncle, is sick and I am going quickly to the
church of Tlatltelolco to get a priest to hear his confession and anoint
him. After doing this task, I will return to this place to obey your
command. Forgive me, my Lady, be patient with me and I will return
tomorrow without fail.”
Our Lady: “Listen, my son, to what I will
tell you: Do not be afflicted about anything, not even with illness or
any other harmful things. Am I not here, am I not your Mother? Are you
not under my protection and care? Am I not life and health? Are you
not in my lap and walk under my care? Do you need anything else? . . .
Worry no longer about your uncle’s health, as he will not die now, and
have the certainty that he has been cured.”
* * *
One
could make several commentaries on this event. One of the more
interesting commentaries is that which has not been emphasised: Juan
Diego’s attitude towards Our Lady and the language he uses to address
Her.
I mention this because the other aspects—that is, how Our
Lady likes to appear to the humble and simple people to send messages to
the great, how She seeks pure souls to be Her spokesmen—have been dealt
with in so many apparitions that I believe there is no special purpose
to insist upon it tonight.
However, the language and attitude of
the Our Lady towards the Indian is extraordinarily beautiful. She
treats him like the son of a nation that is decadent and about to
disappear, but who has a pure and simple soul. So, She treats him with
extraordinary tenderness, almost as if he were a child. On the one
hand, we see the predilection that Our Lady not only has for great and
heroic souls that perform historic deeds, but, on the other hand, how
She loves all forms of beauty, all forms of virtue. She also loves
simple, small souls who are entirely turned to Her and even are unaware
of their own virtue. She speaks to these souls with a unique
tenderness.
Then we have the attitude of Juan Diego towards Our
Lady. He speaks to Her as a courtesan greeting Our Lady, asking how She
is doing, if She is well. After having told of the failure of his
mission, he acts like a true diplomat and explains to Her the human
reason for his failure. At the same time, he manifests his desire not
to boast and put himself in the centre. You see how many qualities of
soul are manifest here.
As a result, Our Lady appreciates his
attitude, smiles upon his diplomatic suggestion, but does not accept
it. On the contrary, She demands that he return. Juan Diego, always
obedient, returns because he is not lazy and does not resist Her. He is
the son of obedience. This was an order. Our Lady really wants it, so
he returns once again!...
Our Lady reproduced Her image on Juan Diego’s tilma and he died in the odour of sanctity.
Here
is a principle I wish to emphasize: Wherever there is virtue, there is
also tact, courtesy, noble manners. Contrariwise, where virtue is dead,
noble manners, tact, and courtesy gradually disappear.
Through
baptism Juan Diego had a great delicateness of soul and thus was tactful
in his manners and knew how to treat Our Lady with respect, with true
nobility. On the contrary, if he had not had this delicateness of soul,
he could even have been noble, but would not have treated Our Lady with
true nobility.
This proves that Western Christian civilization
developed good manners, nobility of treatment, gentlemanliness,
gallantry, and aristocratic tone to a degree no other civilisation had
ever attained. This was because there had been a Middle Ages where
these things were born and continued to develop even after the end of
this period. There was an era of intense virtue, intense piety, during
which souls yearned for nobility of treatment, delicateness, and
grandeur. Since customs are born from intense desires of good and even
bad souls, Western courtesy is the fruit of Christian piety and virtue.
When
the revolutionary process began with the Renaissance, Europe’s
spiritual life was tarnished with egalitarian principles. As a result
decadence began. Why? Because from this point of view, revolution,
egalitarianism, lack of delicate sentiments and nobility are entirely
correlated. The egalitarian person cannot have nobility of manners,
cannot be delicate in his sentiments, but rather is egotistical, brutal,
tends towards the masses, does not want to acknowledge another’s merits
and qualities. He would prefer to subject the whole social life and
human relations, in a word, deal with every soul in a hard, cold, and
crude egalitarian manner.
This is the extreme opposite of that
delicateness that germinated in the virginal, supernatural, and so
delicate soul of our good Juan Diego.
Here we can see the extent
to which courtesy and aristocratic tone are daughters of the Holy,
Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and how the contrary—that which is
vulgar, brutal and egalitarian manners—is precisely the fruit of the
Revolution and the devil.
Here you have a commentary on the manners and soul of good Juan Diego. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
_____________________
Britain Needs Fatima Members’ Newsletter, Issue 55, February 2013
© February 2013, Britain Needs Fatima Members’ Newsletter. Permission
is granted to reproduce this newsletter, in whole or in part, provided
credit is given.
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