MEXICO’S “LOURDES.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19952, 20 November 1926, Page 27

MEXICO’S “LOURDES.”

OUE LADY OP GUADALUPE AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY SHEPHERD AND HIS BLANKET. Thg conflict in Mexico between the Church and the State recalls the extraordinary story of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Its mysterious painting of the Virgin, says Mr H. J. Shepstone. F.R.G.S., in a recent article. , .. . . Guadalupe is a little village at the foot of a hill some six miles from Mexico. It is the Holy of Holies of Mexico, for here is situated the miracle-working shrine. Of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which, during the recent troublous times, has become the centre of frenzied worship. Here every vear there takes place a wonderful festival, to which come Indians from all parts of the country to the number ot over 100,000. Centuries ago the place had been a great Aztec stronghold. Up to the year 1531 the country had been pagan; the Aztecs practised human sacrifice,, but the remarkable story of a simple-minded Indian shepherd caused the hm to .be regarded as consecrated ground in the eyes of all devout Mexicans. One Sunday morning in the year mentioned while Juan Diego, a shepherd, was passing this spot, the Virgin appeared to him he stated, and bade him order the Bishop of the Valiev of Mexico to build for her a chapel on the lull above. The bishop, being incredulous, and > knowing the ready imagination of the Mexican Indians, refused to believe the shepherd. Who returned to the hill—then untenanted—only to bo met once more by the Virgin, who repeated her request to him Where she stood during this second vision a Spring is said to have gushed from the ground, and here to-day is the Holy Well of Guadalupe, surrounded by an iron railing and covered over by a kiosk, of Moorish type, with a beautiful blue dome, made of glazed tiles. From this spring every pilgrim to the shrine never fails to drink. It is always full of water, vet never overflows, and the chapel which surmounts it is filled with the relics of those who have been cured by its waters. UNBELIEVING BISHOP. Diego returned to the bishop, who refused again to believe the tale of the vision. “Go,” said he to the shepherd, “and bring me some tangible token of the vision, else I shall not believe you.” Juan Diego, discouraged, and half believing that he had dreamed, rather than seen the Virgin, went back to the hill. There, standing on the summit of the mount, which was then called Tepeyac, was the Virgin, waiting for him. A bush filled with blooming roses sprang from the rocks at her feet as she burst on the sight of the shepherd Frightened, the sheperd knelt, and heard a soft voice say : “Be not afraid. Roll up thy tilma (blanket) and come nearer.” Diego obeyed, and, approaching the feet of the Virgin, was commanded to unroll his blanket. , Once more he obeyed, and there fell from the grey folds of his worn tilma an armful of roses identical with those blooming on the bush at the Mother’s feet. 'More than this, in the centre of the tilma was imprinted a picture of the Virgin. “Take these.” said she, “to the bishop, as a proof of what you have seen and what I have commanded.” The shepherd bore his third message and the proof of it to the bishop, and, though the flowers were carried in his hand more than two hours in the hot sun, they were as fresh when he entered the bishop’s hall as when he left the hill o ( Tepevac. This time the prelate believed the shepherd, and the chapel covering the soot where the Virgin stood was built immediately on the top of the hill, which rise? some 200 ft above the plain. Later came the cathedral and the kiosk to cover the holy well at the base of the hill where the Virgin first appeared to the shepherd. To this holy shnne the Mexicans make a great annual pilgrimage every December, to pay tribute to the. miracle worked through the agency of the humble shepherd. DIEGO’S WONDERFUL BLANKET. The blanket .hich Diego wore, framed in gold, hangs above the altar in the cathedral below. Men of science in Mexico and other -nations have examined it; it has been subjected to the closest scrutiny by expe-ts in painting, dyeing, and embroidery; reports have been made on it by representatives of many learned societies and, while all have agreed that the picture is neither painted on the cloth nor woven into the body cf the blanket, no one has been able to give any EKirt of an explanation of its presence, the colours of the picture—red, yellow, white, and blue —are as brilliant as if dyed yesterday, yet the remainder of the blanket is dirty, just as it came from the back of the Indian, Juan Diego. , , The tilma, for such it IS called in Spanish, was removed from the chapel above to the altar of the larger church below, because there was no room in the smaller building on the hill top for the crowds who come each year to see and venerate It; but the chapel still remains the ultima Thule of pilgrims. Leading from the level of the village to the crest of the hill are two sets of stone steps, four hundred and thirty-six steps to each stairway. These are walled in on either side by high flanks of concrete, .on which have been marked thousands on thousands of names of those who have made the pilgrimage. Up these steps it was the custom at one time for the pilgrims to go on hands and knees, until, by the time half the travellers had passed to the chapel and down again, the stones were stained a deep crimson from worn knees and torn palms The late President Diaz, however, stopped the practice. He issued a mandate threatening severe penalties if the order were disobeyed._ Since then the pilgrims walk up one stairway and down the other. A HILLSIDE OP CHAPELS. The hillside is covered with chapels and monuments erected during the past three hundred years in grateful commemoration of temporal blessings received through the intercession of the Virgin, the most curious, perhaps, being that known as the Stone Sails of Guadalupe. This consists of square sheets of bricks and mortor, representing one mast of a square-rigged ship. Five grateful sailors, storm-tossed on the Gulf of Mexico, vowed this offering to the Virgin of Guadalupe if she would save them.. They were rescued, and they kept their vow, the great stone sails, which are a landmark for many miles, being the result. The festival lasts for a whole week, the great dav being December 12, the anniversary of the date on which the Virgin appeared to the shepherd. It is then that the wonderful jewels of the Virgin are brought forth from their steel and concrete resting-place. They consist of a crown, shaped like a mitre, and a jewelled wand or staff: the former is put on the head and the latter placed in the hand of the Virgin’s image. Some £30,000 worth of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and sapphires glisten on the solid gold of the crown, while in the staff are fully £2OOO worth more of the finest jewels of the Republic, The setting of these gems alone, after the gold and the stones had been provided, cost £6OOO in Paris. The jewels and the gold alike represent the gifts of the wealthiest women in Mexico, On the day they are exhibited they are guarded only by a solitary priest, yet no one has ever tried to steal them. Their exhibition forms the climax of this remarkable yearly pilgrimage. It reminds one of the pilgrimage to Lourdes, and there is certainly much in common between the French .miracle enacted three hundred years later and that of Our Lady of Guadalupe.