Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe

For the Church, the faith, and final perseverance

According to a long-standing tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, an Indigenous convert, on Tepeyac hill near Mexico City in December 1531 and asked that a church be built there. When Bishop Juan de Zumárraga asked for a sign, Juan Diego brought him roses in his tilma, and her image was found on the cloth. That image is kept in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Pope Benedict XIV named her patron of Mexico, and Saint John Paul II canonized Juan Diego at her basilica in 2002. Her feast is December 12.