About Guadalupe:

The Shrine at Guadalupe is considered the holiest place in the Western Hemisphere. St. John Paul II preached to millions of the faithful from this holy Shrine during his 1979 visit to Mexico. The Basilica commemorates the Virgin Mary's appearance to a humble Indian and honors her request that a Shrine be built in Her honor. In December of 1531, Juan Diego informed a skeptical bishop of his encounter with Mary. A few days later, Juan returned to the site of the vision and once again Our Mother appeared. The humble man relayed the bishop's request for proof of Her visitation, whereupon the Virgin instructed Juan to gather roses from the frozen, rocky terrain and present them to the bishop. Remarkably for the cool season, he found a great number of roses strewn all around. Gathering the roses in sackcloth, he hurriedly took them to the bishop. When he opened the cloak to present the roses to the cleric, it was not Only *the blooms that amazed the bishop. Stamped on the humble cloth was an image of the Virgin! The same miraculous image exists for you to see, hanging in splendor above the main altar.