Who isn’t familiar with the iconic image of Our Lady of
Guadalupe? She is without question one of the most revered and
reproduced images of the Christian world. According to
tradition, in 1531 the Virgin appeared to the Indian Juan Diego
on three different occasions, asking him to visit Bishop Juan de
Zumárraga so he could build her a chapel at the hill of Tepeyac,
north of Mexico City. At first, the bishop refused to believe
Juan Diego, but when he unfolded his cloak filled with the rare
flowers that the Virgin had sent as proof, and revealed her
miraculously imprinted image on Juan Diego’s tunic, the bishop
fell to his knees and begged the Virgin for forgiveness.
According to tradition the image imprinted on the Indian’s cloak
is the same icon still venerated today at the Basílica of
Guadalupe in Mexico City, which continues to attract millions of
pilgrims each year. Acquiring a painting of Our Lady of
Guadalupe has been one of my priorities for many years, but I
was waiting for just the right one. When I l