#St. Juan Diego

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 9)

On December 9, Roman Catholics celebrate St. Juan Diego, the indigenous Mexican Catholic convert whose encounter with the Virgin Mary began the Church's devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In 1474, 50 years before receiving the name Juan Diego at his baptism, a boy named Cuauhtlatoatzin — “singing eagle” — was born in the Anahuac Valley of present-day Mexico.

Though raised according to the Aztec pagan religion and culture, he showed an unusual and mystical sense of life even before hearing the Gospel from Franciscan missionaries.

In 1524, Cuauhtlatoatzin and his wife converted and entered the Catholic Church.

The farmer now known as Juan Diego was committed to his faith, often walking long distances to receive religious instruction.

In December 1531, he would be the recipient of a world-changing miracle.

On December 9, Juan Diego was hurrying to Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

But the woman he was heading to church to celebrate came to him instead.

In the native Aztec dialect, the radiant woman announced herself as the “ever-perfect holy Mary, who has the honor to be the mother of the true God.”

“I am your compassionate Mother, yours and that of all the people that live together in this land,” she continued, “and also of all the other various lineages of men.”

She asked Juan Diego to make a request of the local bishop.

“I want very much that they build my sacred little house here” — a house dedicated to her son Jesus Christ on the site of a former pagan temple that would “show Him to all Mexicans and exalt Him throughout the world."

She was asking a great deal of a native farmer. Not surprisingly, his bold request met with skepticism from Bishop Juan de Zumárraga.

But Juan Diego said he would produce proof of the apparition, after he finished tending to his uncle whose death seemed imminent.

Making his way to church on December 12 to summon a priest for his uncle, Juan Diego again encountered the Blessed Virgin.

She promised to cure his uncle and give him a sign to display for the bishop.

On the hill where they had first met, he would find roses and other flowers, though it was winter.

Doing as she asked, he found the flowers and brought them back to her. The Virgin Mary then placed the flowers inside his tilma, the traditional cloak-like garment he had been wearing.

She told him not to unwrap the tilma containing the flowers until he had reached the bishop.

When he did, Bishop Zumárraga had his own encounter with Our Lady of Guadalupe – through the image of her that he found miraculously imprinted on the flower-filled tilma.

The Mexico City basilica that now houses the tilma has become, by some estimates, the world's most-visited Catholic shrine.

The miracle that brought the Gospel to millions of Mexicans also served to deepen Juan Diego's own spiritual life.

For many years after the experience, he lived a solitary life of prayer and work in a hermitage near the church where the image was first displayed.

Pilgrims had already begun flocking to the site by the time he died on 9 December 1548, the 17th anniversary of the first apparition.

John Paul II beatified Juan Diego on 6 May 1990 and canonized him on 31 July 2002.

He is now known as the patron saint of indigenous people.

[myremnantarmy]

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯, 𝘴𝘰 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.."

[catholic-saint-tournament]

About St Teresa of Avila

About St Juan Diego

Post-Schism Bracket Round 1

[divinum-pacis]

An individual portrays peasant Juan Diego during the “traditional Mañanitas" event on the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (RNS photos/Fiona Murphy)

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy Feast Day

Saint Juan Diego

1474-1548

Feast day: December 9

Patronage: America and Natives

Saint Juan Diego was an indigenous Mexican who embraced the Catholic faith that came with Cortez, spread by the Spanish friars. On December 9th, 1531, Our Lady appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill (Guadalupe), as he was going to Mass, asking for a church to be built on that spot. After convincing the skeptical Bishop of the apparition's authenticity, through Mary’s miraculous image on his tilma (cloak) and Castillian roses spilling out when he opened the tilma, the Bishop built the church. Thousands of conversions occurred, when the tilma, with our Lady’s image on it, was processed through Mexico City. St. Juan Diego spent the rest of his life as the tilma's caretaker and telling the apparition's story. The tilma can be seen today in the basilica in Mexico City.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

[misspjsuperior]

Tonantzin Guadalupe 🌵🌹

The original \/u| \//\ goddess I created in 2013 is Maria Rosa. Her design was inspired in major part between the miracle of La Virgen de Guadalupe and the concept of Mary Queen of Heaven.

I was recently commissioned to create a new (\/) Goddess inspired similarly between Guadalupe and Tonantzin by my chingona hermana Janet Bella Rosa who also knew Mi padrino Antonio 🙏 I felt his spirit guiding me to connect our visions! 💞

Tonantzin is an enduring Nahuatl title for the maternal aspect of any Aztec goddess, much like “Our Lady”, rather than the name of a particular goddess. I chose a blue background to parallel Her starry mantle of heaven and also represent Lake Texcoco since the eagle, snake, and cactus from its story of the founding of ancient Mexico there are present. 💙🌵 

Tonantzin in various forms is frequently depicted with eagle feet so I thought it appropriate to have the legendary golden eagle clutch the silvery moon below Her in place of Guadalupe’s cherub 🦅 🌙 Tonantzin is often known, by many names, to wear a skirt of snakes- the celestial Aztec earth mother Coatlicue’s particular name translates to “She of Snake Skirts”. So I couldn’t help but see the snake emerge from the opening in Her folds here. Frequently in Aztec art snakes emerging from or replacing body parts represents blood so I feel a menstrual element from how the snake manifested in this vision 🐍 🩸

Many believe that the apparition of La Virgen de Guadalupe on Tepeyac Hill unto St. Juan Diego, an Indigenous peasant originally named Cuauhtlatoatzin meaning “Talking Eagle”, was a vision of a new form of Tonantzin. Her local temple had formerly been on that very site, destroyed by conquistadors. When Cuauhtlatoatzin received these holy visions, the Goddess spoke to him not in Spanish but in his native Nahuatl language even though She identified Herself as The Virgin Mother of God. Even the Church documents testify that The Holy Mother assured him in his moment of doubt, in his Indigenous tongue, “Am I not here who am your Mother?” Indeed Tonantzin Coatlicue herself is said to have had her own divine conception via a feather 🪶 

The miraculous vision of Guadalupe that appeared upon Juan Diego/Talking Eagle’s tilma is often seen as a self portrait by Her and there are many analyses of the visual element’s encoding of Aztec symbolism. I took these theories and insights into consideration while creating this vision.

Even within the suppression of Spanish colonization ancient indigenous Mexican Curanderismo healing practices were able to persevere and often in the name of La Virgen de Guadalupe, under the protection of Her image.

Choose-your-goddess prints now include Tonantzin Guadalupe!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

“At home, on the evening of December 12th we may light a candle and place offerings of flowers, copal and chocolate in front of her statue or painting. In the public square, those who follow the Mexica spiritual tradition will join brothers and sisters for an all-night vigil of prayer, Danza, offerings, and songs to her, who is Tonantzin Tlalli Coatlicue, who was always honored at the hill of Tepeyac. As we salute the Four Winds and dance in the ceremonial circle, we honor those who have gone before us, the courageous people who kept traditions alive through the centuries despite the threat to their life if discovered. The feathers in the copilli, the ceremonial headdress worn by the dancers, will draw down the energy of the cosmos into Mother Earth, our beautiful Tonantzin Tlalli Coatlicue to help her heal from the many ways she is dishonored.

Nearby, children will play and laugh, faces smeared with the traces of candy and the cinnamon of churros, the delicious deep fried pastry covered with sugar and cinnamon while the sound of mariachi music adds to the feeling of a fusion of cultures and beliefs. If you wander the crowded street you will see a handful of Catholic pilgrims on their knees on the hard pavement slowly make their way to the entrance of the church in gratitude for answered prayers.

And, in spite of quiet official church disapproval, the local parish priest will invite Indigenous ceremonial dancers to participate during the special December 11-12 mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe. Inside the church, for a few moments, Mayan copal will blend with European frankincense, quetzal feathers will dance on the air, and elders with bundles of aromatic rosemary plants will cleanse the People’s spirit. The two cultures, reconciled at this moment, acknowledge their bond of love for the Woman Who is Cloaked with the Sun; a bridge of Light between peoples.”

- Maestra Grace via Curanderismo.org

[earlycuntsets]

pt. 3 (parts 1, 2, 4)

earlycuntsets.org sourced - where I got all my mcr pictures

first of a series. due to tumblr limits on how many links you can post. this full idea will be continued on future posts. here is 2007-2010. this is pictures. will make a separate post for youtube/recordings.

been needing to fully source my website so here we go! wanted to share with other kool mcr fans.

old fansites/website appearances:

12/17/2010 the night 87x stole christmas detroit mi - ken settle & schwegweb.com (ken settle)

12/18/2020 the edge jingle bell rock toronto ca - popmatters (mcrmy ecuador) & aux.tv

02/13/2011 birmingham uk -blackvelvetmagazine

03/05/2011 barcelona spain - in headphones (mcrmy ecuador)

04/09/2011 denver co - reverb (mcrmy ecuador)

04/12/2011 minneapolis mn - citypages (mcrmy ecuador)

04/15/2011 chicago il - chicago now (mcrmy ecuador) & j.l. hopper

04/17/2011 cleveland oh - radio 92.3 (mcrmy ecuador)

04/23/2011 nyc ny - QRO magazine

05/07/2011 sayreville nj - thenjunderground

05/15/2011 bbc r1 big weekend carlisle uk - country grind slideshow

05/18/2011 orlando fl - ishotyourband.com & jencray.com

05/21/2011 & 05/22/2011 dallas tx - blackvelvetmagazine

05/28/2011 la ca - theaudioperv & sarah dope (deviantart)

07/10/2011 live at t in the park balado uk - thisfakediy

09/01/2011 auburn wa - suzi pratt

flickrs:

12/12/2010 101 rex the halls san diego ca - natalie, brittney denaux,

12/14/2010 st louis mo - todd owyoung, kingdead, todd morgan, jane bush,

12/15/2010 chicago il - ashley osborn, famousliving.dead, liz kannenburg, danigio,

12/18/2010 the edge jingle bell rock toronto ca- megan shauna

12/31/2010 carson daley nye - alexis siracusano

02/12/2011 london uk - lucy roth & emma webb

02/16/2011 dublin ireland - ian keegan

02/18/2011 manchester uk - michelle heighway, kay elliot, frankie cooksie, helena hurricane

02/19/2011 nottingham uk - simplificity

2/21/2011 cardiff uk - holly jenkins

02/22/2011 newcastle uk - sinead granger

02/24/2011 london uk - lucy roth (planetary go mv show)

02/26/2011 tilberg netherlands - rene sebastian

03/01/2011 paris france - jem & dianthallr

03/05/2011 barcelona spain - ruben navarro, elsa nieto, javier bragado domingo

03/07/2011 milano italy - rodolfo sassano, emanuela silm rillo,

03/12/2011 mtv winter valencia spain - laura s.c., ana barettino, grace dirnt, jose fernandez,

03/18/2011 stockholm sweden - victor lundmark

03/31/2011 oakland ca - scernea

04/02/2011 vancouver ca - ashley tanasiychuk, anil sharma,

04/03/2011 seattle wa - ciera walters

04/08/2011 salt lake city ut - sparkk&fade & alex young

04/09/2011 denver co - michael fajardo

04/11/2011 toronta ca - tony felgueiras

04/13/2011 milwaukee wi - echolalia

04/15/2011 chicago il - amelia l, danigio

04/16/2011 grand rapids me - stephanie weier

4/22/2011 nyc nc - brittany vero

04/23/2011 nyc ny - brittany vero, amy winkler, ludovica ciccarelli, tyler olson, robert polanco

05/07/2011 sayreville nj - future daydream

05/15/2011 holmdel nj - michael dubin

05/10/2011 washington dc - specimenlife, kell

05/15/2011 bbc r1 big weekend carlisle uk - chealsea cochrane, sabrina lr,

05/17/2011 ft lauderdale fl - maysa askar & marc schiller

05/21/2011 dallas tx - thunderkiss

06/24/2011 dcode festival madrid spain - juan rodriguez talavera, juan perez- fajardo, patygelduck

06/26/2011 imola italy - giacomo astorri,

06/27/2011 vienna austria - jeremy kruezmayr & steph fiorese

06/29/2011 volt festival sonpron hungary - zalaihirlap (mcrmy ecuador)

07/07/2011 oeiras portugal - palco principal

07/27/2011 vienna austria - inkbotkowalski

08/13/2011 hershey pa - alicia brown

instagram:

05/05/2011 boston ma - rich g

looks like there will be a part four to complete the timeline. damn the link limits

part 4 here

[absoluteocellibehavior]

Oscar and Our Lady of Guadalupe

I've talked a bit about Oscar and his connection to Mary on here, but I figured it would serve best to actually put it together coherently.

Firstly, I must address the fact that, like many of the other people in the Malevolent fandom, see Oscar as Hispanic. Now, you may be saying "Ocelli! How in the world could Oscar be Hispanic? He is very clearly Scottish. Listen to him." yada yada and I hear ya. I hear ya. However, I cannot get the image of it out of my mind and this was before there was a lot of fanart of him out there. However, I do have some mild evidence of this. The Hispanic population in New York is very little in the 1900 area which is about the time we are estimating that Oscar was born. However, it's not zero. Additionally, there is a large percentage of Hispanic people that are Catholic, making Oscar's parents much more likely to have given him to a Catholic orphanage. With such a low population of Hispanics in New York coupled with the spike in racist nationalism occurring at the time due to European immigration, it is very likely that Oscar's family didn't have the means to raise a child. Based on the fact that Oscar never knew his parents, it's most probable that he was dropped off as a baby in which he was still learning how to speak. Therefore, he has a Scottish accent because he learned how to speak from his Scottish caretakers. This also gives reason for Oscar ostracization in the orphanage. Unfortunately...racism. It's assumed that Oscar never got adopted due to his violent act against Father McKenna, but this probably only agitated the motivations of not adopting him due to his race as well. Oscar's role in the church is somewhat in the background. It's assumed that he would run certain masses but based on the amount of availably he had in Season Four, it's probably just to fill in for daily mass. Rather, he focuses on serving the community. He would have been increasingly difficult for him to have been an authority figure in the church, but he fought tooth and nail for it in order to be able to balance out the evil in the magisterium like Father McKenna. This doesn't mean that they'd allow him to do everything he should be able to, hence him being put in the "messy" jobs so to speak. Oscar loves what he does, and he won't ever complain about it nonetheless.

With that explanation out of the way, I'm going to double back to the fact that Oscar NEVER was adopted. He never had a healthy father or mother figure in his life. So, I find it likely that Oscar would lean into Mary and Joseph as his spiritual parents. Think about it. I love the idea that he wears a rosary constantly. Someone once explained to me that holding the rosary was the equivalent of holding Mary's hand. So, Oscar wears a rosary as a symbol of his mom's protection and her watching over him.

Something that only enhances this, is Oscar discovering the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As Catholics, we believe that there have been multiple appearances of Mary all over the world. One of which (my personal favorite) is Our Lady of Guadalupe. As the story goes, Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego, an Aztec convert to Christianity in the 1500s, four separate times as a woman of mixed Indigenous and European features. She asked for a shrine to be built on the place which she appeared at (Tepeyac Hill) which the bishop of the region hesitated to do. On the fourth appearance, Mary instructed for Juan Diego to gather roses from that hill and bring them to the bishop. These roses were miraculous for two reasons: they were blooming in the middle of winter, and they were native to the bishop's homeland of Castile. When Juan Diego opened his cloak full of roses, an imprint of Mary was revealed to be on the inside of the cloak that we know as the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Lady of Guadalupe plays a large role in not only Mexico's religion but in its overall history. All that is to say, I think Oscar would find great comfort in not only Mary, but specifically Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the face of persecution, he was able to look up to Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego for guidance and spiritual support (yes, yes, he wasn't canonized until Pope John Paul II but this happened centuries earlier and he would have heard about it. Sue me). Additionally, I’d like to think Oscar picks his birthday to be December 12th, Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Feast Day, in order to share it with his “mom”.

Well! There you go! This is a very important Oscar headcannon to me and I thought you all might appreciate it!

[princesssarisa]

Opera on YouTube 5

Nabucco

Teatro alla Scala, 1987 (Renato Bruson, Ghena Dimitrova; conducted by Riccardo Muti; no subtitles)

Teatro di San Carlo, 1997 (Renato Bruson, Lauren Flanigan; conducted by Paolo Carognani; no subtitles)

Ankara State Opera, 2006 (Eralp Kıyıcı, Nilgün Akkerman; conducted by Sunay Muratov; no subtitles)

St. Margarethen Opera Festival, 2007 (Igor Morosow, Gabriella Morigi; conducted by Ernst Märzendorfer; English subtitles)

Rome Opera, 2011 (Leo Nucci, Csilla Boross; conducted by Riccardo Muti; English and German subtitles)

Teatro Comunale di Bologna, 2013 (Vladimir Stoyanov, Anna Pirozzi; conducted by Michele Mariotti; Italian subtitles)

Rome Opera, 2013 (Luca Salsi, Tatiana Serjan; conducted by Riccardo Muti; no subtitles)

Gran Teatro Nacional, Perú, 2015 (Giuseppe Altomare, Rachele Stanisci; conducted by Fernando Valcárcel; Spanish subtitles)

Metropolitan Opera, 2017 (Plácido Domingo, Liudmyla Monastyrska; conducted by James Levine; Spanish subtitles)

Arena di Verona, 2017 (George Gagnidze, Susanna Branchini; conducted by Daniel Oren; English subtitles)

La Cenerentola (Cinderella)

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle studio film, 1981 (Frederica von Stade, Francisco Araiza, Paolo Montarsolo; conducted by Claudio Abbado; English subtitles)

Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1983 (Kathleen Kuhlmann, Laurence Dale, Claudio Desderi; conducted by Donato Renzetti; no subtitles)

Salzburg Festival, 1988 (Ann Murray, Francisco Araiza, Walter Berry; conducted by Riccardo Chailly; English subtitles)

Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, 1991 (Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Toshiro Gorobe, Domenico Trimarchi; conducted by Antonello Allemandi; Japanese subtitles) – Act I, Act II

Houston Grand Opera, 1995 (Cecilia Bartoli, Raúl Giménez, Enzo Dara; conducted by Bruno Campanella; no subtitles)

Rossini Opera Festival, 2000 (Sonia Ganassi, Juan Diego Flórez, Bruno Praticó; conducted by Carlo Rizzi; Italian subtitles)

Gran Teatre del Liceu, 2008 (Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Bruno de Simone; conducted by Patrick Summers; German subtitles)

Romeo Opera, 2015 (Serena Malfi, Juan Francisco Gatell, Alessandro Corbelli; conducted by Alejo Pérez; Italian and English subtitles)

Lille Opera, 2016 (Emily Fons, Taylor Stayton, Renato Girolami; conducted by Yves Parmentier; English subtitles)

Boboli Gardens, Florence, 2020 (Svetlina Stoyanova, Josh Lovell, Daniel Miroslaw; conducted by Sándor Károlyi; no subtitles)

Lucia di Lammermoor

Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, 1967 (Renata Scotto, Carlo Bergonzi; conducted by Bruno Bartoletti; English subtitles)

Mario Lanfranchi film, 1971 (Anna Moffo, Lajos Kosma; conducted by Carlo Felice Cillario; English subtitles)

Bregenz Festival, 1982 (Katia Ricciarelli, José Carreras; conducted by Lamberto Gardelli; no subtitles) – Part I, Part II

Opera Australia, 1986 (Joan Sutherland, Richard Greager; conducted by Richard Bonynge; English subtitles)

Teatro Carlo Felice, 2003 (Stefania Bonfadelli, Marcelo Álvarez; conducted by Patrick Fournillier; Japanese subtitles)

San Francisco Opera, 2009 (Natalie Dessay, Giuseppe Filianoti; conducted by Jean-Yves Ossonce; English subtitles)

Amarillo Opera, 2013 (Hanan Alattar, Eric Barry; conducted by Michael Ching; English subtitles)

Gran Teatre del Liceu, 2015 (Elena Mosuc, Juan Diego Flórez; conducted by Marco Armiliato; French subtitles)

Teatro Real de Madrid, 2018 (Lisette Oropesa, Javier Camerana; conducted by Daniel Oren; English subtitles)

Vienna State Opera, 2022 (Lisette Oropesa, Benjamin Bernheim; conducted by Evelino Pidó; English subtitles)

Il Trovatore

Claudio Fino studio film, 1957 (Mario del Monaco, Leyla Gencer, Fedora Barbieri, Ettore Bastianini; conducted by Fernando Previtali; English subtitles)

Wolfgang Nagel studio film, 1975 (Franco Bonisolli, Raina Kabaivanska, Viorica Cortez, Giorgio Zancanaro; conducted by Bruno Bartoletti; Japanese subtitles)

Vienna State Opera, 1978 (Plácido Domingo, Raina Kabaivanska, Fiorenza Cossotto, Piero Cappuccilli; conducted by Herbert von Karajan; no subtitles)

Opera Australia, 1983 (Kenneth Collins, Joan Sutherland, Lauris Elms, Jonathan Summers; conducted by Richard Bonynge, English subtitles)

Metropolitan Opera, 1988 (Luciano Pavarotti, Eva Marton, Dolora Zajick, Sherrill Milnes; conducted by James Levine; no subtitles)

Bavarian State Opera, 2013 (Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros, Elena Manistinta, Alexey Markov; conducted by Paolo Carignani; English subtitles)

Temporada Lirica a Coruña, 2015 (Gregory Kunde, Angela Meade, Marianne Cornetti, Juan Jesús Rodriguez; conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson; no subtitles)

Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liége, 2018 (Fabio Sartori, Yolanda Auyanet, Violeta Urmana, Mario Cassi; conducted by Daniel Oren; French subtitles)

Arena di Verona, 2019 (Yusif Eyvazov, Anna Netrebko, Dolora Zajick, Luca Salsi; conducted by Pier Giorgio Morandi; German subtitles)

Teatro Verdi di Pisa, 2021 (Murat Karahan, Carolina López Moreno, Victória Pitts, Cesar Méndez; conducted by Marco Guidarini; no subtitles)

[that-catholic-shinobi]

Why do you think some people have visions of Christ in which he appears as the typical blond blue eyed depiction, when we know for a fact he didnt look like that? This bothers me in ways I cant quite put into words so well

Jesus/ Mary can be depicted by any culture and there are records of when Mary/ Jesus appear to others they can appear as the culture/ race of the person they appear too. Like when the Blessed Mother appeared to St Juan Diego as a Mestiza.

Christianity is for everyone. Don’t forget it

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 9)

On December 9, Roman Catholics celebrate St. Juan Diego, the indigenous Mexican Catholic convert whose encounter with the Virgin Mary began the Church's devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In 1474, 50 years before receiving the name Juan Diego at his baptism, a boy named Cuauhtlatoatzin — “singing eagle” — was born in the Anahuac Valley of present-day Mexico.

Though raised according to the Aztec pagan religion and culture, he showed an unusual and mystical sense of life even before hearing the Gospel from Franciscan missionaries.

In 1524, Cuauhtlatoatzin and his wife converted and entered the Catholic Church.

The farmer now known as Juan Diego was committed to his faith, often walking long distances to receive religious instruction.

In December 1531, he would be the recipient of a world-changing miracle.

On December 9, Juan Diego was hurrying to Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

However, the woman he was heading to church to celebrate came to him instead.

In the native Aztec dialect, the radiant woman announced herself as the “ever-perfect holy Mary, who has the honor to be the mother of the true God.”

“I am your compassionate Mother, yours and that of all the people that live together in this land,” she continued, “and also of all the other various lineages of men.”

She asked Juan Diego to make a request of the local bishop.

“I want very much that they build my sacred little house here” — a house dedicated to her son Jesus Christ, on the site of a former pagan temple, that would “show him to all Mexicans and exalt him throughout the world."

She was asking a great deal of a native farmer. Not surprisingly, his bold request met with skepticism from Bishop Juan de Zumárraga.

But Juan Diego said he would produce proof of the apparition, after he finished tending to his uncle whose death seemed imminent.

Making his way to church on December 12 to summon a priest for his uncle, Juan Diego again encountered the Blessed Virgin.

She promised to cure his uncle and give him a sign to display for the bishop.

On the hill where they had first met, he would find roses and other flowers, though it was winter.

Doing as she asked, he found the flowers and brought them back to her.

The Virgin Mary then placed the flowers inside his tilma, the traditional cloak-like garment he had been wearing.

She told him not to unwrap the tilma containing the flowers until he had reached the bishop.

When he did, Bishop Zumárraga had his own encounter with Our Lady of Guadalupe – through the image of her that he found miraculously imprinted on the flower-filled tilma.

The Mexico City basilica that now houses the tilma has become, by some estimates, the world's most-visited Catholic shrine.

The miracle that brought the Gospel to millions of Mexicans also served to deepen Juan Diego's own spiritual life.

For many years after the experience, he lived a solitary life of prayer and work in a hermitage near the church where the image was first displayed.

Pilgrims had already begun flocking to the site by the time he died on 9 December 1548, the 17th anniversary of the first apparition.

Pope John Paul II beatified him on 6 May 1990 and canonized on 31 July 2002.

He is the first Catholic saint indigenous to the Americas.

[cheerfullycatholic]

I was raised Protestant and as such most of the Christian imagery in my home consisted of crosses and the like. So, what’s the deal with icons? A brief history? Why do people collect them, etc? Any help would be sick, and I always love learning about the Faith.

I'm not too familiar with the history of icons (I'm sure someone reading this is though, please reblog with what you know!), but I know that people have or even collect religious imagery because they help us focus on Christ. Just as the cross is a reminder of our faith and Jesus' sacrifice, so are icons and other religious imagery, like statues. For me, whenever I see the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I am reminded of the story of her and St. Juan Diego, and whenever I see a crucifix I'm reminded of everything that happened to him, everything he dealt with for me. They're great items to help us during prayer, as for some people seeing them helps them to focus. They're helpful to me in that regard because while I'm trying to pray and have my eyes closed or I'm looking at, say, my cat, or my bookshelf, or whatever else, my mind will immediately start to wander 😅 They're also just super pretty to look at 😍

[catholic-saint-tournament]

Post-Schism Saints Round 1: Bracket Announcement

Round 1 for Post-Schism saints will open up on Sunday, 18 June! Above you'll find the bracket and below you'll find the pairings. Links will be added on Sunday for the actual polls. May the best saint win!!

St Francis of Assisi vs St Dominic

St Anthony of Padua vs St Bridget of Sweden

St Hildegard of Bingen vs St Alphonsus Liguori

St Ignatius of Loyola vs St Philip Neri

St Joseph of Cupertino vs St John of the Cross

St Thomas Aquinas vs St Francis de Sales

St Teresa of Avila vs St Juan Diego

St Rose of Lima vs St Julian of Norwich

St Joan of Arc vs St Roch

St Clare of Assisi vs St Christina the Astonishing

St Catherine of Siena vs St Bernard of Clairvaux

St Kateri Tekakwitha vs St Vincent de Paul

St Olga of Kiev vs St Louise de Marillac

St Rita of Cascia vs St Gertrude of Nivelles

St Martin de Porres vs St Elizabeth of Hungary

St Thomas More vs St Jadwiga (Hedwig) of Poland

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 12.9

Holidays

Anna's Day (Finland, Sweden)

Armed Forces Day (Peru)

Ball-Bearing Roller Skates Day

Battle of Ayacucho Day (Peru)

Christmas Card Day

Christmas Gift Memory Day

Cremation Day

Eggsmas (from “The League”)

Fatherland’s Heroes Day (Russia)

Fiesta of the Mother of Health (Mexico)

Genocide Prevention Day

Geologist Day (Tajikistan)

Grace Hopper Day

Heroes Day (Antigua and Barbuda)

Heroes of Fatherland Day (Russia)

Homecoming Day (Guernsey and Alderney)

Homemade Gift Day

International Anti-Corruption Day (UN)

International Day of Commemoration & Dignity of the Victims of the Crimes of Genocide & of the Prevention of this Crime

International Day of Veterinary Medicine

International Human Rights Defenders Day

Lady Gaga Day

Mail Your Cards Day

National Blake Day

National Heroes Day (Antigua & Barbuda)

National Llama Day

National Youth Day (Albania)

Navy Day (Sri Lanka)

Petrified Forest Day

Public Transit Day

Santa Marian Kamalen Day (Guam)

Savin Juniper Day (French Republic)

V.C. Bird Day (Antigua & Barbuda)

Weary Willie Day

World Alliance for Patient Safety Day

World Day of Computing

World Genocide Commemoration Day (UN)

World Patient Safety Day

World Smallpox Eradication Day

World SIUGR (Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction) Awareness Day

World Techno Day

Yuri's Day in the Autumn (Russia)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Lutefisk Day (Finland; Sweden)

Mariscada Day (Spain)

National Opal Apples Day

National Pastry Day

Pepparkakans Dag (Gingerbread Cookie Day; Sweden)

Search High and Low For Your Gingerbread Recipe Day

Independence & Related Days

Rino Island (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Tanzania (f.k.a. Tanganyika; from UK, 1961)

2nd Monday in December

Green Monday [2nd Monday]

Marinara Monday [2nd Monday of Each Month]

Meditation Monday [Every Monday]

Mindful Monday [2nd Monday of Each Month]

Monday Musings [Every Monday]

Motivation Monday [Every Monday]

National Tree Planting Day (Malawi) [2nd Monday]

Weekly Holidays beginning December 9 (2nd Full Week of December)

Human Rights Week [2nd Week]

National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Week [2nd Week]

Festivals Beginning December 9, 2024

Duhok International Film Festival (Duhok, Iraq) [thru 12.16]

NLS Food Quality Symposium (Cedar Creek, Texas) [thru 12.11]

Vermont Maple Conference (Various Locations, Vermont) [thru 12.14]

Feast Days

Ann Hood (Writerism)

Ashleigh Brilliant (Artology; Wrierism)

End of Days of Reckoning (Shamanism)

Evergreen Day (Pagan)

Feast of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by St. Anne (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Fiesta of the Mother of Health (Mexico; Everyday Wicca)

Galileo (Positivist; Saint)

Hanukkah Day #2 (Judaism) [thru Dec. 15th]

Jean de Brunhoff (Artology)

John Milton (Writerism)

Juan Diego (Christian; Saint)

Leocadia (Christian; Saint)

Ljubica Sokić (Artology)

Loch Ba on Mull Island (Celtic Book of Days)

Margaret Brundage (Artology)

The Martyrdom of St. Kenny (Church of the SubGenius)

Nectarius of Auvergne (Christian; Saint)

Noodle Ring Day (Pastafarian)

Peter Fourier (Christian; Saint)

Remembrance for Egill Skallagrimsson (Troth/Asatru/Norse Pagan)

Sage Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

The Seven Martyrs at Samosata (Christian; Martyrs)

This Day Deliberately Left Blank (Pastafarian)

Tropical Grossbill (Muppetism)

Wulfhilde (Christian; Saint)

Yuri’s Day in the Autumn (Russian Orthodox Church)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Very Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [58 of 60]

Premieres

The America Minerva (Daily Newspaper; 1793) [1st U.S. Daily]

The Bishop’s Wife (Film; 1947)

Brigg’s Bad Wolf (Super Chicken Cartoon; 1967) [#14]

Brokeback Mountain (Film; 2005)

Buddy’s Show Boat (WB LT Cartoon; 1933)

Charge of the Light Brigade (Poem; 1854)

A Charlie Brown Christmas (Animated TV Special; 1965)

Chi Chi Dog (George of the Jungle Cartoon; 1967) [#14]

Christine (Film; 1983)

A Christmas Story (Hanna-Barbera Animated tV Special; 1972)

Coronation Street (UK Soap Opera; 1960)

Dark Horse, by George Harrison (Album; 1974)

Davy Jones’ Locker, featuring Willie Whopper (MGM Cartoon; 1933)

Disclosure (Film; 1994)

Fiesta Fiasco (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)

Fresh Cream, by Cream (Album; 1966)

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Animated Film; 2022)

Hot August Nights, by Neil Diamond (Live Album; 1972)

A Job for a Gob (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1955)

La La Land (Film; 2016)

Little Saint Nick, by The Beach Boys (Song; 1963)

A Love Supreme, recorded by the John Coltrane Quartet (Album; 1964)

Memories of a Geisha (Film; 2005)

Merbabies (Silly Symphonies Disney Cartoon; 1938)

Mississippi Burning (Film; 1988)

The Night Before Christmas (Silly Symphonies Disney Cartoon; 1933)

Nutty Notes (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

Office Christmas Party (Film; 2016)

Peace on Earth (MGM Cartoon; 1939)

The Peachy Cobbler (Tex Avery MGM Cartoon; 1950)

Pet Pink Pebbles (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

The Pink of Bagdad (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Pink Press (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Richard II, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1595)

R is for Rocket, by Ray Bradbury (Short Stories; 1962)

Salome, by Richard Strauss (Opera; 1905)

Scarface (Film; 1983)

SOS, by SZA (Album; 2022)

Soul Man, by The Blues Brothers (Song; 1978)

The Story of Babar, by Jean de Brunhoff (Children’s Book; 1931)

Sudden Impact (Film; 1983)

Syriana (Film; 2005)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Film; 2011)

Twins (Film; 1988)

The Whale (Film; 2022)

Words and Music (Film; 1948)

young Adult (Film; 2011)

Young at Heart, recorded by Frank Sinatra (Song; 1953)

Today’s Name Days

Liborius, Reinmar, Valerie (Austria)

Ana, Anna, Anushka, Nusha (Bulgaria)

Ciprijan, Diego, Liberan, Zdravka (Croatia)

Vratislav (Czech Republic)

Rudolph (Denmark)

Raid, Raido, Raidu, Raigo, Raigo, Raik, Raiko, Rait (Estonia)

Anna, Anne, Anneli, Anni, Annika, Annikki, Annu, Annukka, Anu (Finland)

Pierre (France)

Liborius, Reinmar, Valerie (Germany)

Ann, Anna (Greece)

Natália (Hungary)

Siro (Italy)

Joachims, Jukums, Sarmīte, Tabita (Latvia)

Gedenė, Leokadija, Vakaris, Valerija (Lithuania)

Annette, Anniken (Norway)

Delfina, Joachim, Joachima, Leokadia, Loda, Waleria, Wielisława, Wiesław (Poland)

Maria (Romania)

Izabela (Slovakia)

Diego, Juan, Leocadia (Spain)

Anna (Sweden)

Ambrose (Ukraine)

Delfina, Delfino, Delphina, Kirby, Kirk, Kirkwood (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 344 of 2024; 22 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of Week 50 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Ngetal (Reed) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 11 (Bing-Zi), Day 9 (Ding-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 8 Kislev 5785

Islamic: 7 Jumada II 1446

J Cal: 14 Black; Sevenday [14 of 30]

Julian: 26 November 2024

Moon: 62%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 8 Bichat (13th Month) [Harriot / Vieta]

Runic Half Month: Jara (Year) [Day 3 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 78 of 90)

Week: 2nd Full Week of December

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 18 of 30)

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE The Queen of Mexico, the Patroness of the Americas, the Patroness of the Unborn and the Celestial Patroness of the Philippines Feast Day: December 12

"¿No estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?" ("Am I not here, I who am your mother?")

Guadalupe (La Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo) is a locality in Mexico where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin in December 12, 1531.

At dawn on the ninth of December, on his way to the church, he heard a lovely sound of birds and a gentle woman's voice calling him: 'Juan Diego… Juanito!'

Looking up the Tepeyac hill, he saw Mary shining like the sun and stepping over precious stones. She said to him: 'It is my earnest wish that a church be built here, where I could show all my love, compassion, help and protection.'

Immediately, Juan Diego reported the message to the bishop (Don Juan de Zumárraga y Arrazola), who did not believe.

In his distress, Juan Diego went back to the hill of the apparition and said to the Blessed Mother: 'My sweet lady, please, give this task to an important person, that he might believe, because I am so little and poor.'

Mary replied: 'My little child, tomorrow, go again to the bishop, and tell him that it was I who sent you.'

Juan Diego obeyed, and this time, the bishop asked for a sign.

Again, Mary appeared to Juan Diego, and told him to wrap all the roses he could find on the hill in a mantle (tilmàtli or tilmà), and to present them to the bishop. Then, as he opened the mantle to show the roses to the bishop, the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on it. Thus, the bishop decided to build a church in the place of the apparitions, where he installed the miraculous mantle with great honor.

Our Lady of Guadalupe became so popular that she was declared the Patroness of the Americas. Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of Guadalupe as the 'Heavenly Patroness of the Philippines' on July 16, 1935, signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later rescinded).

Due to Mary's appearance as a pregnant mother and her claims as mother of all in the apparition, the Blessed Virgin Mary, under this title is popularly invoked as the 'Patroness of the Unborn' and a common image for the Pro-Life movement.

Context made by yours truly.