Each year, we honor Our Lady of Guadalupe with a rosary novena, a procession through the streets of Redlands, special Masses, and traditional hospitality.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas; and, the only Marian apparition in which our Blessed Mother herself provided her image to humanity - the image on the traditional cloak "tilma" of St. Juan Diego that hangs in the basilica in Mexico City today. After Our Lady's appearance in the year 1531 AD, millions of people converted to Christianity. The Church approved the apparition in 1555. Our Lady of Guadalupe was solemnly crowned Queen of the Mexican people in the name of Pope Leo XIII  in 1895. 

Tradition says the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, a Nahua peasant and Christian convert, on Dec. 9, 1531, on the hill of Tepeyac. The Virgin identified herself to Juan Diego as "the one who crushes the serpent" in his native language, which sounded like "Guadalupe" to the Spanish friars who gave it that name. She spoke to him in the Nahatl language and directed him to ask the bishop to erect a sanctuary at the foot of the hill. The bishop, however, wanted proof of her appearance. She then appeared again to Juan Diego on Dec. 12, 1531, and instructed him to pick roses from the barren hill. Juan Diego put the flowers in his tilma, or cloak. When he opened the cloak before the bishop, the portrait of Mary appeared on it. 

The image is regarded as a message from heaven loaded with symbols, such as a maternity band around Mary's waist, signaling the birth of someone yet to come. The cloak survived 17th century floods in Mexico City and was undamaged by a bomb explosion. The colors have not faded over time and the cactus cloth remains intact although such material typically lasts fewer than 20 years.

Juan Diego was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.