- Apparition shrine
- Patroness of the Americas
Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Guadalupe is where the Americas come to Mary: pilgrims bring family, identity, suffering, and hope before the image venerated on the tilma of Saint Juan Diego.
- Location
- Mexico City
- The Americas
- Shrine type
- Apparition shrine
- The tilma image
- Recognition
- Established devotion in the life of the Church
- Feast December 12
- Marian title
- Our Lady of Guadalupe
- Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas
- Visionary
- St. Juan Diego
- 1474–1548
- Time needed
- 2 hours to a full day
- The feast of December 12 fills days, not hours
Mary came to the poor.
Guadalupe is the great Marian shrine of the Americas, built around the image venerated on the tilma of a poor Indigenous convert. People come with what they cannot easily say: family wounds, questions of belonging, illness, gratitude, and the need to begin again. The shrine feels maternal because the account at its center is maternal: Mary speaks tenderly, in his own language, to a man the world overlooked. Pilgrims pray before the image, attend Mass, walk Tepeyac, and entrust their families to Our Lady.
What happened here.
A poor man, a hill, an image.
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1531
The encounter at Tepeyac
According to the traditional Guadalupan account, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Juan Diego, an Indigenous convert, on the hill of Tepeyac and asked that a church be built where the poor would be heard.
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The sign
Roses and the tilma
Sent to the bishop, Juan Diego is traditionally said to have gathered Castilian roses out of season in his tilma. When he opened the cloak, the image venerated as Our Lady of Guadalupe was found upon it.
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The first chapel
A shrine on Tepeyac
A chapel was raised on the hill, and the image drew the conversion of millions across New Spain in the generation that followed.
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1895
The image is crowned
After centuries of continuous devotion, the image received a pontifical coronation, and Guadalupe was confirmed as the heart of Mexican Catholic life.
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2002
Saint Juan Diego
Pope John Paul II canonized Juan Diego in 2002. Our Lady of Guadalupe is venerated as Patroness of the Americas, and her feast on December 12 draws millions to Tepeyac.
A shrine day at Guadalupe.
A common pattern of prayer. Most pilgrims keep some of it, few keep all of it.
- 01 Prayer before the tilma The day turns on the image above the high altar of the New Basilica.
- 02 Mass Celebrated frequently through the day in the New Basilica.
- 03 Confession Widely available; long lines around the feast.
- 04 The Rosary Prayed before the image and across the plaza.
- 05 Walking Tepeyac Up to the Capilla del Cerrito and the gardens of the apparition.
- 06 The Pocito A pause at the well chapel associated with the spring of Tepeyac.
- 07 Family entrustment Pilgrims bring family needs and photographs to Our Lady.
- 08 The feast of December 12 Vigil, song, dance, and Mass that fill the sanctuary.
Six things, not fifty.
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01
The image on the tilma
The image venerated as Our Lady of Guadalupe, set above the high altar of the New Basilica. Pilgrims pass below it on moving walkways so the crowd keeps flowing in prayer.
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02
Tepeyac Hill and the Capilla del Cerrito
The hill of the apparition account, reached by stairs and gardens above the basilicas. The Capilla del Cerrito crowns the site traditionally associated with the encounter.
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03
The Old Basilica
The 18th-century basilica beside the new one, which held the image for generations and still gathers the memory of centuries of pilgrimage.
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04
The Capilla del Pocito
The small round well chapel associated with the spring of Tepeyac, an unusual late-Baroque building between the basilicas and the hill.
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05
The night vigil of the feast
On the eve of December 12, pilgrims keep an all-night vigil in the plaza, many having walked for days, carrying images of Our Lady through the cold.
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06
The feast of December 12
Traditional dancers, song, and Mass fill the sanctuary on the feast, the great Marian day of Mexico and the Americas.
How long to stay, and what to pray.
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1 hour The tilma and a prayerTime-pressed visitorsThis plan saves
- The image on the tilma
- A quiet prayer in the New Basilica
- The plaza of the sanctuary
3 stops -
Half day Basilica, Tepeyac, and MassFirst-time pilgrimsThis plan saves
- The image and Mass in the New Basilica
- The Old Basilica
- Tepeyac Hill and the Capilla del Cerrito
- The Capilla del Pocito
4 stops -
Full day The whole sanctuaryUnhurried pilgrimsThis plan saves
- The image, Mass, and confession
- Tepeyac and the gardens
- Pocito and Old Basilica
- Time for family prayer
4 stops -
The feast December 11 to 12Feast-day pilgrimsThis plan saves
- The vigil in the plaza
- Las Mañanitas before dawn
- The feast-day Mass
- The dancers and the procession
4 stops
The lives this shrine remembers.
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The visionary
St. Juan Diego
1474–1548Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Indigenous convert of humble life, is the messenger of the Guadalupan account. His tilma is venerated as bearing the image. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
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The devotion
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Marian titleThe Marian title venerated here, Patroness of the Americas, received in the account at Tepeyac and carried across a continent.
How Guadalupe gathers around Tepeyac
Everything at Guadalupe is arranged around one hill and one image. The basilicas stand at the foot of Tepeyac, the chapels climb its slope, and the plaza gathers the pilgrims who arrive from across the Americas.
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The image The New Basilica The modern circular basilica that holds the tilma above its high altar.
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The old shrine The Old Basilica The 18th-century basilica that held the image for generations.
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Apparition hill Tepeyac and the Capilla del Cerrito The hill of the account, crowned by the Cerrito chapel.
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The well The Capilla del Pocito The round well chapel associated with the spring of Tepeyac.
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Gathering space The plaza of the sanctuary The great atrium where pilgrims and processions gather.
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Wider context Mexico City The Metropolitan Cathedral and the wider Catholic city below Tepeyac.
Official shrine · virgendeguadalupe.org.mx
How we treat the devotion.
Catholics are not required to believe private revelations as part of the deposit of faith, even when devotion is permitted or encouraged.
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is an apparition shrine whose apparitions the Church has recognized as worthy of belief. That recognition permits and encourages the devotion. It is not a definition of the faith, and it is distinct from the public revelation that closed with the apostles.
Where a pilgrimage goes next.
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Page coming soon
Tepeyac and the gardens
The hill of the account, the Cerrito chapel, and the offering gardens
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Page coming soon
The Old Basilica and the Pocito
The historic basilica and the well chapel of the sanctuary
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Page coming soon
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
The mother church of the Archdiocese of Mexico
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Page coming soon
Plaza of the Three Cultures
Tlatelolco, traditionally associated with Juan Diego's parish