GREENSBORO — The Dec. 9 snow storm may have cancelled classes at Our Lady of Grace Catholic School through Dec.12 but, that didn't stop students from celebrating events that took place on those exact dates nearly 500 years ago in North America.
On Friday, Dec. 14, five middle school students recreated the story of St. Juan Diego's miraculous encounters with Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac Hill in present-day Mexico from Dec. 9 to Dec. 12, 1531. Students from pre-Kindergarten to eighth grade watched the performance in the school's gym.
The reenactment told the story of a humble indigenous man - one of the earliest Aztec converts to Christianity - who was met by Mary, the mother of Jesus, as he walked to mass early one winter morning.
Mary appeared to Juan Diego in the dress of a native Aztec princess and spoke in his native language but appeared as a mestiza, a half European and half Native woman.
She announced to Juan Diego that she was the mother of the one and only true God and asked that he tell the bishop, a Spanish Franciscan missionary, to build a chapel in her name where she could offer love, compassion, and protection to all those who need it.
The humble man tries unsuccessfully to relay the message to the bishop and asks Mary to send someone more important and respected but she insists that he alone is chosen to relay her wishes. When Juan Diego returns to the bishop a few days later with the miraculous Castilian roses only grown in Spain and an image of a Mary on his tilma (cloak), the bishop believes him and begs forgiveness.
The appearance of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December 1531, led to the conversion of millions of natives, who immediately embraced Christianity and stopped their practice of human sacrifice. Today, the tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, can be seen in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City and is among the most visited holy sites in the World.
She is regarded as the Patroness of the Americas due to her influence on the successful adoption of Christianity by millions of Natives in the Americas and the unification between the New and Old World.
Pre-Kindergarten to fourth grade students made paper tilmas with the help of their big buddes (5th - 8th grade students) in preparation for the feast days of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The students wore them during the reenactment.
— Provided by Paola Scilinguo-Mendoza and Normalinda Hammond
