Guadalupe

Guadalupe Paper Occurring only ten years after the final conquest in Mexico, the Lady of Guadalupe event served as a crucial point in shaping the newly contacted Spanish and native cultures. Spanish friars initially tried to force their religion upon the natives. They found the native practices of human sacrifice appalling and felt it was their duty to spread the Christian gospel to all those they considered unenlightened. Since the event in 1531 the story of Guadalupe has helped to harmonize the conflict between the two. To this day the significance of Guadalupe is still deeply embedded within Latin American spirituality. Virgilio Elizondo states in Guadalupe: Mother of the New Creation that the idea of Guadalupe comprises an “American Gospel” (p. 134). The apparition Juan Diego experienced with Guadalupe, the Mother of God, encompasses Spanish Catholic elements, Nahua elements, and Mestizo elements that contributed to what Pope John Paul II acclaimed as “an impressive example of a perfectly inculturated evangelization” of the gospel. At a time when both natives and Spanish foreigners experienced an extreme culture shock of clashing beliefs, Guadalupe created a religious common ground for them to share. The term “American Gospel” used by Elizondo to describe the event is drawn from the combination of the Christian gospel and the traditions rooted in the native land that are represented in the Guadalupe event. The Spanish came with the motive of converting everyone to their faith. This Spanish influence is apparent in the manner that Guadalupe identifies herself as “the Ever-Virgin Holy Mary” when speaking to Juan Diego. She also instructs Juan Diego to tell the bishop to build her a shrine on the hill of Tepeyac. Asking to establish a Catholic place of devotion at a site where the Aztecs once worshipped their gods contributed to the religious coalescence. In this sense Catholic practices were emphasized while native inspiration was incorporated to display the