Fw: Virgin fridge magnet

Madame Fi on Our Lady of Guadalupe

Thanks for the new Virgin [posted two entries below]. I'm sure it's her, because of the knife blade nimbus, the blue cloak with gold trim and stars, the angle of her head, the drape of the cloak, position of the praying hands, etc. She is always drawn the same way. Also the rose figures prominently in her story. The Aztec peasant who saw her needed a miracle to get the church establishment to believe him — so she sent him up to the top of a desert mountain where there should have been nothing but cactus. When he got up there, he found a blooming rose garden. He took an armful to the church authorities, wrapped in his shirt, and when he delivered it, a painting of the Virgin had manifested on the shirt as well. After that, they decided to build the church for her that she wanted.

The rose (or any flower) is a symbol of truth to Aztecs and inserting it into this story (along with the Aztec everyman) was a way of bridging Aztec and Christian mythologies, and getting natives to convert to Catholicism.

Best
Fiona