Divine Providence

More than one hundred sermons on Our Lady of Guadalupe were published in New Spain during the colonial era. Bartolomé Felipe de Ita y Parra was the most prolific of the published Guadalupan preachers. Four of his extant twenty-two published sermons are focused on Guadalupe, each corresponding to a significant communal event: the 1731 bicentennial of the Guadalupe apparitions, the final service for a 1737 novena to plead for Guadalupe’s aid during a severe matlazahuatl epidemic, and two sermons linked with the campaign to declare Guadalupe the patroness of New Spain. This chapter explores the growth of Guadalupan devotion during the colonial era leading to her official designation as New Spain’s patroness in 1754. It also examines critically the theological claims articulated in colonial sermons such as those dedicated to Guadalupe, especially the central claim that divine providence guided society and its inhabitants.

The New World in Salvation History

Readers of Miguel Sánchez’s Imagen de la Virgen María, which contained the first published account of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s acclaimed apparitions to the indigenous neophyte Juan Diego, rarely recognize that he was trained in the theology of the church fathers, particularly in the writings of Saint Augustine. Interpretations of Sánchez have ranged from positivist condemnations for his lack of historical documentation to laudatory praise for his defense of pious tradition to emphases on his criollo patriotism as expressed through his adulation of Guadalupe and the baroque culture of New Spain. This chapter assesses Sánchez’s work as well as the origins and formative phase of Guadalupan devotion over the century preceding his publication. It illuminates the influence of patristic thought and theological method on Sánchez, as well as the frequently ignored but foundational role of his theology and that of the church fathers on the Guadalupe tradition.

Transforming America

Present-day devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe has expanded well beyond the bounds of Mexico and of Catholicism. Theological analyses have expanded in tandem with Guadalupe’s growing acclaim. In response to the increasing consciousness of injustice and poverty and the advance of popular social movements, Guadalupan writers have addressed an array of perspectives such as those of marginalized persons, women, and evangelization. For the first time, theological analyses have examined Juan Diego as a protagonist in the struggle of oppressed peoples for survival and dignity. Such articulations are not just new interpretations of Guadalupe but also comprise a new approach to engaging Guadalupe from the perspective of those the world counts as least. This chapter examines this crucial epistemic shift in Guadalupan theologies and the Guadalupe tradition, underscoring how contemporary understandings of Guadalupe advance visions for personal and social transformation.

Introduction

This introductory chapter for the book Theologies of Guadalupe: From the Era of Conquest to Pope Francis presents an overview of the origins, devotional evolution, and theologies of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It also provides an overview of the five chapters that comprise the book as well as its scholarly contribution to the current state of Guadalupan studies. The chapter summarizes two key developments from the colonial era to the first decades of the twenty-first century: theological analyses of Mexico’s most renowned religious tradition and an historical assessment of how the Guadalupe cult rose above all others in colonial New Spain and emerged from a local devotion to become a regional, national, and then international phenomenon. More broadly, the chapter outlines how theologies of Guadalupe present a critical inquiry in light of faith into the life of Mexico and its people from the preconquest era to the present.

Covenant

Father Miguel Hidalgo famously adopted the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the banner for the insurrectionary movement that led to Mexican independence. Following independence, Guadalupe’s strong association with national identity led interpreters to emphasize that her appearance established a singular election of Mexico as her chosen nation. Guadalupan preachers addressed a variety of national concerns through allusions to biblical notions of covenant, avowing that Guadalupe had established a pact with the Mexican people in similar fashion to God’s covenants with Noah, David, and especially Moses and the people of Israel. Nineteenth-century Guadalupan preachers addressed the theme of covenant as Mexicans won their independence, struggled to establish a new nation, and mounted a successful campaign for papal authorization of an 1895 Guadalupe coronation. This chapter examines their theological claims, the growing devotion to Guadalupe as Mexico’s national symbol, and the unprecedented increase in devotion to Guadalupe among native peoples.

Evangelization

Millions of devotees acclaim the Nahuatl-language Nican mopohua account of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego as the foundational text of the Guadalupe tradition. A number of scholarly analyses have examined the Nican mopohua as a prime source for that tradition. But no previous study has focused on a theological examination of Luis Laso de la Vega’s Huei tlamahuiçoltica, in which the Nican mopohua was first published. Huei tlamahuiçoltica is the premier publication focused on Guadalupan catechesis of the Nahuas of central Mexico. It encompasses the Nican motecpana account of miracles attributed to Guadalupe’s intercession and the earliest published synopsis of Juan Diego’s life posed as a model for Christian discipleship. This chapter explores the evolution of natives’ devotion over the first century of the Guadalupe cult, as well as the strengths and limitations of priests’ evangelizing initiatives and catechetical treatises such as Huei tlamahuiçoltica.