Jan Didakus /Juan Diego/ Cuauhtlatoatzin
John Didacus
| December 9, non-binding commemoration | |
Position: |
Layman, visionary |
Death: |
1548 |
Patron: |
Mexico, Latin America (since 1910); invoked for help to spouses and the suffering |
Attributes: |
Flowers, cloak (roses are falling from the open one, and the image is visible), image of the Virgin Mary (with a crescent moon under her feet, in a blue-green cloak over her head, with 48 stars, and in a soft pink tunic with a pattern) |
CURRICULUM VITAE
He came from an Indian tribe in Mexico. Raised in paganism, he lived according to his conscience, and after the arrival of the Franciscans, he accepted the faith with his wife. He became a sincere Christian, and from December 9 to 12, 1531, he experienced four encounters with the Virgin Mary, who demanded the construction of a church on Tepeyac Hill. She sent flowers for the bishop as a sign and created an extraordinary, breathtaking image on his mantle. After completing the task, he became a churchwarden in the new church, a witness to the faith, and a model of Marian worship.
CV FOR MEDITATION
SERVANT OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
He was born around 1474 in Cuautitlán, 20 km from Mexico City. He was initially named Cuauhtlatoatzin – Talking Eagle (“the one who speaks the language of an eagle”). His upbringing followed Aztec principles focused on self-control and preparation for battle. As a boy, he graduated from a kind of Aztec military academy. Here, he learned how to lead battles and capture the enemy so that he could be a living sacrifice to the god Huitzilopochtli. As an adult, he married the Indian Maintain – “venerable pasture”.
In 1524, when the first Franciscans began to operate in the region, he went to Tenochtitlan, two miles away, to follow them and accept Christian teachings about God. Turibius of Benedetto baptized him and his wife. At the same time, he took the new name Jan Didakus (in the local language, Juan Diego) and his wife Malintzin-Maria Lucia. After five years, she became seriously ill and died. Jan Didakus then moved to his uncle Jan Bernardino in Tolpetlac, where he was much closer to the church in Tlatelolco (the original name was probably Tlatilolco). Every Saturday and Sunday, he set out barefoot on a three-hour journey to attend Holy Mass. At that time, only Aztecs of the upper social classes wore sandals. He went out into the cold morning dressed in a tilma woven from the fibers of the agave plant.
He was 57 when he left so early on December 9, 1531. That day, near a hill called Tepeyac, he heard a sweet, unusual song, which, at first, he thought was a bird’s song. Suddenly, it was replaced by a voice calling his name. On the hill, he found a very beautifully dressed girl and was amazed at the radiance and charm of the one who addressed him in his dialect.
She presented herself to him as the perpetual Virgin and Mother of the true God, the Author of life, who created and sustains all things. She told him she longed for a temple to be built where she had shown him. There, she wanted to show her love, favor, help, and protection because she was the kind Mother of all. She promised that there she would listen attentively to the cries of those who came to her, show them favor in their need, and bring relief in every distress.
For this reason, she sent him to Bishop John of Zumarrága, and both were to participate in realizing her wish. The bishop listened to him, but he found Didaku’s words untrustworthy. He invited him to come again so that he would think about his wish for the time being, but at the same time, he made it clear that he was not serious about the matter. That very day, John Didakus went to the place of the apparition to complain to the Queen of Heaven about his failure and ask her to send someone more suitable in his place. However, she had a reason for choosing him, a small peasant.
On Sunday, he went to the bishop again, and the bishop got rid of him by demanding a sign. At the same time, he had him followed, but below the hill of Tepeyac, Jan Didakus disappeared from the pursuers’ eyes. At the top, Didakus presented the bishop’s request to the Mother of God, and she told him to come the next day for the desired sign.
Didakus had to go home and, the next day, first called a doctor for his sick uncle. When Didakus brought him in, the doctor discovered the seriousness of the illness and declared that he was helpless. The dying uncle expressed his desire for Holy Confession and urged Jan to go and get a priest for him on the night of Monday to Tuesday the 12th. John Didacus was, therefore, in a great hurry and wanted to miss the place of the apparition, so he went a little lower. However, the Virgin Mary blocked his way. She revealed to him that she knew the situation well and showed herself as the one who had the power to protect her servants and help them. She emphasized that he should not be discouraged by anything and did not need to worry about his uncle’s illness. She said: “Am I not here, your Mother? Am I not the source of life? … He will not die from the illness he suffers from; be assured in your heart that he is already healed.” (The sudden healing was later proven.) John believed her words, even when she sent him to the top for flowers, where otherwise only cacti grew and perhaps even snow lay. Nevertheless, he picked beautiful, fragrant Castilian roses and other flowers there to serve as a sign to the bishop. An even greater sign was the image that the Mother of God caused to appear on John’s tilma – an agave cloak – when it was opened before the bishop. This image provided later amazing revelations, described in the monument to P. Mary 12. 12. The bishop believed him and decided to build. He kept John until the next day and then sent him with an escort to Tepeyac, where the Virgin Mary appeared to him 4 times. Since he also spoke to his uncle, the escort accompanied him. He testified that the Virgin Mary suddenly healed him at the time above when she also appeared to his nephew (December 12), and added that he must go to the bishop to tell him everything he had seen, how he had been miraculously healed, and that they should call that sublime image Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Since the completion of the shrine of the “Lady of Heaven” (1533), Jan Didakus took care of this small church with great love and righteousness as a churchwarden and bore witness to the pilgrims who came and encouraged them with the example of his life. His life force was the Eucharist, which Bishop Zumarraga allowed him to receive thrice a week, although this was unusual. He deeply revered the Mother of Jesus in prayer and penance. He was not attracted to earthly things, and he showed significant manifestations of faith, hope, love, humility, and obedience to spiritual shepherds. Furthermore, he took care of the shrine until the end of his life and, according to tradition, died at the end of May 1548. However, the anniversary of his meeting with the Virgin Mary is also given, on which the Pope established his memorial and inclusion in the church calendar in 2002.
A significant miracle for the beatification process was the sudden change in the life of drug addict Juan José Silva Barragán three days after an injury that was incompatible with life. The perfect recovery occurred in the intensive care unit in Durango, Mexico City, after the prayers of John Didacus.
Pope John Paul II elevated him to the veneration of the altar on May 6, 1990. He proclaimed his canonization on July 31, 2002, in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the presence of 12,000 people, with another 30,000 people watching the ceremony on giant screens around the sanctuary.
RESOLUTION, PRAYER
We are all to bear some witness of trust in God’s love, especially where it is lacking. After reflecting on how much of this trust has been evident in my life, I will prayerfully decide to take a concrete step of correction.
O God, in Saint John Didacus’s life, you have shown the love of the Most Holy Virgin Mary for your people. Grant us, through his intercession, that we may be obedient to the warnings that this our Mother gave us in Guadalupe, and may we always strive to do your will. Through your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, a world without end.
