Mexican Phoenix
Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition across Five Centuries

This book examines the cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe, asking how a sixteenth-century Mexican painting become patron saint of the Americas.

D. A. Brading (Author)

9780521801317, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 June 2001

464 pages, 36 b/w illus. 1 colour illus.
24.4 x 17 x 2.5 cm, 1.18 kg

'… a solid, meticulously-written study … Mexican Phoenix gives its readers expert, thorough and balanced coverage of her documentary history from which to pursue many different lines of inquiry'. Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Juan Diego, to whom the Virgin Mary appeared in 1531 miraculously imprinting her likeness on his cape, was canonised in Mexico in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. In 1999, the revered image of Our Lady of Guadalupe had been proclaimed patron saint of the Americas by the Pope. How did a poor Indian and a sixteenth-century Mexican painting of the Virgin Mary attract such unprecedented honours? Across the centuries the enigmatic power of the image has aroused fervent devotion in Mexico: it served as the banner of the rebellion against Spanish rule and, despite scepticism and anti-clericalism, still remains a potent symbol of the modern nation. This book traces the intellectual origins, the sudden efflorescence and the adamantine resilience of the tradition of Our Lady of Guadalupe and will fascinate anyone concerned with the history of religion and its symbols.

List of illustrations
Preface
Introduction
1. Image and typology
2. Myth and history
3. The woman of the Apocalypse
4. Indian seer
5. Presence and tradition
6. Patron of Mexico
7. Divine idea
8. Heavenly painting
9. Myth and scepticism
10. The last resort
11. History and infallibility
12. The coronation
13. Juan Diego
14. Nican mopohua
15. Epiphany and revelation
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX], Social & cultural history [HBTB], History of the Americas [HBJK], General & world history [HBG]