Who was Saint Juan Diego?
Juan Diego was born in Mexico before the Spanish arrived. When he heard about Jesus, he and his wife, María Lucía, were baptized, around 1524. After that, he walked many miles to Mass, even before the sun came up.
One December morning in 1531, on the hill of Tepeyac, Mary spoke to him in his own language and asked for a church. Juan Diego thought he was too small and poor for such an important job, but Mary told him she had chosen him.
He carried her message to the bishop again and again, and finally carried roses in his tilma, where Mary’s picture appeared. When the chapel was built, Juan Diego moved into a little room beside it and spent the rest of his life caring for it and telling visitors what he had seen.
When is Saint Juan Diego’s feast day?
Saint Juan Diego’s feast day is December 9. December 9, 1531 was the day of the first apparition at Tepeyac, three days before the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.
Clara tells the whole story at bedtime, in the Little Prayer Stories app.Get the app →
