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While many are familiar with the ever-popular image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, not everyone knows the saint to whom she appeared in 1531.
St. Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name "Cuauhtlatoatzin" ("the talking eagle") in Cuautlitlán, which is today part of Mexico City, Mexico. He belonged to the Chichimeca people, a nomadic indigenous group living in the central region of Mexico.
Little is known about St. Juan Diego, but what is certain is that he was baptized between the ages of 50 and 57, along with his wife. She died roughly two years before the apparitions in 1531. It is reported that they did not have any children. A common telling of his story recounts a possible vow of celibacy, as summarized by The Month: Catholic Magazine from 1885.
He had been married but his wife died about the time of the apparitions. They had both been baptized together in 1524 and it is said that they observed perpetual chastity in the state of matrimony having been prompted to it by a sermon of the famous Padre Motolinia's at Halteloleo, in which the angelic virtue was much eulogized.
The apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe prompted Juan Diego to dedicate the remainder of his life to the Virgin Mary and it is said that he lived as a hermit near the church where the image was kept. The rest of his life is recalled in The Month.
St. John Paul II pointed out his many virtues in a decree published in the Church's Office of Readings.
St. Juan Diego remains a powerful intercessor for all lay people and in a particular way for all indigenous peoples.
