Guadalupe

“ Nothing disarms a man like the conscious guilt of the offence for which he would arraign another.
Tuesday, Dec. 21. The old church bell has been ringing out all the morning in honor of Guadalupe, the patron saint of California. Her festivities commenced last evening in illuminated windows, bonfires, the flight of rockets, and the loud mirth of children. I wonder if Guadalupe knows or cares much about these exhibitions of devotional glee. Can the shout of boyhood around the crackling bonfire reach to her celestial pavillion? ”

“ THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE. In every Mexican church, monastery, convent, palace, house, hut, hovel, hacienda, or rancho, the traveller will not fail to observe an image of "The Virgin of Guadalupe." Many men receive the name of "Guadalupe," in baptism, and almost every woman has it added to the others she receives from her parents or sponsors. A saint whose tutelary influence is at once so national and so curious deserves especial mention in the notice of a country over whose people she is supposed to exercise a mysterious dominion ”

“ As Juan displayed his tilma to show the blessed sign, the flowers fell, and the image of the Most Holy Virgin, which we venerate in the Sanctuary of Guadalupe, appeared miraculously painted upon the tilma or garment of the Indian! At this wonderful sight the astonished bishop and those about him prostrated themselves and adored it with the greatest veneration. They were struck with the beauty and freshness of the flowers flourishing in the midst of winter, but much more by the heavenly beauty of the image before them, from which they neither attempted nor were able to withdraw their eyes. ”

“ There are two hills in the confines of the mountain of Morena, which as two strong walls environ the town and monastery of Guadalupe, with so many fountains which run from the rocks into the bottom of the valley, so much fruit and so much grain of all sorts that it seems Nature knowing that which should happen, had destined this place from the beginning of the world to build this palace to the princess of heaven. ”

“ To the merry hum of the trolley, which seems strangely out of place on this historic highway, the traveller is carried along. One does not need to be told that something out of the ordinary is about to take place. The streets of the capital and all the roads leading to Guadalupe are alive with people on their way to this most sacred shrine. ”

“ I want it known that she is the wife of Torres.”
“Revenge, eh?” smiled Guadalupe. “To laugh at someone, you are willing to marry what you might have without marriage. Is that it, Torres?”
“That is for me to know. I am willing to pay one hundred dollars in gold, Guadalupe. Bring me a priest. Somewhere we will find someone to play the guitar, the mandolin. We will open a cask of wine, while Lopez roasts us much meat, and we will hold a marriage fiesta at the Rancho Sierra.” ”

“ Guadalupe crossed himself piously and grinned at Torres.
“Nor have I ever paid for many candles,” grinned Torres. “I have never felt the need. But this is different.”
“Fool!” grunted Guadalupe. “You have the girl. Marriage is only for those who are too weak to steal and keep a girl. You have stolen her. Are you afraid to hold her?”
“I fear nothing. To steal a girl is nothing. I have done it before, my friend. But”—Torres poured out a fresh drink—“I want to stand up before a priest and laugh. Ha, ha, ha, ha! I want this girl for my wife, do you understand? ”

“ Guadalupe was a husky little Indian, rather moon-faced, and very solemn in the presence of guests. There were two other maids of her own age who served us at table, where guests dined with the Spanish proprietor, and his native wife—a Tehuana lady of masculine features and Amazonian proportions. The maids would enter very seriously and sedately with their trays of frijoles, but once they were out of sight, we could hear their bare feet scampering across the patio as they chased each other to the kitchen in a game of tag. ”

“ Are not the crutches and staffs, the votive tablets, and touching simple offerings hung within the silver railing of the shrine at Guadalupe at least as worthy of respectful attention as the voluntary letters and paid advertisements which attest the miracle cures of a more matter-of-fact civilization? "People who live in glass houses should never throw stones;" ”

“ Guadalupe is the holiest shrine in Mexico. It is the scene of a tradition that is never doubted for an instant by the people. In 1531 the Virgin appeared one evening to a poor peon, Juan Diego, and told him to go to some wealthy man and say it was her will that a church be built on that spot. The Indian, in great fright, obeyed her command, but the wealthy fellow refused to put credence in the incredulous story, so the peon returned and told the Virgin, who was still there, of his failure. ”

“ Drudging men and women; hewers of wood and drawers of water; bare-breasted peasants, with faces dusky and dusty, the same who any day may be seen on Mexican roads carrying burdens of all sorts strapped to their backs; children in plenty, bare, unkempt, untidy, and sometimes swaddled about their mothers' shoulders; numerous babes at the breast, half-nude—these are some of the features in a not overdrawn picture of the primitive poverty which assembles at Guadalupe, and, in fact, in every Mexican multitude whatsoever. ”

“ General Guadalupe Victoria is perhaps the last man in a crowd whom one would fix upon as being the owner of the above high-sounding cognomen, which in fact is not his original but his assumed name, Guadalupe being adopted by him in honor of the renowned image of the virgin of that name, and Victoria with less humility, to commemorate his success in battle. He is an honest, plain, down-looking citizen, lame and tall, somewhat at a loss for conversation, apparently, amiable and good-natured, but certainly neither courtier nor orator ”

“ One of these worthy fathers who had been sent as a missionary to Mexico, finding the Indians rather stubborn and unyielding, conceived the plan of flattering their national vanity by fabricating a saint suited for the occasion. The Guadalupano had a poor friend who was an excellent painter, to whom he said, one day, "Take this tilma"—presenting him one of the coarsest and most slazy texture {251} (a sort of manta de guangoche) ; "paste it upon canvass, and paint me thereon the handsomest effigy of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe that your fancy can portray." ”

“ The water cures any disease, so they say, and at any time a crowd is found around filling its magic brim filling jars, bottles, and pitchers to take home, or supping from the copper bowl that is chained to the iron that cover the well. Very few can suppress the look of disgust when they try to swallow the vile stuff with the all-healing qualities. Nor are these all the churches of Guadalupe. Away up on top of a pile of rocks, some hundred feet in height, is the oldest church of the three. It is quite small, and filled with quaint paintings. ”

“ The subject of Guadalupe has been one of such intense interest, that about sixty-one Mexican and Spanish writers have written elaborately on it. So prominent is she, that thousands of children are annually christened by her name.
The tradition, as generally believed, is as follows: "At an early hour on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego, a humble Indian, who had been recently converted to the Catholic faith, was quietly pursuing his way from a town adjacent to the City of Mexico, to mass. ”

“ I taxied in close to shore and moored the ship to a buoy, while the men launched a dory and rowed out to get me. I had been absent less than a week, most of which had been spent in Guaymas awaiting the expected letter from Tarzana, but so exuberantly did they greet me, one might have thought me a long-lost brother returned from the dead, so dreary and desolate and isolated is Guadalupe to those who must remain upon her lonely shores for even a brief interval between contacts with the mainland. ”

“ Think of the men lifted above these by every accident of education and fortune, whom we so often see in the fair fields at home, listless, uninterested, careful only to fill the time of their contract; and these earnest, eager, constant laborers become superb. The miraculous shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, six miles outside the City of Mexico, is of great interest, as every spot must be around which centres the hint of spiritual manifestations. ”

“ Some would also say of desolation, as man is ever disposed to call any place he does not inhabit. But though Guadalupe contained not a single representative of the most intelligent animal on the planet, it sustained great herds of goats, sea birds, and a little black and white land-bird, so tame and trustful as to perch and eat from Miller’s and Whitney’s tin plates during their former visit to the island. ”

“ On coming out of this elaborate edifice, half dazed by its expensive and gaudy trappings, we step at once into an atmosphere of abject poverty and want. The surroundings of the chapels and cathedral of Guadalupe are in strong contrast with the interiors. This is undoubtedly the dirtiest and most neglected suburb of the capital, where low [Pg 208] pulque shops and a half-naked population of beggars stare one in the face at every turn. ”

“ The famous image, according to the current story, disappeared soon after the Conquest, but was found about 150 years afterward in a maguey plant, and was as much dilapidated as if it had been exposed to the weather for the whole of that century and a half.
Such, in substance, is the tradition of the Virgin of Remedies, who for a century divided with the Virgin of Guadalupe the adoration of the people in the most amicable manner. But when the insurrection of 1810 broke out, these two virgins parted company. "Viva the Virgin of Guadalupe!" ”

“ Guadalupe is an interesting town of some six thousand inhabitants, not counting the myriads of dogs, which do much abound in every part of Mexico. As a rule these are miserable, mangy-looking, half-starved creatures, with thin bodies and prominent ribs. The poorer the people, the more dogs they keep, a rule which applies not only here, but everywhere, especially among semi-barbarous races. The people seem to be very kind to pet animals,—though they do abuse the burros,—cats especially [Pg 74] being of a plump, handsome species, quite at home, always sleeping lazily in the sunshine. ”

“ The grand view to be obtained from the summit of the hill of Guadalupe amply repays the visitor for climbing the rude steps and rough roadway, notwithstanding the terribly offensive odors arising from the dirty condition of the neglected surroundings. ”

“ The general stayed a few days at the castle of the duke of Medina Sidonia, the most powerful of the Andalusian lords, who hospitably entertained him, and, at his departure, presented him with several noble Arabian horses. Cortés first directed his steps towards Guadalupe, where he passed nine days, offering up prayers and causing masses to be performed at Our Lady’s shrine for the soul of his departed friend. ”

“ Steve Guadalupe plays fair with all. No man can ever say that he lost by trusting me. What men do between themselves is nothing to me, but I have nothing to look back at and fear. Torres brought the girl to me, and he offers one hundred dollars in American gold for the use of a priest. I have agreed. That is my answer, Gonzales. ”

“ Convinced that a miracle had transpired, the Bishop erected the church, and it became at once so popular that a deluge of miracles swept all over Mexico, and every other good friar erected a chapel. But none has ever rivaled that of Guadalupe.
It is situated only a brief distance from the capital. A trolley took Eustace and myself there, stopping at a small square filled with rude stands under improvised awnings where Indians sold soft drinks, beads, edibles, and candles. Before the square stood a church and a merry-go-round. ”

“ In truth, the Guadalupe order alone, with its newly created aristocracy, so indispensable to an aspiring country, demanded deep consideration of new liveries and fresh rules of precedence, lest a mere knight should peradventure throw the social structure out of gear, and disturb equanimities by taking the pas before a commander. ”

“ It is the most solitary of buildings; not a tree to be seen in its environs; these volcanic rocks behind—Mexico fronting it—the great lakes near it—to the right Guadalupe—to the left San Angel, San Agustin and the mountains which bound the valley. The Indian family who live there are handsome savages; and the girl who attended me at the bath, spoke an extraordinary jargon, half Spanish, half Indian, but was a fine specimen of savage good looks. ”

“ Guadalupe was burned by the pagans shortly after its abandonment. Several new towns had been formed, namely, Maásao, Bugábus, Óhut, Los Remedies, and Hauilián, but the opposition of the still un-Christianized people increased, and, as a result, all the newly formed towns on the lower and middle Agúsan, except La Paz, Loreto, and the Simúlao towns, were abandoned. ”

“ The plot of "Guadalupe" is simple in the extreme, and the dramatis persona old friends, in spite of Spanish mantilla and reboso, — the adopted daughter of a pious widow, who loves in silence and secret the artist son of her benefactress; the youth who in turn worships the heartless sister of his false friend ”

“ Copies of the Guadalupe Virgin are common and familiar; one can scarcely look{21} in any direction in Mexico without seeing the representation upon the walls of a house, or pendent from the watch-chain of a passer-by; but the average reproduction is a great improvement upon the original, which is a dull and heavy daub, without any evidences of skill in its execution, or even the average degree of accuracy in drawing. According to the story, the portrait was stamped upon the serape or blanket of the shepherd, and this all Catholics in Mexico devoutly believe ”