Virgin of Guadalupe Harrington

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Mother of Death, Mother of Rebirth: The Mexican Virgin of GuadalupeAuthor(s): Patricia HarringtonSource: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Spring, 1988), pp. 25-50Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1464830

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Journalof the AmericanAcademy f Religion.LVI/1

M o t h e r o f D e a t h ,M o th e r o f R e b i r t hThe Mexican Virgin of GuadalupePatriciaHarrington

W ITHIN THEURBANongestionof MexicoCity,beforea hill thatwas once the site of a principalpilgrimagecenterof the Aztec religion,standsthe Basilicaof Guadalupe.Enshrined n the church is a paintingof the VirginMary,called OurLadyof Guadalupe,which has been thefocus of Mexicanreligious life for 400 years. Accordingto the pioustradition, his imageis different romeveryotherimageof Marybecauseit was not made with human hands. On the hill of Tepeyac,formerlocationof a temple to the Indiangoddess Tonantzin,the VirginMaryappeared o an IndianconvertnamedJuanDiegoin theyear1531. As asign to the Bishopof Mexico that a churchshould be built on the site,Mary nstructed he Indianto pick roses of Castile,which he would findgrowing on the December desert soil nearby and carrythem to theBishop in his tilma,a native cloak. Juan Diego did this, but when hespilled out the roses before the great Bishop in his episcopalpalace inMexicoCity,the realsign appeared:a full-length paintingof the VirginMarymiraculously mprintedon his tilma itself.The paintingthathangs in the Basilicatodayis indeed paintedon acoursepiece of indigenouscloth, six and a half feetlong and three andahalf feet wide, woven of fibers of the maguey plant. It shows a womanstandingalone, atopa crescentmoon, encircledby raysof the sun. It iswidely considered among Mexicans, and by pious visitors, to be the"mostperfect" mage of Mary,since she herselfpaintedit, and a "pro-digious"or "portentious"mage,a sign in which, to quoteOctavioPaz,"eachepoch and each Mexican has read his destiny" (Lafaye:xix).This article explains the rise to prominence of the Virgin ofGuadalupe n Mexican culture. First,I will show that the VirginMary

PatriciaHarringtons an Editor n the College Divisionof Scott,Foresmanand Co., 1900 E. LakeAve., Glenview, IL 60025.

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26 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religionbegan as an apocalyptic ymboland represented he millennialexpecta-tions and terrorsof the Spaniardsand the Indiansin their traumaticandworld-shatteringencounter. Second, I will draw upon first-handaccountsand historicalstudies of religionin colonial Mexico to describethe rise of the cult of Guadalupe among both the Indians and theSpaniardsof Mexico City. At the beginning, the Virginof Guadalupemeantquitedifferent hings to these two groups. The Indians read theimage as restoring o them a coherentworld. ThroughGuadalupe, heytook back theirworld, even thoughthe Spaniardswere now in charge.To the Spaniards,on the other hand, Guadalupewas anotherimage ofthe ImmaculateConception,one among many such images they heldholy. She representedRoman Catholicorthodoxyand a continuationofSpanishtraditions.Finally, I will show how both Indians and Spaniardsdevised anationalistic nterpretation f Guadalupe hatbecame a way of drawingall Mexicans,conquerersand conquered, nto one people. When pro-longed plagues in the eighteenthcenturythreatened the physical andmoral life of all the citizens of MexicoCity,the syncretismof the imageof Guadalupemade this image ideally suited to renew the hopes andenergiesof the city. An eighteenth-centuryMexicantext providesa val-uableeye-witnessaccount of that time in the historyof MexicoCityandvividly portrays he ferventoutburstof Mariandevotionduringtheworseof the devastatingplagues.Varioushistorical rendspresaged his collectiveresponseto the Vir-gin of Guadalupe,but it also dependedon the resonanceof the imageofMarywith the ancientarchetypeof the GreatMother, n her dual imageas dreadfuland nurturing,grantingboth death and life. Meso-americanreligionprovidedprobablythe most highly developedexpressionof theterrible,devouringgoddessin history,'andSpanishCatholicismbroughtto Mexicothe largelytamed, benevolent vision of Maryas a nurturingand inspiring mother and maiden. In the clash of these two polaraspectsof the divine as female,most interpretersudge that the Spanishimagesthoroughlyreplacedthe dreadfulimageof the Aztecgoddess. Inmany ways, the Spanish religion did destroyand supplant the Aztecreligion. The imageof Maryas Guadalupe, or instance,couldnever be

IThe enormous stone statue of the goddess Coatlicue,on display in the National Museum ofAnthropology n MexicoCity, is the most well-known representationof the Aztec goddess. Thisimpressive masterpieceof Aztec art shows Coatlicue as a massive blocklike figure. Her head isformed by two snakes emerging from her neck. She wears a necklace of sacrificial hands andhearts, and her skirt is made of intertwiningserpents. In appearanceshe is most similar to theimage of Kali, the goddess of death in Indian. On Kali, see Kinsley.


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Harington: Motherof Death and Rebirth 27mistakenfor her predecessorTonantzin,at least on the surface. Butinother ways Marydid take on the awesome, dreadfulqualities of theAztec mothergoddess. This enriched her religious significance n Mex-ico and made her not only a centralsymbolof the Mexicannation andits destiny,but also a numinoussymbolof the mystenriumremendum,hedreadfuland fascinatingholy in feminine form.

DEATH AND THE VIRGIN: EUROPEANCONQUEST AS MILLENIALBATTLE

The discoveryof Americawas a world-shatteringvent for both theEuropeandiscoverersand the Americansdiscovered. ForEuropeans, tmeantnot only thatmaps of the earthhad to be radicallyrevised,but italso challengedat its roots the self-perceptionof Europeansas inhabit-ants of an ordered,delimited world with definite known boundaries,createdby God and explainedin the ChristianBible (O'Gorman:128-29). Here was a land mass and a massivepopulationthatthe prevalentcosmologyof ChristianEuropewas unable to categorize.The discoveryof Americathrew Europeanthoughtinto chaos. At first, it was nearlyimpossible to find any categorieswith which to understand he discov-ery of a land and a people neverbefore imaginedto exist.Columbushad discoveredsomethingnew, and althoughhe did noteven begin to fathom the newness of what he had found until his thirdvoyage,he had alreadymade Europeold. Writingto the Spanishroyalhousehold abouthis thirdjourneyto America,where he had discovereda large, unexpectedmass of land in the southernhemisphere,which wenow know as South America,Columbus said he had gone on "a newvoyage to the new heaven and earth,which up till now has remainedhidden" (O'Gorman: 100). So began the apocalyptic nterpretation fthe discoveryandconquestof SpanishAmerica;Columbus'sreference othe Book of Revelationopened a rich vein of meaning for Europeanscoming to termsintellectuallyand religiouslywith the New World.If somethingnew was being discovered,or born, or "invented" touse O'Gorman's erm) in America,somethingwas also dying. Apoca-lypticprophesieshavealwaysboth heartenedandterrified;heyspeakofa new paradisebeing born,but born out of the ruinsof war, death,anddestruction. In the Spanishencounterwith America here was plentyofdeathand destruction. The violence was often interpretedn apocalyp-tic terms-and overit alwayswas the watchfulface of the VirginMary.Maryhad alreadybecome associated n the minds of the conqueringSpaniardswith the conquest-or the Reconquest-of the Moors in


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28 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof ReligionSpain. In particular,a small statue of Mary, the Spanish Lady ofGuadalupe,located in a monasteryin Estremadura,had become thecenterof an importantMariancult associatedwith the Spanishroyalty.Accordingto legend, KingAlonso XI of Castilehad defeated the Moorsat Salado in 1340 after commending his fortunes to the Virgin ofGuadalupe,and as a consequencehe dedicated he royalhouse to finan-cial patronageof the monastery. From 1340 to 1561, Our Lady ofGuadalupeat Estremadurawas at the hub of Spanish religiouslife, andwas closelyidentifiedwith theReconquistaBrown: 222-23).2 The mira-cles of the Ladyof Guadalupencludedmanycasesof miraculous ibera-tion of Christianprisonersof the Moors(Lafaye: 223).3The Christianstruggleagainstthe Moorsfor ruleof Spainhad easilytaken on apocalyptictones for the Christians. The strengthand earlysuccess of Islam, and its opposition to Christianity,seemed to invitecomparisonwith the power of the Antichristdescribedin Revelation(McGinn: 34). The destructionand defeatof this Satanic orcewas laidat the feet of the Virgin,who watched over the battles as a heavenlygeneral. In guaranteeingvictoryfor the Christians,she inflicted deathon the Moors and became in the process a sign of apocalypticdestruction.

The Conquestof Mexico was understood as a continuation of theReconquest.Cortes'chaplain,FranciscoL6pezde G6mara,wrotein hisHistoria eneralde las Indiasthat "The Conquestof the Indians beganwhen the conquestof the Moorshadended, in orderthatSpaniardsmayalwayswaragainstthe infidels"(Lafaye:34). Again,Maryaidedin theexpedition. G6maraclaimedthatduringcrucialbattleswith the Indiansin 1519 Marysometimescast dust in the Indians'eyes so theycould notsee to fight (Padden: 143). The Spaniardswon a greatbattlewith theIndians at Tabasco on March25, 1519, and BernalDiaz del Castilloreported hat,"Asit was LadyDaywe gaveto the town ... the name ofSanta Mariade la Victoria" Diaz del Castillo: 59). It is significant haton theNocheTriste,n which Cortes' roopswere drivenout of the Azteccapitalof Tenochtitlinand manySpaniardsdied, the statueof Mary hat

2After he reconquestof Granadaon January1, 1492, which officiallymarks the end of the Recon-quista,Queen Isabellaand KingFerdinandmade a votivetripto Guadalupe.While theywere at themonasteryof Guadalupe hey orderedships placed underthe ordersof Columbus. 1561 was thedateof the buildingof El Escorial,which replacedGuadalupeas the center of royalreligious ife inSpain (Brown: 114-115).3These "miraculous" iberations were aided by material means: the release of Christians heldprisonerby Moorswas often obtainedwith ransommoney fromthe Hieronymiteorder,which ranthe monasteryof Guadalupe Brown: 126).


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Harnington:Motherof Death and Rebirth 29Corteshad placed upon the altarof the templeto Huitzilopochtlion theTemploMayorwas lost (Diaz del Castillo: 307). In this greatdefeatofthe Spaniards,Marywas missing. Had she suddenly-capriciously?-withheldher favor? If this is how it seemed to the Spaniards, t addedanotherdimensionto the association of Marywith death.

THE AZTECS AND THE DREADFUL GODDESSImagesof Marymust have been associatedwith death and destruc-tion by the natives who allied themselveswith or battled against the

Spaniards n 1519 to 1521. Cortesand his troops carriedmany smallimages and banners of Marywith them on the Conquest, and theyplacedthe statues n nativetemplesafterthe templeshad been cleansedof theirpaganidols and the blood of sacrifices Padden: 143). Afterthebattle in Tabasco,for instance, the chiefs were instructed n the basicbeliefs of Christianitybefore an image of Marywith the ChristChild.Diaz del Castillo says that, "The Caciquesreplied that they liked thelook of the great Teleciguata"Lady"], nd [begged]that she might begiven them to keep in their town" (63). Cortes seems to have had aninexhaustiblesupply of these Marianimages, which he left behind ineverytown alonghis path from the ocean to the centralcapitalof Mex-ico City. It canbe assumed that these imagesmeantsomethingdifferentto the conquered Indians than they did to the Spaniardsand that,whatevernurturingand benevolentcharacteristicsMarycame to takeonfor the Indians, at first she seemed overwhelmingly o be La Conquis-tadorawho had arrivedbearingdeath, destruction,and humiliation.Since the Aztecs at thattime were as apocalypticn theirthinkingassome of the Spaniards,t is likelythattheyalso attached o the imageofMary apocalyptic significance. The Aztec cosmogony was cyclical,based on the mythof fourworld ages, each of which had ended with adifferentkind of cataclysmicdestruction(Nicholson: 398). The fifthand final age, or Sun (4 Ollin), in which the Aztecsbelievedtheylived,was to terminatewith greatearthquakes.The practiceof human sacri-fice, which so horrified the Spaniards,apparentlywas based on thepremisethat"fertility, eneralwell-being, even the veryexistenceof theuniversedependedon the nourishmentof the gods, especiallythe solardeity,by theirpreferred ustenance,human hearts andblood" (Nichol-son: 424).

Most of us know the storyof how the Aztec emperor,Montezuma,broodedover reportsthat white men from the east had landed on hisshoresin 1519 and were slowlymovingacrossthe land towardhis capi-


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30 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religiontal, everywhereassumingsovereigntyn the name of a distantking, for-biddinghuman sacrifice,and replacingthe imagesof the gods with oneof a goddess. Montezumadecided that Quetzalc6atl,or at least hisambassador,was returning o claim his throne,as he had promisedinthe ancientmythsthat he would return"atthe end of the world"(Pad-den: 122-31). Montezuma'sdespair,as he viewed with growingalarmthe signs of the imminent end of his Sun,was an important actor n theConquestof Mexicoby Cortesand his men.The Spanish destructionof the Indian temples and statuesof thegods led many other Indiansto despairas well. The speech of a groupof Indiannobles to the Franciscanmissionarieswho had told themtheirgods were false demons and asked them to convert to Christianityspeakseloquentlyof why the end of theirreligionseemedthe end of theworld for the natives.

They[theancestors]aidthat t is throughhegodsthatall live....thattheygiveus ourdaily areand all thatwe drink,all thatwe eat,oursustenance,maize,beans,amaranth,hia.Theywe supplicateorwater, orrain,with whicheverythinglourishes n the earth Nicholson:410).With the death of their gods, the Indians felt they were watchingthedeath of their world. In some ways, they were. The Indianway of lifewas thoroughlydisruptedby the Spanishcolonizers. Afterthe firstyearsof anarchy, the supreme authority in New Spain rested with theAudencia. The firstAudencia,under the authorityof Nufio de Guzmin,was cruel and greedy, and forced many natives into virtual slavery.There were reportsof Indians"hangingthemselvesor takingpoison inacts of mass suicide, causedby the profoundshock at the overthrowoftheir culture,"and Lewis Hanke reportsthat the terrorcaused by thenotoriousGuzmin was so greatthat in Mexicocq. 1530 Indiansdesistedfrom relationswith their wives to avoid introducingnew children intothis world (26). During the epidemics of the 1570s and 1590s thenativepopulationdeclined from 5 million to about two and a half mil-lion, and duringthe winterof 1595-96 it appeared hat the entire Indianpopulation might be wiped out (Phelan: 42). The missionariesthem-selves wonderedaloudwhat the Indians must think of a religionwhoseintroductioncoincidedwith the virtualdestructionof theirrace(Phelan:92).In their traditionalreligion, the natives of Mexico had associated


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Harington: Motherof Death and Rebirth 31deathandmisfortunemostconsistently ithgoddesses.Indeed, ccord-ing to the Jungian cholarErichNeumann,Mexico s the site of thepurestexpression f theTerribleMother179-208). At thefoundationof the Aztecpolytheismwas a conceptof a sexuallydualistic, rimordialpower,calledOmeteotl,he male-female eitywho providedhe basisfor all theothergodsandgoddesses.Ometeotlwas a distant,ranscen-dentdeitywithno cult,somethingike a "HighGod."Themalehalfofthe pairedcouplewas linkedwith the fire, maize,the firstman,andespeciallyhe solargods. Thefemalehalfwas linkedwiththemothergoddesses,heearthandfertility,he firstwoman,andthe moon. Belowthisprimalpairwasanamazing ariety fgodsandgoddesses;we havenamesfor50 different oddessesn the sources Brundage).Butthesedeitiescan be groupedn "deity omplexes" asedon the themes heyrepresentNicholson:408). Thegoddesses, ven morethan thegods,seem to constantlyoverlapand become each other,and to revolvearound limitednumber frecurringdeas,all connectedwiththe earth(Brundage).In theValleyof Mexicoa clusterof goddesses xisted,all related omaternity,whose principalnames were Teteoinnan"Mother f theGods"),Toci("OurGrandmother"),onantzin"OurHolyMother"),Cihuacoatl"SnakeWoman"),Coatlicue"Serpent kirt"), ndXochi-quetzal "PreciousFlower").All of the earth-motheroddesseswereassociated othwithexuberantertilityndhorrifyingeath, he earthasboth wombandtomb of life (Nicholson:422). Sahaguinecords heAztecbeliefthatCihuacoatl,espitebeingthe patronof womengivingbirth,walkedatnight"weeping ndwailing,a dreadphantomorebod-ingwar" 3). Coatlicue,hedivinemotherwhogavebirth o godsandhumans,wasalsothoughto feed on humancorpsesandwascalled he"dirt devourer"Hultkrantz:269; Hellbom: 38). Teteoinnan, heMother f theGods,alsocalledTociandTonantzin,was thepatronofphysicians ndmid-wives,emale ortune-tellers,ndsweat-houses-agoddessofbirth,health,and thefuture.Yetshe demanded uman ac-rifice, much of which was performedat the principaltemple ofTonantzinon Tepeyac(Sahagin: 4). Xochiquetzal, he goddess of sex-ual passion, was also thoughtto have been the first to die in war, andwomen who died in childbirth-who were comparedto warriorsdyingin the captureof a prisoner-merged with her horrifyingaspect,haunt-ing crossroadsas death monsters(Nicholson: 422).This ambiguous, life-giving and life-destroyinggoddess seems tohave lingered on in Mexico after the official gods of the state cult,Huitzilopochtliand the other solar deities, had disappearedunder-


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32 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religiongroundor been thoroughlydestroyed. Perhapsthis is because the god-desses were more ancient, more autochthonous and local, and wereinvolved in the daily routine of life, birth, and death, which persistedeven afterthe state apparatusof the Aztec empirehad been destroyed.Certainlythe survivalof the goddesses is partlydue to the syncretisticlinkingof them with the VirginMary.Forwhateverreason,the dreadfulgoddess of death continued to roam through Indian communities,snatchingmore victimsevery day.At the end of the Conquest,the VirginMaryshowed two differentfaces to the people of Mexico. To the Spaniards,she representedthetriumphof the Conquest. To the Indians,she stood forthe despairanddestructionof the conquered.

BIRTH AND THE VIRGIN: GUADALUPEAND A NEW INDIAN BIRTHButamongthe Indians near MexicoCitya cult of Maryarosearoundan obscurepaintingof Marycalled Guadalupe.This imagewas associ-atedwith an Indiangoddess,but it took on new, life-supportingquali-ties never seen in the Aztec goddesses.The cult of Guadalupebegan as an Indiancult closely linked withthe earliercult of Tonantzin,which had originallybeen there. Sahagfindescribedthe pilgrimagesand ritualofferingsthat had been associatedwith the hill of Tepeyacbefore the Spaniardscame.Closeto themountainsherearethreeor fourplaceswhere henativesusedto makevery olemnsacrifices,ndto whichtheycame romdis-tant ands. Oneof these s here n Mexico,where here s a hill calledTepeyacac,nd the Spaniardsall it Tepeaquilla,ndnowit is calledOurLady fGuadalupe;n thisplace heyhada templededicatedo themotherof the gods,whichtheycalledTonantzinwhichmeansOurMother;here heyoffered acrificesn honorof thisgoddessandtheycamefromdistantands, rommore han20 leaguesaway, romall theregions f Mexico, ndbroughtmanyofferings;men,women,and chil-drencame othese estivals;hegatheringsfpeople n thosedaysweregreat,and everyonesaid, "Let'sgo to the festivalof Tonantzin!"(Chauvet: 5)If therewas a statue of Tonantzinthere,we can assume that she had aratherhorrifyingappearanceand that some of the identifyingcharacter-istics of the mothergoddess were represented. Sahagfinhad elsewhererecorded a descriptionof the mothergoddess:Therewas liquidrubber n her lips and a circle[of rubber] n each


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Harington:Motherf DeathandRebirth 33cheek. Shehad cotton lowers.Shehad a ball withpalm strips.Shehad a shell-coveredskirt, called a star-skirt. . . Eagle featherswerestrewn over her skirt; . . . it had white eagle feathers,pointed eaglefeathers.Hershieldhad a goldendisc in the center. She carriedhemedicinal erb, otoicxitl. heused a broom.(Sahagfin: )

The entirestyleof the paintingof OurLadyof Guadalupeat TepeyacisclearlySpanishand not Aztec. Moreover,he painting acksmost of theidentifyingelements of the mothergoddess, except for the "star-skirt,"which might be associated with Guadalupe'smantle covered withgolden stars.Notwithstandingthe obviously Spanish characterof the Virgin ofGuadalupe,her earlycult was overwhelmingly ndian. Sahagfinconsid-ered it to be paganismthat continued "underthe equivocationof thisname Tonantzin,"which could be used by missionaries as the Nahuatltranslation or the title "Our Mother"given to Mary.Now thatthere s builttherea churcho OurLadyof Guadalupe, hotheyalsocallTonantzin,tgives hepreachersccasionocall OurLadythe Mother f Godby the nameTonantzin.And this is a thingthatshouldberemedied,ecause heproper ameof theMotherfGod,ourLady,s notTonantzinOurMother]utDios-inantjinMotherf God];it seems obe a satanicnvention,o palliatedolatry nder heequivo-cation of this name Tonantzin,and they come now to visit thisTonantzinrom araway,as farasbefore,whichdevotions suspicious,becausen allparts herearemanychurches o OurLady, ndtheydonotgo to those,andtheycome from ar andsto thisTonantzin,s intheold days(Chauvet: 5).

Sahagfinis representativeof early ecclesiasticalresponse to this cult.The earlyCatholicmissionaries, ike Sahagfin,had a limitedinterpretivesystemfor understanding yncretism. The Christianstories about crea-tion and resurrection, he Christianimages of Christ and Mary,weremattersof truthand good; the Aztec storiesand imageswere false anddemonic. Theycould not appreciate he Aztecmythologyas a profoundattemptto come to termswith the dreadfulandfascinatingheartof real-ity. The Aztecs were deeply pessimistic, perhaps fatalistic,about theworld,but theyhad an elaborate,coherentsymbolicsystemfor makingsense of their lives. When this was destroyedby the Spaniards,some-thingnew was neededto fill the void and make sense of New Spain,thenew world of which they were now a partand in which they had suf-fered defeat at the hands of outsiders. The image of Guadalupeservedthatpurpose.Ourknowledgeof the earlyIndianperceptionof Guadalupederives


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34 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religionnot from books but from artisticrepresentations,dances, and songs.The storyof the image'smiraculousappearanceon Juan Diego's cloakwas passed on among the local Indians by way of art and song. Themythmade the imageuniquelytheirs,for it came to an Indian,and wascreatedout of nativematerial,on nativesoil. Itwas not a Spanish mageimportedto Mexico. The symbolsof sun and moon thatappearin thepainting,and even the colors used, are universal elements of religioussymbolismthathad special significance or the Aztecs. Forthe Indians,it was natural o place a goddessabove one of her primary ymbols,themoon. If the Spaniardshad destroyedthe solar cult of Huitzilopochtliand human sacrifice,this new incarnationrevealedthat the lunargod-dess had overshadowed he solargod for a time and usheredin a newage. It was a new age of war, death, and disease, which the mothergoddess ever announceswith her wailing at the crossroads. But it wasan age also of birthand survival,which the goddess guaranteedby herguardianshipof the cyclicalprocessesof fertilityand growth. Standingover the moon, symbol of her reign, and wearingthe star skirt of themother goddess, bearing the flowers of divinity, Guadalupewatchedoverdeath,defeat,and illness andassuredthe Indians that these aspectsof life need not lead to despair. Theywere protected n the shade of thegreatMotherGoddess.The sense of joy experiencedby the Indiansin the presenceof theimageof Guadalupes expressed n the wordsof a song, collectedat theend of the sixteenth century, which was sung at the church ofGuadalupe. Here is an Englishtranslationof severalversesof the song,taken from MarianoCuevas'Spanishtranslationof the Nahuatl.

I tookdelightn all themany-coloredlowers, o sweet-smelling,that,startled ndmagnificant,erescattering,withpetalshalf-opened,n yourpresence,O Mother,OurHolyMary.Bythewater's dge(Mary)ang:I am thepreciousplantof youthful uds;I am a creationfthe oneperfectGod,butI amthebestofhis creatures.Your pirit,O HolyMary,s alive n thepicture.We menpraisedher,takingafter he GreatBook Bible], nddanced heperfectdance,andyou,Bishop,ourfather,preachedhereby theshoreof the lake.Artisticallyourspiritwasimprinted.Oh! In theworshippedanvasyourspiritwas hidden.A perfect reation.


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Harrington:Motherof Death and Rebirth 35Oh! I would ivesecurely ere. (23-27)4

This song is in parta teaching song, intended to impartCatholic doc-trine about Mary(she is a creature,made by God; not a goddess). Itfocusseson the storyof the creationof the paintingof Guadalupe"outofflowers." The Indians often made religious images out of flowers,andtheycould understand he imageof Guadalupeas havingbeen made in asimilarway. The only appropriate esponseto this beautifulportrait,hesong says, is to worship it by song and dance. Here, before the HolyMother,the singeris home and will live securelyhere. The end of theworldhas led to the birthof a new world,which mightbe difficult,butis still comprehensibleand secure.

GUADALUPE AND THE CREOLE NEW WORLDButGuadalupecould not have become a nationalsymbolhad it notalso spoken to the Spanishand creoles of Mexico. For them, the ico-nographyof the imagespoke a differentlanguage,but the meaningcamealmost to the same thing: the birthof a new age in Mexico,guaranteed

by the election of this countryby the heavenly Lady.The church of Guadalupe eems to havebecomepopularwith Span-ish residentsof MexicoCityin the 1550s as a shrine to visiton a Sundayexcursion,just as in Madrid the residents would go to the Virgin ofAtocha, or in Valladolid to the Virgin of el Prado (Chauvet: 231).There were stories of miraculous cures by the Virgin of Guadalupe,especiallyamong the Indians,as earlyas 1556, and by the end of thesixteenthcenturya traditionof apparitions o JuanDiegohad appeared(Lafaye: 244). But the cult of Our Ladyof Guadalupedid not attractwidespreadcreole attention until the publication,within a yearof eachother,of MiguelSanchez'sbook, Imageof the VirginMary,Motherof God,of Guadalupe,Honored n herHistoryby theProphecy f ChapterTwelveofRevelation1648), and a detailed Nahuatl account of the apparitions oJuanDiegoandthe miraculousappearanceof the painting,publishedbyLuis Lazode la Vega, entitled, The GreatEventof theAppearance f theLady,Queenof Heaven,HolyMary(1649).

I focus on the Sanchez book because it deals directlywith the sym-bolism of the painting tself. Sanchezgaveto the paintingof Guadalupenationalisticmeaningand drewupon a traditionof Spanishapocalypti-cism, which was to elevate the Virginof Guadalupe o nationalsignifi-

4Englishtranslationby MiguelRamos.


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36 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religioncance. It was not remarkable hat Sanchez associated the Virginwiththe heavenlywoman of the book of Revelation. That was part of theintendedmessageof the painting. What was new in the Sanchez bookwas the nationalisticsignificancehe attachedto this image.Sanchez claimed thatthe paintingof the Ladyof Guadalupewas themost perfect replicaof the Virgin,and its appearance n Mexicomademanifest the special significanceof his country. In fact, he said, theconquest of Mexico had been ordained and directedby God only inorder that this "mostdivine image"should appearthere(Lafaye:249).Citing Psalm 48 as evidence that Marylived on Mount Zion, Sanchezarguedthat Tepeyacis the new MountZion, which makes Mexico thePromised Land. All Marian shrines are alike, he declared,except forthis one, which is "a new paradise, set aside, sure, and protected"(Lafaye:250). He explainedthat God created he Old Worldof EuropeforAdam,"the firstimageof God,"to be bornand then for Christ,"thesecond Adam,"to be born. But the second Eve had not yet arrived, orshe awaitedthe new paradise. Mary'sappearance n the "secondcrea-tion," the second paradiseof New Spain,made her the second Eve, theco-redemptresswho broughtfaith and redemption o the New WorldasChrist had broughtit to the Old World (de la Maza: 40).The Virginof Guadalupe,Sanchezsaid, is the woman foreseenbyJohn of Patmosand propheticallydescribedin Revelation12: "And agreatportentappeared n heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, withthe moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." Alook at the imageof Guadalupewill verifythat, indeed, it could be con-sidered a drawingof thatapocryphalwoman. The womanis framedbythe sun's rays;she is standingon a half-moon;and the cloudssurround-ing her and the cherubsupportingher both indicate a heavenlysetting.But this is no surprise,because it is a stereotypedrepresentationof thedoctrineof the ImmaculateConceptionas it was paintedat this time inSpain and New Spain.Painters of religious subjectswere allowed little freedomof artisticexpressionin Counter-ReformationSpainand New Spain. The Councilof Trent had recommended that religious art be used to instruct, tostrengthen n faith,and to cultivatepiety,and this imposedon paintersagreatresponsibility o be accurateand orthodox n theirrepresentations.His positionas inspecterof paintingfor the Seville tribunalof the Inqui-sition led the Spanish painterFrancisco Pacheco to write, in his work


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Harrington:Motherof Death and Rebirth 37entitledEl arte de lapintura Brown: 33-57),5meticulous instructionsasto how to paintreligioussubjects. Pacheco nstructedpaintersto portraythe ImmaculateConceptionaccordingto the descriptionof the womanof Revelation12.6 The Virginshould be painted as in the first springand bloom of her youth, as a maiden of about twelve or thirteenyears,with "gravesweet eyes," golden hair, and beautifulfeatures. Pachecoinstructedthat her hands be folded on her bosom or joined in prayer,and that she be portrayedn a robe of spotless white, with a mantleorscarf of blue tied with the cord of St. Francis used by the Franciscanmonks. The sun should be expressedby a flood of lightaroundher, andthe moon under her feet should have hornspointingdownwards o indi-cateit was illuminedfromabove. The twelve starswereto form a crownover her head, and around her should be shown cherubim bearingroses, palms, and lilies. The head of a bruised and vanquisheddragonmust appear under her feet to reflect not only the strugglewith thedragondescribed n Revelation12, but also the associationof Marywiththe prophecyof Genesis 3:15 that "he [the serpent]will bruise yourhead, and you [the woman]shall bruise his heel" (Jameson: 143).In practice, painters never followed this model exactly, but theycame close. The classicexpressionof the SpanishImmaculada,he sev-enteenth-centurypaintingby Murillothathung in El Escorial,seems tohave followed Pacheconearlyto the letter,omittingonly the crown ofstars and the serpent. The MexicanGuadalupealso follows the model,althoughless exactly. Aside from the obvious featuresof the encirclingsun and the moon underfoot, the Virginis also young, standingalone(without child), and wearing the traditionalmantle of blue, spangledwith the gold stars mentioned in the vision. At one time there was agold crown in the painting,but it has fadedor chipped away. No rosesor lilies arepresent,but the roses are partof the story,and the dress isrose-colored. Mexicanwritersmake much of the creation of the image"outof roses": Cabrera Quintero,forinstance,describedthe imagein1737 as "stained n thejuice and essence of celestial roses"(127). AndFrancisco de Florenciawrote that the image createdby Mary"exceedsthat excellent work of God"-the creation of human beings-because"the Image of God was formed of dust, but the Image of Marywasformedof roses" (no pagination).

5Written rom1598-1638, the book was publishedin 1649 (Brown: 33-57). Also see Weismann:3, 115.6The doctrine of the ImmaculateConceptionconcerns the moralpurityand exceptionalstatusofMary; t is the doctrine that Mary,when conceived by her parents,was without originalsin.


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38 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof ReligionThe image of Guadalupe s not unique;it is one of many images ofthe ImmaculateConceptionthat flourished n Spainand New Spaininthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This doctrine was a rallyingpoint for SpanishCatholicsagainstthe risingthreatof Protestantismothe north,and it was carried o Mexicoby the Franciscanswho madeupthe firstwave of missionariesto follow the conquistadores.The ThirdMexican ProvincialCouncil, in 1585, had declared the feast of theImmaculateConceptionobligatoryin Mexico, on pain of mortal sin.And manyof the oldest and most reveredimagesof Mary n Mexico areImmaculateConceptionimages (Cassidy).7The image was well-suited to express millennial yearnings. To agreatextent,the meaningof the ImmaculateConceptionparallels hatofthe Incarnation;here, in female form, is a representationof perfectedhumanity. Like the resurrectedChrist,the "first fruits of the resurrec-tion," Marywas assumed bodily into heaven, and like him, too, shelived her life on earthwithoutsin.8 In the paintingsof the ImmaculateConception, which are very close in style to paintings of Mary'sAssumptioninto heaven, "the maternalcharacterof Mary s set aside,and she stands alone, absolutein herself,and complete in her perfec-tions" (Jameson: xxxvi). It was a potent symbol for the hopes of theSpaniardssettling in Mexico, especiallywhen it was coupled with theimageryof Revelation,ncludingnot only the passagesin Revelation12,but also the famousdescriptionof the "new heavenand new earth"ofRevelation21, which is also portrayedn feminine terms: "AndI saw anew heaven and a new earth;the first heaven and the first earthhad

disappearednow, and therewas no longerany sea. I saw the holy city,and the new Jerusalem,comingdown fromGodout of heaven,as beau-tiful as a bride all dressedfor her husband"(Rev. 21:1-2).Sanchez's explicit linking of the painting of Guadalupewith thisbiblical imageryprovidedfor Mexico a symbolic way to make sense ofMexicanhistoryand Mexicancommunity. Sanchez saw in Guadalupeasign not of the apocryphalbattle of the last days, but of the birth of anew world in the Mexican nation. This view of Mexicoseems to havebeen an importantelement in the self-understandingof native-bornMexicans-Spanish creoles,mixed-bloodmestizos,and Indians alike-

70f the twenty-eight magesof Mary isted in Cassidy'sbook, fourteenare imagesof the Immacu-late Conception.8Marydiffersfrom Jesus, in Catholicdoctrine, in that she remainshuman, while Jesus is bothhuman and divine.


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Harrington:Motherof Death and Rebirth 39who struggledagainstthe double taint of ancientidolatryandhumiliat-ing defeat and colonizationby Spain.

The apocalypticunderstanding f Mexicois a dialecticone, alternat-ing between a conservativemoment(We area chosen nation;this is theearthlyparadise;our way of life is divinelyordained)and a violent andrevolutionarymoment (We aredivinelyordainedto establishan earthlyparadiseby destroyingour enemies). Some have suggestedthat Mex-ico's history-and perhapsin some way the historyof all the nationsofthe Americas-can be read in termsof this inherentlyunstablealtema-tion between self-righteousconservationand violent revolution. Manyinterpreters f the Ladyof Guadalupehavepointedto the importanceofthe imageas a symbolof revolution,most clearlyexpressed n the legen-dary storyof Miguel Hidalgorallying he masses forrevoltagainstSpainwith the cryof Dolores: "Viva a Virgende Guadalupeand deathto thegachupines!" Hidalgo was making his own the apocalypticbattle-imageryassociatedwith Mary, urningLaConquistadora gainsther for-mer people in the name of a new people. Enormousforces of violenceand hatredwere unleashed under the banner of Guadalupe.This is thedarkside of apocalypse,and of the Virgin.But the Virginof Guadalupewas also a symbol of somethingnewbeing born in Mexico. The storySancheztells, of Marychoosing Mex-ico as the nation where she revealed her image and established herearthlyreign,is a myththatprovidesa divine foundationfor all aspectsof Mexican culturalactivity. Sanchez called Guadalupea City, "sinceshe was herself representingher own city of Mexico" (Watson: 21).Here he drawsupon a traditionaland powerfulassociation of womanwith the city or nation, an associationwhich was expressedin Spanishand Spanish-Americanculture by the system of city or regionalpatronage.

PLAGUE AND PATRONAGE: THE SALVATIONOF MEXICO CITY BY GUADALUPEIn sixteenth-centurySpain, every communitychose or was chosen

by a saint,who represented he communityto God. The common termused to describethe role of this patronsaint was abogado,egal advocate(lawyer). This was a rolefamiliar o Castilians romtheirhighlybureau-craticsecular ife, in which constantlitigationwas a fundamentalaspectof daily existence (Christian: 55-56). The choosing of a patronsaintwas a matterof trialand error. When a naturaldisasterstruck,a localcommunitywould appeal to one image after another, until one was


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40 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religionfound that haltedor slowed the plague,flood, drought,or famine. Thatimagewould then have a place of preeminencein the sacred life of thecommunity,since the appealto the sainthad been a vow to Godthroughthe saint.

Spaniardsof the sixteenthcenturybelieved God activelyintervenedin human affairsand the naturalorder when he was angered,and mostvows promiseddevotion at a chapelin exchangefor the cessationof theaffliction. In some cases, communities believed that saints themselvesmightinflict harmif angered,and the vows were made to appeasethemdirectly. The community would organize a procession, carryinganimage of the saint throughthe streets,and make a solemn communalvow to continueregulardevotionat the shrine of the saint each yearonthe saint'sday,with fasting,prayer,public charity easts,and bullfights(Christian: 31-35, 57). From the twelfth century, Maryhad graduallygained preeminence over the other saints as patroness of localcommunities.

This system of patronagewas carriedover to New Spain. Gibsonreports hat"theSpanish conceptionof the patronsaintwas enthusiasti-cally adoptedby the Indians" in the Valley of Mexico, and numerouscities in LatinAmerica bear one of the names of the Virginand wereplaced under her protection(134). A hierarchyof patronagedevelopedin Mexico. Local images represented local communities; regionalimages represented entire regions, and, eventually, the Virgin ofGuadaluperepresented he entire nation.But the national statureof Guadalupeemergedonly gradually. Atfirst,Guadalupecompetedwith otherimagesof Maryas primarypatron-ess of MexicoCity. Besides the Virginof Guadalupe, he inhabitantsofMexicoCityappealedto the tiny statueof the Virginof Remedios,to aDominicanpaintingof the Pietacalled NuestraSefiorade la Piedad,orto an image called Nuestra Sefiorade la Bala (Lafaye: 260). In theplagueof 1736-37 the imageof Guadalupegainedpreeminence n Mex-ico City over these other images of Maryand began to be nationallyknown. The storyof that eventillustrateshow the variousterrifying ndconsoling aspectsof Marycoalescedaroundthe imageof Guadalupeandfunctionedto savethe Mexicanpeople not only fromphysicaldeath,butalso from the spiritualmalaise broughton by an "end-of-the-world"mood of despair,which threatened he life of the communityas a whole.

Epidemicswere the most fearedand destructivemenace of Mexicoafter the Spaniardsarrived. Smallpox struckthe Indians first, but by1535 another disease had appeared,most likely influenza,which theIndians called matlzdhuatl.Europeans largely escaped these plagues,


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Harington:Motherof Death and Rebirth 41either because theywere immune to them or because the diseases werebroughton by under-nourishment nd excessive toil (Priestly:64, Phe-lan: 102). Lafayesays, "Worsein one sense than the floods-which itoftenfollowed-by reasonof its unexpected appearanceand mysteriousorigin,the plague(cocoliztli)nspireda feelingof helplessnessand terror;collectiveconjurationof supernaturalpowers appearedto be the onlypossible remedy"(254). Matlazdhuatlevastated he Cityof Mexicoin1736. At least 40,000 people died in Mexico City in thatyear, nearlyone in three inhabitants. BothSpaniardsand Indians attributed he dis-ease to supernaturalcauses, and an end-of-the-world atmosphereprevailed.In 1738, a creole episcopal priest,Cayetanode Cabreray Quintero,was commissionedby the Archbishop o writea book on the plagueandon how "HolyMary n Her ProdigiousImageof Guadalupeof MexicoCity, . . . [Had] Mitigated Its Fury Because of the Great Shade Cast byMary."The citygovernmentpaid the publishingexpenses forthisbook,and it is a valuablerecordof the public recognition civic and ecclesial)of Mary'spatronageat that time. Escudode armasde Mixicowas pub-lished in 1746 and has recentlybecome available n a facsimile edition.The book providesa richnessof facts and descriptionthat renderit aninvaluable resource for the historyof Mexicanmedicine and religion.The author'smain theme is that the plague that terrorized he citi-zens of his citywas, in fact,aguerradeDios,a warby Godin which "theSupreme Maker took up arms in vengeance, . . . and human powerswere unable to resist it" (2). The Virginof Guadalupewas enthronedfinally as the shield that would defend the citizens againstthe terriblesword of that God to whom she herself had given birth (xix).Cabreradescribes a dreadfuland barelycomprehensibleGod, whothunders fromheaven and lets his arrowsfly (Ps. 18:14). "God is theprincipaland at times the only cause of plagues,"he says (25), and heprovesthis by citing Ezekiel:

On account fallyour ilthypractices,willdothings oyouthatIhaveneverdonebefore... Athirdofyour nhabitantshalldieofplague rstarveo death nsideyou;a third hallfallbythesword,outside ou;athirdI will scattero everywind,whileI unsheathehe swordbehindthem.Myangerwillbe satisfied;mean osatisfymy furyagainsthemand be avenged. Ezek.5:9-13)Perhapsin that time of plague, when everyday a hundredpeopledied,when the doctorswerenearlyhelpless to cureor ease the suffering,only the God of the Israeliteprophetswas comprehensible. "In a warundertakenby the SovereignOne," Cabrera ays, "thereis no defense,


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42 Journal f the Americancademyf Religionno power o combat t, exceptto fall to the earthandpray orpeace"(44). Unmistakableignshad been manifested o the city'sresidentsthat prophesied he onslaughtof the plagueand revealed ts divinesource. He lists, in ascending rderof importance,n earthquakenSeptember, 1736; looding,"as n thedaysof Noah;"ightings fcom-ets andan eclipseof thesun;and,worstof all, a savagewind,"whichthe Indianscall simply'Muerte,'Death]"hat the nativeswerecon-vincedcarried he diseasewithin t (44-45).9In thisatmosphere,t is not surprisinghatsomepredictedhattheworldwas ending. In Cabrera'sccount,magesof the greatbiblicalcataclysmsmergewiththe Aztecview of theperiodicdestructionf thesuns. When a cometwas sightedn March,1737,at theheightof theplague,some peoplehid in their homesin fear,waiting or the end(144). Storiesof long-agoprophecieshatthe worldwouldend werefreshly irculated. t was said thata nine-year-oldndiangirlof Tlax-cala,whileshe wassick,had learnedn a visionthatGodwasangryathis people ortheirsins andwouldsend thepestilenceo destroyhem.Anothernine-year-oldndiangirl (in whatmaybe a variation n thesamestory)had claimed hatGod revealedo her the dateof her deathand the dateof the endof the world. Thisstorywasreportedn a bookby Ger6nimode Mendieta,who believed t should be understood sreferringo the end of the Indians, incetheywere moreor less con-stantlydyingof plagues.Cabrera lsorepeatsa well-knownprophecyby FayDomingode Betanzos,ounder f theProvince f Preaching ri-ars n NewSpain:"Thatbythejust udgment f God,aftermanyages,allof the Indians f this landwillhavebeentotallydestroyed."Cabrerapointsout that hisprophecy adalready een fulfilled n the IslandofEspafiola,rSantoDomingo,whichwas the first andconqueredytheSpaniards,ndwhereoriginallyherehad been 20 millionIndiansandnow werenone(61-62).It was possiblefor the Indians o be entirelydestroyedn thoseyears,andalthoughheSpaniards ereconcerned bout t (theIndiansmadeuptheir abor orce), he Indians hemselvesmusthavebeenin adesperatetateof mind.'0Cabreraeportshe "ridiculousrayer"in

9Grueningreportsa continuing dread of wind and air in the 1920s in Mexico. "Freshair iscommonlyheld to be dangerous" 534).IoCabreradescribes the Indians' mad jealousy and envy at seeing that the Spaniardsgenerallyweren't taken with the fever,and reports hat some "despicable" ndians tried to do things so thatthe Spaniardswould fall ill, such as infectingthe waterwith corpses. ForCabrera, his envyis onemore indication of the poor moral state of the Indians and thereforea cause of God's wrathbeinginflicted on them in the form of plague (70).


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Harrington:Motherof Death and Rebirth 43his words)of an old Indianwoman,who prayed,"0! No muramosodos,Madreneustra. Y si hande morir,Seffora,os Indios,que mueran ambienlosEspaffoles," hich means,"Oh!Don't let us all die, Our Mother. Andif the Indians have to die, Lady, et the Spaniardsdie too" (71). In herwords, despair mingles with incipient revolt. Again there is appeal tothe Motherof Heavenas both a rescuerand a destroyer,giverof life andof death.

The author,once he has established that God is the principalcauseof plagues,admitsthat there were also secondary,naturalcausesfor theplague'sdevastatingeffectupon the Indians. He mentions hungerandlack of food;the heat of day and coolness of nights,which is especiallyhardon those with littleclothing;contact with the Spaniards;he drink-ing of pulqueto inebriation;and "drinkingcold water.. . when one issweatingand warm"(67-68). Buthe focusseson a mentalcause of theplague,which is relevantto the final efficacyof the Guadalupe mage.That cause is the Indians' dreadof the plagueas a goddess.The authorsays he found amongthe natives"a certaindreadof thefever so vehement and superstitious, onceivedwith such extremepecu-liarity, hatsometimestheirown imaginationand sorrowbroughton thefever,and other times, althoughthey alreadyhad the fever to quite anaggravated oint, they avoidedtakingcare of themselves,or medicatingthemselves,fearingthat the feverwould take them [if they did]"(69).1"Cabreraarguesthatsuperstitiousdreadand imaginationcan themselveskill a personandthattherefore his dreadcan be considereda secondarycauseof the plague. He illustrateshis point by tellingof a sorcererwho"killeda multitudeof Indianswith a diabolicalspell." Lookingat themwith an air of authority,he said in theirlanguage: "Go,and Die," andthe group of Indians, "thinkingthemselves under a spell, and heavywith melancholy,"went home and died (69).The fearat largein Mexico, however,was directedprimarilyat thegoddess of Mexico'spast. "The Indiansbelieve that the current llnessis some fatalDeity,who conspiresto end them;it is not only the Greeksand Romanswho had a Goddess of Fever"(69). Cabrerareports,forinstance, that an Indian woman appearedin a village some distancefromMexicoCityand convinced thevillagers,who were all Indians,thatshe was "la Enfermedad."Theyworshippedher as the goddessof fever,until a religiousmissionary,passing through,tortured he woman into

11English ranslationof pages 69 to 72 of Cabrera'sbook by Luz Nuncio.


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44 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religiondisavowingher divinity,"thushealing those infected with the plagueofher spell" (70).It is clear from Cabrera'saccount that the Aztec goddess of deathwas still roaming he streetsof Mexico. Without her old cult, she wouldhave been especiallyvengeful,and Cabrera s rightto takeseriouslytheharmful,even mortal,effectsof spiritual error.He describesone Indianman who, fleeing the fever that had seized the city, took the Via deGuadalupeand "almost maginedthe Temple[ofthat fatalDeity]next tothe Marianmonuments." Travelingalong the broadavenuetoward thesanctuaryof Guadalupe,"he perceiveda woman coming out to meethim, who said she was the Fever." This woman urgedhim not to gowhere he was headed (to the Guadalupanchurch),but to return o thecity, where he would be preservedfrom the illness. "But since he didnot do this, ... he died where he was going" (69).This story may reflectambivalence on the part of some Mexicansabout where to turn for protectionin this terrifying ime-toward thenewly introducedcult of the Virgin Mary,or back to deeper, moreancient cults of powerfulgoddesses. Forone caughtin the middle, andin the gripof conflicting oyalties,the struggleheightened magination na feverish and destructiveway. Only in making a final choice of oneprotectorcould the religiousimaginationbecome a source of strengthand wholeness to preserve ife.The story also helps make clear why the final choice was for amaternal and feminine image-why a divine mother was so potent aresourceagainstthe collapse of the city. "The one who kills is also theone who heals"--Cabrera said this of God, but it was the heavenlyMotherof God who finally saved the city.Spiritualaid was consideredjust as importantas medical aid in colo-nial New Spain. Mendietahad noticed in the sixteenthcentury hat theIndians' faithseemedto be strengthenedby the onslaughtof the plague."Those who realize that the plague has struckthem go on foot or arecarriedon the backs of theirneighborsor theirkinsmen to the church.Those who suspectthatthey areabout to become ill requestconfessionbefore the plaguestrikes them" (Phelan: 94). This certainlycontinuedin 1736, and Cabreramentions ordersof priests, friars,and nuns whobravelyserved the sick and dying by preparingthem for death withprayersand sacramentalaid. Certain shrines became known as sanc-tuariesagainst contagion,areas of refugewhere it was believed that noone would die. Chief among these sacred places was the shrine ofGuadalupe,to which many people traveledin pilgrimageduring thetime of the plague. "Almostno one died there,even in the worstdaysof


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Harrington:Motherof Death and Rebirth 45the plague. The contagionvanishedat the boundaryof Guadalupe,andcould not enter"(135).

The primaryorganized,public responseby the city's civil and reli-gious authorities o the plague took the form of a series of processionsand novenasbefore the sacredimagesof the city, in the months of thewinterand springof 1736-37. In Decemberof 1736, the cityfirstsolic-ited the patronageof Maryof Loreto,an Italianimage that had beenknown to preservethe city fromplaguein the past. The archbishopofMexicoCitymoved the image fromits side chapel to the main altarofthe Cathedraland announced that a nine-day novena would be heldfromthe 17thto the 25th of December. The novenaendedon an appro-priateday, Cabrerasaid, the day "when Mary, away from home, gavebirth to the Health and Salvationof the world." The imagewas elabo-ratelyadorned,candles were placed beforeit, and the whole city gath-ered with the government officials and church representativestocelebratemass andpraybefore the image. "Somanywere there that thecity outside seemed mute." The novena to Loretoended on ChristmasDay, "butnot the danger,which rose like a greatfire"(102).

Mexico then turnedto anotherimageof Mary,"herprodigiousCon-quistadora mage of Los Remedios." This tiny statue of Mary,whichsupposedlybelonged to one of Cortes' men duringthe Conquestandwas later found in a magueyplant by an Indian caciquenamed Juan,was one of the most veneratedimagesin the city. It is obvious that thecitywas quicklymoving up the scale of sacredimagesto the morepow-erful and efficacious ones. A processionwas organizedon January9,1737, and the statuteof Maryof the Remedieswas carried he eight anda half miles from its church in San BartoloNaucalpin to the cityCathe-dral. The processionreached the areaof the Cathedralat dusk, and acrowd of people followed, carryingcandles, so that "the entire districtwas a sea of light, and the Ladywho had come to conquerfromEurope... was taken throughoceans of lights and of people" (124). But theplague continued.Some suggestedthat it mightbe well to undertakea similarproces-sion from the church of Guadalupe,to carrythe miraculouspaintingfrom its shrine to the center of the city. But the Archbishopdeclaredthat Guadalupecould not be moved to the city, and, instead, the citywent out to her on January30 fora novena. Suchwas the importanceofthe church of Guadalupe hat, althoughlocated at the peripheryof thepoliticaland economic center of Mexico,it had become "thecenteroutthere,"a spiritualcenter that relativized he ordinarycenters of humanconcerns. The primaryofficials of Mexico'sreligiousand political gov-


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46 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religionerning bodies went out to Guadalupeto seek a spiritualaid that layoutside theirpowerand influence. Soon after, heybegana complicatedbureaucraticprocess to secure the elevation of Guadalupeto principalpatronessof MexicoCity.Butsuch processestaketime, and everydaymorepeople died of thefever. Otherprocessionsand novenas to all the sacred magesin the citywere being held. In Februaryherewere processionsor novenasinvok-ing Christ'sBlood,St.Joseph, the ArchangelRaphael,and St. Sebastian(138). In March he terrorseems to have increased,and the number ofprocessionsdescribedby Cabrera ndicatesa risingsense of panic. In aperiod of three months, from March to May, he lists thirty differentimages of saints for which processions or novenas were held, nearlysimultaneously.These includethe major magesof Mary, uch as Nues-tra Sefiorade la Salud, Nuestra Sefiorade la Bala, la Virgen de losDolores,NuestraSefiorade la Merced, a Virgendel Rosario,and SantaMaria la Redonda. Images of Christ, such as the famous Lord ofChalma,were also appealedto, althoughless frequently,and imagesofsaintssuch as SanDiego,SanAntonio,SanJose, St. FrancisXavier,andSan Vicente Ferrerare also mentioned (136-260). A contemporaryofCabrera's,Don FranciscoSahagfinde Arevalo,wrote in his diarythat"so manysaints and relics havearrived, hat neverhavebeen seen in thestreetsbefore"(xxxiv).

All this activityreflectsthe "trialand error"methodby which Span-ish towns had long selected a patron saint for protection. But themethod had degeneratednto a frenzyof activitydrivenby panic. TheSpaniardswere tryingtheir usual approach o local disasters,but it wasnot working. Likethe Indians,they turnedto everypossible source ofspiritualprotection. But theirambivalenceand conflicting oyalties onlyheightenedthe sense of anxietythatgrippedthe city.Finally,a qualitativelynew approachwas taken. The authoritiesofMexico City decided to move to a national level. The many localimages, like the many Indiangoddesses, representedsome partsof thepopulation. Guadaluperepresentedand protectedthem all. She spoketo Indians and Spaniardsalike. She had been given a powerfulnation-alistic significanceby Sanchez. Now that nationalisticmeaning wastaken up and embracedby the Mexicanpeople.In May,a solemn oath was takenby the municipalmagistratesandthe civil and ecclesiasticalchapters, n the name of the whole Mexicannation, that swore to serve the Lady of Guadalupeas her serfs, inexchangefor her patronageof the city. On May16, 1737, the oath waspublished. "The municipalgovernmentelects as singularPatronathe


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Harington:Motherof Death and Rebirth 47SovereignQueen of the Angels in her admirableImage that is com-monly called Guadalupe ... solemnizing it annually on December 12with a majorcult,Mass,and sermon." The letterconcluded: "And nowwe hope thatthe Divine Ire of castigationwhich we suffer n this deadlyepidemic will be suspended"(266-67).On the very day of the public announcement of the vow, Cabrerasays, "theplaguediminished," ts harshness abated. All voices declaredthe remission a fact, and attributed he good news to Guadalupe. OnMay25, "the terrorof the plague havingpassed,"the city preparedtoexpressits joy with flowers,music, dancing,fireworks,and a greatpro-cession throughthe streets from the Cathedral. Indians danced theirnative dances and made small statuesof Juan Diego, with the paintingof Guadalupeon his cape,beforewhich theypouredflowers. Copiesofthe image of Guadalupewere everywhere 491).12This was the turningpoint in the ascendenceof Guadalupeover theother sacred images of Mexico. News of her efficacyin Mexico Cityspreadto other cities, which followed the capital's example in electingGuadalupe principal patroness. The aspiration to make the imagenationalpatronesswas evident in the title of Cabrera'sbook about theepidemic,TheCoatofArmsofMexico:CelestialProtectionof thisverynobleCity,ofNewSpain,and almostall the New World,HolyMary n HerProdig-iousImageof Guadalupe fMexicoCity. Seventeenyearsafterthe plague,Guadalupe was proclaimed the "Patroness and Protectressof NewSpain"by Pope BenedictXIV. And when the Virginof Guadalupewascrowned in 1895, she was named Queen of the Americas(Leies: 99).The imageof Guadalupehad risen froman obscure localizedIndiancultto the supreme position amongthe cults of HispanicAmerica.It rose to this position because the image was ideally suited toexpress the hopes and passions of several differentethnic and socialgroupsin Mexico and to unite those groupsinto one nation. The sym-bolism of the paintinghad directreference o the Book of Revelationandrepresentedhe millennialreligiousand social aspirationsof the Spanishand creolepopulationsof New Spain. To the Indians,the samesymbol-ism of sun and moon evoked not biblicalprophecies,but the Azteccyc-lical cosmogonywith its expectationof periodiccataclysmicdoom andrebirth. In the chaos anddestructionof the colonialperiod,theimageof

12VictorM. Ruiz Naufal, in a historicalstudy at the beginning of the 1981 facsimile edition ofEscudode armasde Mexico,reports hat"the fact is thatonly in Septembercould it be said that theepidemic had ended in the Valley of Mexico and it was mid-1738 before it began to end in theinternalprovinces(Cabrera:xxxvii).


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48 Journal f theAmericancademyfReligionGuadalupe/Tonantzinrepresentedto the Indians a promise that theGreatGoddesswho guardsover deathandbirth would shelterthem andguaranteea new cycle of life.To be sure, the dreadful,terrifyingaspect of the divine was takenover by the God of the Israeliteprophets,whom Cabreraevokes. Butwhen Marycommandedarmies,led bloody revolutionaryorces, with-held her favor,and thus permittedplague to rage for months despitenearly constantprayerand devotion before her images, she too had aterrifyingaspect. In that time of terror,when the populationof MexicoCitywas succumbingto feverand death as much out of despairas fromnaturalcauses, only the total submission of the Mexicanpublic to thegreat image of Maryat Tepeyaccould halt the crisis and restoreconfi-dence andjoy to the population.Maryhad taken the place of the Aztec solar gods and, to a largeextent, even the CatholicGod, Fatherand Son. In chargeof death andlife, she spokeof a new age, represented ommunitybonds, andguaran-teed salvation. Onlyherimageof Guadalupehad the powerto save,andit continued thereafter o standover the nationof Mexico as a symbolofMexicanfaith and hope, an expression of Mexican realism about theinevitabilityof death and the Mexicancertaintyof a new birth.

REFERENCESBrown,Jonathan Imagesand Ideasin Seventeenth-CenturypanishPaint-1978 ing. Princeton,N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress.

Brundage,urr "TheAztecGoddess nd the EarthMonster."unpublishedCabreray Quintero, Escudode drmas de Mixico. Mexico: Vda. de J.B.Cayetanode Hogal. Reprint. Mexico: Instituto Mexicano del1746 SeguroSocial, 1981.

Cassidy,Joseph Mexico.:Landof Mary'sWonders.Paterson,N.J.: St.1958 AnthonyGuild Press.Chauvet,Fidel de El CultoGuadalupanoel Tepeyac:Sus Ongenes susJesus Ci'ticosen el SigloXVI. Mexico: Centro de Estudios1978 Bernardinode Sahagi'n.


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Harington:Motherf DeathandRebirth 49Christian,William LocalReligion n SixteenthCenturySpain. Princeton,1981 N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress.

Cuevas, Mariano,S.J. AlbumHistoricoGuadalupanoel IV Centenario.Mexi-1930 co: EscuelaTipograficaSelesiana.de la Maza, El GuadalupanismoMexicano. Mexico: Porriia yFrancisco Obreg6n.1953

Diaz del Castillo, TheDiscoverynd Conquest f Mexico,1517-1521. Ed.Bernal by Genaro Garcia. Trans. by A.P. Maudslay. New1956 York: Farrar,Strausand Giroux.Florencia,Francisco Las Novenas del Santuariode Nuestra Seffora dede, S.J. Guadalupee Mexico. Mexico: Talleresde la Editorial1945 [1785] Cultural.

Geertz,Clifford "Religionas a CulturalSystem." In TheInterpretation1973 of Cultures. New York: BasicBooks.Gibson, Charles TheAztecsUnderSpanishRule. A History f theIndians1964 of the Valleyof Mexico,1519-1810. Stanford,Calif.:StanfordUniversityPress.

Gruening,Ernest Mexicoand ItsHeritage.New York: GreenwoodPress.1968Hanke, Lewis Aristotle nd theAmerican ndians:A Study n RacePrej-1959 udice n theModemWorld.London: Hollis & Carter.

Hellbom, Anna-Britta La Participacidne las Mujeres ndiasy Mestizasen el1967 Mixico precortesiano postrevolucionario. tockholm:EthnographicalMuseum.Hultkrantz,Ake TheReligions ftheAmerican ndians.Trans.by Monica1979 Setterwall. Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress.Jameson,Anna Legends f theMadonna s Representedn theFineArts.1885 Boston: Houghton,Mifflin,and Co.Kinsley,Davis TheSwordand the Flute. Berkeley: Universityof Cali-1975 forniaPress.


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50 Journal f theAmericancademyf ReligionLafaye,Jacques Quetzalcdatlnd Guadalupe:The Formationof Mexican1976 NationalConsciousness,531-1813. Trans.by BenjaminKeen. Chicago: Universityof ChicagoPress.

Leies, HerbertF. Motherfor NewWorld:OurLadyofGuadalupe.West-1964 minster,Md.: The Newman Press.McGinn,Bernard Visionsof the End: Apocalyptic raditionsn the Middle1979 Ages. New York: ColumbiaUniversityPress.

Neumann, Eric TheGreatMother AnAnalysisof theArchetype.Trans.1963 by RalphManheim. Princeton,N.J.: Princeton Uni-versityPress.Nicholson, HenryB. "Religion n Pre-HispanicCentralMexico." In Hand-1976 bookofMiddleAmericanndians.Guide o Ethnohistori-calSources, ditedby RobertWauchope,vol. 10. Aus-tin: Universityof Texas Press.

O'Gorman,Edmundo TheInventionofAmerica.Bloomington:IndianaUni-1961 versityPress.Padden,R.C. TheHummingbirdnd the Hawk. Conquest nd Sover-1967 eignty n the Valleyof Mexico,1503-1541. Ohio StateUniversityPress.

Phelan,John Leddy TheMillennialKingdomof the Franciscansn the New1970 World.2nd edition. Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress.Priestley,Herbert TheMexicanNation,A History.New York.1923

Sahagi'n,Bernardino FlorentineCodex: GeneralHistoryof the Thingsof Newde Spain. Book I: TheGods. Trans.by ArthurJ.O. An-1950 derson and CharlesE. Dibble. SantaFe, N.M.: TheSchool of AmericanResearchand the UniversityofUtah.Watson, Simone TheCultof OurLadyof Guadalupe.A Historical tudy.1964 Collegeville,Minn.: LiturgicalPress.

Weismann, Elizabeth Mexico in Sculpture,1521-1821. Westport, Conn.:Wilder Greenwood Press.1950

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Virgin of Guadalupe Harrington

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