Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe, officially called Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe (in English: Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe) is a basilica of the Catholic Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary in her invocation of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located at the foot of the Hill of Tepeyac in the Gustavo A. Madero borough of Mexico City. It belongs to the Primate Archdiocese of Mexico through the Guadalupana Vicariate, which since November 4, 2018, is in the care of Monsignor Efraín Hernández Díaz, who has the title of general and episcopal vicar of Guadalupe and abbot of the basilica. Every year some twenty million pilgrims visit the sanctuary, of which about nine million do so in the days around December 12, the day on which Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated. Annually, the Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe has at least twice as many visitors as the best-known Marian shrines.

The sanctuary at Tepeyac developed around the veneration of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the cloth image traditionally associated with Juan Diego's tilma and now enshrined in the basilica. In Catholic tradition, the image was miraculously imprinted on the tilma in 1531. Modern historians and art historians describe the extant object as a colonial-era painted cloth image produced in post-Conquest New Spain, with a documentary history that becomes clearer in the 16th century. The earliest surviving written witness to the apparition narrative is the 16th-century Nahuatl manuscript Nican Mopohua, while the first published account appeared in Miguel Sánchez's 1648 Imagen de la Virgen María. The church now known as the Old Basilica of Guadalupe was built by the architect Pedro de Arrieta, its construction beginning in March 1695. On 1 May 1709, it opened with a solemn novena, and the image was transferred there at the dedication of the new sanctuary. In 1749 it received the title of collegiate church, meaning that, although it was not a cathedral, it had its own chapter and an abbot. Its freestanding portal, four octagonal corner towers, fifteen vaults, and octagonal dome with yellow-and-blue Talavera tile are among its most distinctive architectural features. At the beginning of the 19th century, the construction of the nearby Capuchin convent contributed to serious damage to the church's walls and vaults, making repairs necessary and leading to a Neoclassical redecoration of the sanctuary in place of the earlier Baroque interior. Work began around 1804 and, with interruptions during the War of Independence, continued until 1836. The design was prepared by Agustín Paz and executed by the Neoclassicist architect Manuel Tolsá. In 1904 the collegiate church was elevated to the rank of basilica. On 14 November 1921, a bomb concealed in a flower arrangement exploded at the main altar. The blast damaged the steps of the altar and stained-glass windows, but the image itself was not destroyed. A bent metal crucifix associated with the explosion was preserved in the basilica, and repairs to the altar resulted in the image being placed about one meter higher. During the Cristero War, after the suspension of public worship in 1926, the original image was secretly removed for safekeeping and replaced at the basilica by a copy painted by Rafael Aguirre. It was reinstalled in June 1929, shortly before public worship resumed. Continuing subsidence in the old structure and the growing number of pilgrims led to the construction of the present basilica between 1974 and 1976. The image was transferred to the new basilica on 12 October 1976.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).