Indigenous Mexican layman to whom Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531.
Life
Saint Juan Diego was an indigenous Mexican whose native name is said to have been Cuauhtlatoatzin. He embraced Christianity through Spanish missionaries and was baptized with the name Juan Diego.
According to tradition, in December 1531 he met the Virgin Mary, who appeared as a young indigenous woman on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. She asked that a church be built there, and when the bishop asked for a sign, Juan Diego, following her word, gathered flowers on the wintry hill and carried them in his cloak. When he opened the cloak before the bishop, it is said, her image was imprinted on it: this is Our Lady of Guadalupe.
He spent the rest of his life praying beside that church and died around 1548. Pope Saint John Paul II canonized him in 2002, and the Church remembers him on December 9.
Spirituality
Juan Diego's spirituality is the trust of a small and humble person. He considered himself of no account, yet Mary chose precisely him as her messenger. God accomplishes great things through those the world considers small.
Reflection
Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to have comforted Juan Diego by reminding him that she, his mother, was there. Today, would you set down your worries and lean on Mary like a little child?