Our Lady of Guadalupe
Tepeyac, New Spain. Juan Diego, the tilma, and the roses of Castile. Fifteen thirty-one.
Nineteen episodes on a December morning in fifteen thirty-one, on a rocky hill outside the ruins of Tenochtitlán. An indigenous farmer hears a young woman call him by name in Nahuatl. Four days later, an image that has lasted nearly five hundred years appears on a cloth of maguey fibre.
19 episodes · Narrated in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and German
Episode 1 is free
Episodes
- 01
The End Of A World
Valley of Mexico, fourteen seventy-four. A city built on an island in a lake. A boy is born in a tributary village to the north.
- 02
The Men Of Iron
Gulf of Mexico coast, first half of fifteen nineteen. Eleven ships come down from the northern seas. Five hundred men armed with steel.
- 03
The Night Of Sorrows
Tenochtitlan, first half of fifteen twenty. The empire does not yet know it is dead. In three months, the city will fall.
- 04
The Twelve Friars
Coast of Veracruz, fifteen twenty-four. Twelve barefoot men step off the ship. They are going to a city that is still smoking.
- 05
Cuauhtlatoatzin
Cuauhtitlan and Tolpetlac, fifteen twenty-five to fifteen thirty-one. A grown man receives a new name. Five years later, he loses everything.
- 06
The Song Of The Birds
Tepeyac, Saturday the ninth of December, fifteen thirty-one. Before dawn. A widowed man of fifty-seven climbs the hill.
- 07
Bishop Zumarraga
Mexico City, late afternoon of Saturday the ninth of December, fifteen thirty-one. In a house in the colonial center, a Basque Franciscan sits back down at his table.
- 08
The Second Climb
Mexico City and Tepeyac, Sunday the tenth of December, fifteen thirty-one. The Indian returns. The bishop listens. He asks for a sign.
- 09
The Sick Uncle
Tolpetlac, Monday the eleventh of December, fifteen thirty-one. On a straw bed, an old man begins to cough. The nephew stays.
- 10
The Roses Of Castile
The path of Tepeyac, Tuesday the twelfth of December, fifteen thirty-one. Before sunrise. Castilian roses in full Mexican winter.
- 11
The Image
Mexico City, Tuesday the twelfth of December, fifteen thirty-one. End of the morning. The flowers fall. Something appears on the cloth.
- 12
The Aztec Lady
The image on the tilma. Nearly five hundred years of reading. What it shows to whoever comes near.
- 13
Five Million Baptized
Tepeyac and the valley of Mexico, fifteen thirty-one to fifteen thirty-eight. The largest conversion in Christian history. The chapel fills.
- 14
The Flood Of Sixteen TWENTY-NINE
Mexico City, the twentieth of September, sixteen twenty-nine. The water rises. The image goes down by boat through the drowned city.
- 15
The Banner Of Hidalgo
Atotonilco and Dolores, Mexican Bajio, the sixteenth of September, eighteen ten. Dawn. A priest tears a standard from a wall.
- 16
The Bomb Of Nineteen TWENTY-ONE
Old Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City, the fourteenth of November, nineteen twenty-one. Tuesday morning. A man enters with a bouquet of flowers.
- 17
The Eyes
Mexico City, nineteen twenty-nine to today. People looking at the image with lenses. Each one sees something different.
- 18
The Disagreement
Tepeyac and colonial archives, fifteen seventy-six to today. The same hill, different voices. Five centuries of asking.
- 19
Ten Million A Year
Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City, today. A moving walkway. The image above. Twelve million people a year.
Read more on the Journal
Saint Juan Diego — The First Indigenous Saint of the Americas
The humble Indigenous convert who carried roses in his cloak — and on whose tilma Our Lady of Guadalupe left her image in 1531.
The Tilma of Juan Diego: Science, Faith, and the Image of Guadalupe
The tilma of Juan Diego at Tepeyac in 1531 — the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, scientific tests on the fabric, the eyes, and what remains unexplained.
