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332 Tomantzin was introduced in her new character to her old friends with an ingenuity admirable if not commendable. One December night in 1531 a converted Indian—Juan Diego by name—was praying alone on the hill of Guadaloupe, about two miles from the city gate, where the people had always worshiped Tomantzin. As he knelt under the starlit sky the Virgin Mary appeared to him robed in white, a great light shining about her. Yet, wonder of wonders! she was no longer white, but appeared as an Indian woman and spoke of his people as her own people and in their mother-tongue.

"Go," she said, "to the bishop of Mexico and tell him it is my wish that a church should be built for me on this spot."

When Diego recovered from his surprise, he hastened to the bishop's palace with his strange news. It was received with suitable incredulity and passed by. But Diego went back to the spot hallowed by the beautiful vision, and, to his great joy, the Virgin appeared again, repeating her commands to the bishop, and adding that the Church would never prosper in Mexico until her message was obeyed. To give weight to her words, a fountain burst forth from the spot where she stood. Again Juan Diego went to the bishop, who still doubted. He wanted some sign to prove that the story was true. When the Indian again visited the hill, he saw the Virgin near the spring, but this time she bade him take to the faithless bishop a quantity of full-blown roses as a proof of her creative power. The barren rock now burst forth in bloom, though it was the Mexican winter, when roses did not nourish in those cold uplands. With the miraculous roses in his blanket the Indian hastened back to the bishop, when, lo! as he opened his treasure,