Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/423

Rh accomplished, and perhaps a greater number baptized, than during any other period of equal length.

In 1531 an event occurred which greatly contributed to the suppression of idolatry, which was the miraculous appearance of the virgin of Guadalupe, the history of which apparition is as follows:

An Indian of low birth who had received baptism a few years before, and had been christened Juan Diego, was proceeding, on Saturday, the 9th of December, to Tlatelulco to hear mass and receive instruction. On his way thither he was obliged to pass an eminence about a league from the city. It was a rugged, sterile hill, seamed with fissures and pierced with cavities, and on it grew no vegetation except the cactus and stunted shrubs.

While crossing the slope of this barren mount, harmonious strains of sweetest music enrapt his attention, and turning his eyes upward in the direction whence the melody came, with increased wonder he beheld an arc of glorious coloring. In its centre shone a brilliant light, such as that shed from a heavenly throne. The rocks around were resplendent with prismatic hues and seemed to him masses of opal, sapphire, and burnished gold. Gradually he drew nearer, and in the radiance beheld a lady of beautiful countenance and form, who in a gentle and assuring voice bade him ascend to where she stood. When he reached the spot the lady told him that she was the virgin Mary, and it was her wish that, on the place where she was standing, a church should be built.