The Virgin of Guadalooo .... Who?

Yesterday after I read Canuck's blog about the Virgin of Guadalupe, I sat at my laptop confused.

Thankfully Becky came home and I was able to discuss it with her. Because if she didn't, I'd still be sitting here confused thinking to myself, "These folks are confused about all this Virgin stuff!".

Lets back up though because I was just reminded of something funny that happened while I was sitting there in my confusion.

Ring Ring.

My phone rings. I check the call display. It's Becky. So I say, "What up?".

She says, "Moco is on the railing of the patio!".

I say, "Oh shit. BYE!".

And I run out and get Moco who's chilling out on the railing of the patio. WTF? How did she ESCAPE? This cat is unbelievable! Houdini is right. Jeesh.

So anyways. Lets get back to the Virgin because lets face it, we like virgins. A lot.

So I started to get all up in arms as to why they (the folk here there in Mexico) decided to call the Virgin Mary the "Virgin of Guadalupe". To me, the Virgin Mary is the Virgin Mary and thats that. She's not some other virgin that they are calling Guadalupe. And the virgin they are calling Guadalupe says to the man on the hill top, "I am the mother of Jesus (most likely pronounced 'hey-zues')!". So if this virgin says, "I am the mother of Jesus", then she MUST be the Virgin Mary right? So what's up with the "Guadalupe" of it all?

So this lead to further investigations. Because frankly I don't understand, and now I've made becky confused too. So she gets online and starts asking her boyfriend questions about it. And then she's on Wikipedia looking for information as well.

Well lo and behold we have our answer.

Any apparations of the Virgin Mary are apparitions of original Virgin Mary. However, the apparitions themselves have names. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the name of the apparition of the Virgin Mary that happened on December 12th, 1523 on a hill in Tepeyac. Just as the apparitions of Mary all over the world have names. Here are 3 of them (there are many many many more):



Our Lady of Fatima - Our Lady of Fatima is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by those who believe that she appeared to three shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May, the Fatima holiday.

Our Lady of Zeitoun - According to purported witnesses, the Virgin Mary appeared in different forms over the Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Demiana at Zeitoun for a period of 2–3 years beginning on April 2, 1968. The apparitions lasted from a few minutes up to several hours and were sometimes accompanied by dove-shaped luminous bodies. They were seen by millions of Egyptians and foreigners, including Copts, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews and people of no particular faith. The sick and blind are said to have been cured, and many people converted to Christianity as a result.

Our Lady of Lourdes - The apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes began on 11 February 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year old peasant girl from Lourdes admitted, when questioned by her mother, that she had seen a "lady" in the cave of Massabielle, about a mile from the town, while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar appearances of the "lady" took place on seventeen further occasions that year.


(Thanks to Wikipedia for all that awesome info!)

And "Our Lady of" or the "Virgin Of" goes on and on and on.


But even then. I will not stop. Because why change the name of the Virgin Mary at all? Like why not say, "The Virgin Mary on the Mountain Blue", or wherever she is. "The Virgin Mary of Cancun Waters". Wouldn't that make more sensey?


Well regardless, I learned something new. Any apparitions of the Virgin Mary have names too. And a lot of the apparitions appear as a Virgin that will most likely be accepted by those who view her. For example, if you had green skin, the virgin would probably appear to you with green skin too. You know, so you don't freak out.


JJ's kits "Lava" and "Seca" probably see the virgin in kit kit form.


Ok well, this post is totally going south but you get the idea now. I totally thought the Virgin of Guadalupe was a real woman who was a saint who never had sex. Now I'm a total expert on the situation. And SO ARE YOU!


Yay!