7 notable Latin American Christians: saints, a pope, an evangelist
Juan Diego
Born nearly 20 years before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the western hemisphere with the name Cuauhtlatoatzin, Juan Diego and his wife were among the first converts to Christianity in Mexico.
In 1531, two years after his wife died, Diego claimed to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary at Tepeyac Hill, which quickly became widely known as “Our Lady of Guadalupe.”
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“News of Our Lady's apparition spread quickly; and in the seven years that followed, 1532 through 1538, the Indian people accepted the Spaniards and 8 million people were converted to the Catholic faith,” wrote Jim Cosgrove of the National Catholic Register in 2002.
Pope John Paul II beatified Diego at a mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. In July 2002, Diego was officially canonized as a saint.
