This week in Christian history: Saint confirmed as real, anti-prostitution charity founded, Reformation begins

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 25, 2020

St. Juan Diego's historical existence confirmed – Oct. 28, 1998

Juan Diego (1474-1548), an indigenous Mexican who claimed to have seen an appearance of the Virgin Mary at Guadalupe. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when the Roman Catholic Church confirmed that St. Juan Diego, the man at the center of the Our Lady of Guadalupe miracle, was indeed an actual historic figure.

In 1531, two years after the death of his wife, Diego claimed to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary at Tepeyac Hill, which became known as “Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

However, in 1996, an abbot named Father William Schulenburg said that Diego was a mythical figure rather than a historic person.

In response, the Church organized a commission to investigate the matter, with research eventually presented before the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

“Among research documents submitted at that time were 27 Guadalupe Indian documents,” wrote Jim Cosgrove of the National Catholic Register in 2002.

“One called the ‘Escalada,’ co-authored by Valeriano and Franciscan Friar Bernardino de Sahagun, contained a death certificate of Juan Diego.”