For those who haven’t seen the tilma, this link should give you a decent look.
http://gracefulrosaries.blogspot.com/2010/12/happy-feast-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe.html
Chose this link simply for the larger image.
Some overview from one of the websites about this:
Overview of Our Lady of Guadalupe
In 1487 in a single four days long ceremony for the dedication of a new an Aztec temple in Tenochtitlan, some 80,000 captives were killed in human sacrifice. The same practice included the cannibalism of the victims’ limbs.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the Americas and named it San Salvador.
In 1521 the Spanish Conquest of Tenochtitlan. Two-hundred and forty thousand Aztecs are estimated to have died during the siege, which lasted eighty days
In 1531 a “Lady from Heaven” appeared to a humble Native American at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City.
The Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, an Indian of ordinary standing, and addressed him in his native Indian Language.
“Know and understand well, you the most humble of my son, that I am the ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth.”
Mary directed Juan Diego to visit the archbishop of Mexico and to inform him of her desire to have a church built in her honor on Tepeyac.
Mary miraculously provided her messenger colorful roses in the winter, in a spot where normally only desert plants would grow.
Juan Diego gathered the roses into his tilma, and was told by the Virgin Mother to present the roses and tilma to the Franciscan Bishop-elect, Juan Zumarraga.
When St. Juan Diego unfolded his tilma before the Bishop, the roses cascaded to the floor and the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously impressed to the cloth.
The Image of Our Lady that appeared on the tilma, which can still be seen in Mexico City today, is truly miraculous and has been the wonder of scientists for hundreds of years. All, after exhaustive investigation with sophisticated analytic detectors, have concluded that the work is beyond the power of men to produce.
This is a photograph of an actual artifact of Our Lady of Guadalupe. You can go and see it with your own eyes.
It is on a tilma made of cactus that last less than 10 years, yet you are looking at an image that is 477 years old.
In 1541 Franciscan priest writes that some nine million Aztecs Indians had become Christians.
An almost universal symbol of the Aztec religion was the serpent. The temples were richly decorated with snakes. Certainly, in this case She crushed the serpent.
An incredible list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Between 18 - 20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica each year, making it Christianity’s most visited sanctuary.
Altogether 25 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Today approximately 70% of all Hispanics are Catholic
We had a presentation on Our Lady of Guadalupe at Mass last Sunday, with several Spanish-speaking youngsters (and my Bill, conscripted under the threat of having his Spanish credit revoked :-) read a play about the apparation.
As recorded by the original chronicler, the dialogue is a charming combination of familiarity and awe. The Blessed Mother calls Juan Diego and his uncle, Juan Bernardino, “Dearest Johnny,” and “little son,” although they’re men of mature years, and they address her as “most darling little girl” and “sweetest little mother.”