Deepertruth: The Virgin Mary at Ocotlán Mexico in 1541

Just ten short years after our Lady appeared to Juan Diego on Tepayac Hill she came to another Indian - Juan Diego Bernardino (no relation to Juan Diego) in Tlaxcala.  The Indians of Tlaxcala had been a fierce tribe.  They had never been defeated.  And yet, these same Indians were the first to befriend Cortes and the first to accept Our Lord Jesus and His Church in the New World.  They were the first Christians!

In the beginning of 1641, a devastating plague (believed to be Small Pox) attacked the Indians of Tlaxcala.  Nine out of every ten died.  There was not a family left untouched by this disease that spread like a fire out of control.  The Indians turned to their medicine men.  They were helpless!  They had never seen anything like it.  The Indians plunged their fever-ravaged bodies into a river they believed contained curative properties. 

On June 24, 1641, we find Juan Diego Bernardino, jug in hand, journeying to the river to retrieve some water to bring back to his family who had also been struck down.  Having filled his jug with his last hope (he thought), he set out across the hills to his family.  As he made his way through the ocote (pine) trees in the forest, he found himself suddenly blocked by the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  She looked like a queen!  What would someone of her importance be doing here before him, a humble peasant.  She gently addressed him with these words: "May God save you."  And then she asked him:  "Where are you going?"