The Moors, Christopher Columbus and Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Spain

The Spanish version of Our Lady of Guadalupe.   Here's another take on this amazing story and why I think the CC is so rich: The origin of the name "Guadalupe" is something of a mystery. It has been suggested that the name is actually a corruption of the translation from Nahuatl to Spanish of the words used by the Virgin to announce herself: the Nahuatl word of "coatlaxopeuh" which is pronounced "quatlasupe" sounds remarkably like the Spanish word Guadalupe. "Coatlaxopeuh" has been translated as "the one who crushes the serpent". In this interpretation, the serpent is Quetzalcoatl, one of the chief Aztec gods, whom she crushed by inspiring the conversion of the natives to Catholicism.

Other scholars have suggested that Juan Diego’s Nahuatl name for Guadalupe was Tlecuauhtlacupeu, “the one who appeared on a rocky summit,” a word that is also homophonous to Guadalupe. Still others say the name was Tecuauhtlacuepeuh, “She who comes flying from the region of light like an eagle on fire.”

A quite different theory is that the name was taken from one of Europe's famous Dark Madonna’s, also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose shrine is found in Extremadura, Spain. This statue of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus, said to have been carved by St. Luke, was a gift from Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) to the bishop of Seville.
As the Muslims swept through Spain in the 8th century, the statue was buried for safe keeping in the earth somewhere in the province of Extremadura. Those who had secured the precious relic however died during the conquest and the statue was lost and forgotten for centuries.

After the overthrow of Moorish occupation, the image was uncovered in an underground cave in the year 1326, subsequent to a vision of Our Lady to a humble shepherd by the name of Gil. The statue was then enshrined in a nearby Franciscan friary next to a river, which the Muslim occupants had named wadi al-lubb (which means “River of the Wolf”). In Spanish this word was pronounced “Guadalupe” and the statue became known as "Our Lady of Guadalupe."
The popularity of the shrine was at its height during the time of the Spanish Conquistadors and the royalty of Spain including Queen Isabella and Columbus, regularly came to the shrine to give thanks to the Virgin for their victory over the Moslems. Cortes, who was born near the shrine, also made frequent visits to the site, and carried a replica of the statue as his protectress on his voyage to the New World. http://www.livingmiracles.net/Guadalupe.html
      Many in the Church believe that this was the fruits promised to Christofer Columbus, a third order Franciscan(lay order)  who was devoted to Our Lord's Mother and visited the Guadalupe Shrine in Spain prior to his historical adventure.  Interesting Shrine in Spain was built after a farmer dug up a statue of the Virgin Mary hidden from the Muslim invaders of Spain centuries before.  Columbus'  flag ship was named in her honor "Santa Maria"    Was this historical Story of Columbus a "A Guadalupe prophecy?"

Names of the ships, Santa Maria, Pinta, Nina  literally translate to "St Mary paints a small woman"-?

  Thanks for reading and Dominus Vobiscum,

 

Francisco Javier Yubero, M.D.

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