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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | November 2007 
Mexico City's Basilica of Guadalupe is Second Only to the Vatican for Pilgrimages
 Laurence Iliff - The Dallas Morning News
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| | Dancers entertain outside the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City during festivities leading up to the Dec. 12 feast day for the virgin. (Susana González/Dallas Morning News) |
Mexico City – Swirling toward the sky at the foot of a hillside just north of downtown is the Latin American Mecca, the sprawling Basilica of Guadalupe compound, home to both the modern basilica from the 1970s and its three-centuries-old predecessor.
Many U.S. churches have adopted the Guadalupe name, including one in Dallas, because Latin American immigrants are overwhelmingly guadalupaños who believe in the Virgin Mary's miraculous appearance before a humble Indian man, Juan Diego, in 1531.
As proof of the miracle for a doubting bishop at the time, the virgin gave roses to Juan Diego, who held them in his tunic. When he opened it before the bishop, the flowers had transformed into the image of the dark-skinned virgin seen on posters, T-shirts and tattoos in Mexico, Latin America and, increasingly, in the U.S.
A church in the virgin's honor was ordered to be built, but it took almost 200 years. That tunic is on display at the Basilica of Guadalupe (formal name: Basilica de Santa María de Guadalupe), which is far more than an unusually shaped church for believers and nonbelievers alike.
It's one of the world's key religious sites and a wonderful and sometimes exotic place to visit.
Preparations are under way for the feast day of the virgin on Dec. 12, and millions will visit from near and far during a week in which groups with diverse interests and ties will carry out annual pilgrimages to honor a figure of hope and healing.
Although December is a time of great activity and huge crowds, pilgrimages and Catholic Mass are conducted daily.
Recently, armored-car personnel and taxi drivers draped wreaths and images of the virgin on their vehicles, which were parked near the basilica. Both professions are dangerous in Mexico City.
Outside the religious shrine is the "Guadalupe village," full of vendors selling Catholic icons, traditional food, handicrafts, chips, water, backpacks and just about anything else one could imagine in a Mexican market.
U.S. fast-food franchises are nearby.
The mixture of secular and Christian is very Mexican, although no vendors are allowed in the religious compound.
A sign in English warns American and Canadian tourists to dress appropriately when entering the church. "No shorts," it says. Tank tops are taboo; tennis shoes and jeans are acceptable if they are in good condition.
Another sign, in Spanish, bars balloons inside the church. Outside, however, children run around playing with them in the main plaza, adding a festive air.
During Mass in the basilica, the mood changes dramatically.
Reverence, thought and reflection are the order of the day as pilgrims line up for confession, to have religious or other objects blessed by a priest or to pin a milagro on the tunic of the figure of a saint.
The milagros, or miracles, are tiny representations, usually in metal, of what ails a person. They could be of a foot or an arm or a heart. They're all sold in the market outside the basilica.
Milagros are used to ask a favor of the virgin, and if the favor is granted, it often is repaid by a pilgrimage to the basilica, sometimes from far away, on foot, or on a bicycle or, when approaching the compound's entrance, on one's knees.
The new basilica is worth the journey just to see its round, dramatic shape designed by Mexican architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez. He also designed the Aztec soccer stadium that holds up to 100,000 people. The unusual church is somewhat more modest in its capacity, seating just 10,000, although it can handle standing-room-only crowds of up to 50,000.
"The architecture's form responds to its principle function: that of welcoming the thousands and thousands of pilgrims who come from every part of the world," reads a description of the church on the basilica's Web page. The roundness also represents "the idea of the universality of God," according to the site.
Functionality, however, is second to the sheer otherworldliness of the building.
The modern basilica, completed in 1976, is retro cool, like a huge flying saucer about to lift off into space with all aboard. It's also a welcome relief from the traditional, square Catholic churches that pepper the Mexican landscape.
And the extra capacity is not just wishful thinking on the part of church officials. The Basilica of Guadalupe is the second-most-visited Roman Catholic site in the world, after the Vatican, on the most Catholic continent on the globe.
Mexico has the world's second-largest Catholic population. Only Brazil's is larger.
During the coming holidays, the basilica will fill to capacity during Mass and spill onto the main plaza where external speakers echo off of several religious buildings in the compound.
One need not be Catholic or religious to feel the special energy of young people appealing to the virgin for admittance to college or the elderly seeking a health miracle.
And judging by the number of believers arriving on their knees to pay back favors, it seems to work for many.
But the modern basilica, although it's the center of activity, is only one of the compound's buildings and structures, each with its own history and charm.
The original basilica in honor of Guadalupe was built near where her miraculous appearance is said to have occurred, on the Tepayac hillside, where a similar Indian goddess, Tonantzin, was revered.
The replacement of Indian religious figures with Catholic ones sped the conversion of the local population after the arrival of the Spanish, religious scholars say.
The Ancient Basilica of Holy Mary of Guadalupe is next to the current basilica. It was finished in 1709 and is being restored, but it remains open.
Mexico City was built on lake beds. The basilica was sinking into the soft soil when church officials decided to erect a new building with pylons to prevent subsidence.
The basilica museum, behind the older church, houses 1,500 pieces of religious art, including paintings, sculptures and textiles. It also displays retablos, small paintings done by the faithful depicting a personal, often healing, experience at the hands of the virgin.
A hike up the hill (bring water) is the hillside chapel, the more precise site where Mary is said to have given Juan Diego the flowers to convince Bishop Zumárraga, who didn't believe the virgin had appeared before the Indian.
The former convent of the Capuchinas, the female version of the Franciscans, is next to the original basilica and also suffered damage as one side sank more than the other. It was closed in the 1970s and leveled out, reopening in 1996.
Other structures at the compound:
• The Indian parish is the oldest building on the site, dating to 1649.
• The Small Spring Chapel was built over a spring where believers mistakenly believed the virgin appeared; they began bathing their wounds there, much to the chagrin of the church. The baroque chapel's construction ended the practice.
• On the opposite side of the compound from the modern basilica is the bell tower, also designed by architect Vázquez. It has clocks that measure the time in different ways and a scene of Juan Diego and Bishop Zumárraga.
• La Ofrenda (The Offering) is a series of 17 sculptures of Guadalupe and Indian converts that represents the quick conversion of natives to Catholicism.
• The "sail ship" of Marino is a monument to a miracle in which a ship from Spain was sinking off Mexico's Veracruz coast. Sailors prayed to the virgin of Guadalupe, and their lives were saved.
WHEN YOU GO
LOCATION, CONTACT
• The Basilica of Guadalupe is at the northern tip of Mexico City, about 10 miles from downtown. It's just east of the main north-south thoroughfare, Insurgentes, in a working-class neighborhood, La Villa de Guadalupe. Check with your hotel for guided tours with transportation. Leave the basilica well before dark.
• The official Web site (www.basilicadeguadalupe.org.mx) is in Spanish only. Or, call 011-52-5577-6022 and ask for an English speaker if you need one. A resource in English is www.sancta.org/basilica.html.
TRANSPORTATION
• The only safe taxis are those associated with a hotel or with a formal taxi stand. The stand at the Sheraton hotel next to the U.S. Embassy in front of the Angel of Independence charges about $15 to go to the basilica. Ask for a cellphone number that you can call for a ride back, or arrange a time and a place for a return pickup. One option is to meet at the McDonald's a half-block from the basilica. If you don't have a cellphone, buy a prepaid phone card. From fixed phones, cell calls require 044 before the number. Note: La Villa is not a safe place to hail a street taxi. Public transportation back to downtown is safe.
• The subway (Metro) is a great way to get around, but only if you avoid the commuter crush (7 to 10 a.m., 7 to 9 p.m. during the week). Put all your belongings in a backpack and wear the backpack backward on your chest. The basilica is a few blocks from the Metro station Deportivo 18 de Marzo, on the green line going toward the terminal station Indios Verdes from downtown. Exit on the east side of Insurgentes and go up the left side of the staircase. There are small "Basilica" signs to guide you. At the stoplight is Ricarte Street, which takes you directly to the church. The Metro station Basilica/La Villa is within a half-block of the church, but you have to change subway lines.
• The Metrobus line is convenient because it runs through the downtown hotel zone, the Zona Rosa and between the hip Condesa-Roma neighborhoods along Insurgentes Avenue. Like the subway, it also stops at Deportivo 18 de Marzo. Bring change to buy the required Metrobus card.
liliff@dallasnews.com |
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