OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
HISTORY OF THE APPARITIONS
Ten years after the seizure of the city of Mexico, war came to an end and there was peace amongst the people; in this manner faith started to bud, the understanding of the true God, for whom we live. At that time, in the year fifteen hundred and thirty one, in the early days of the month of December, it happened that there lived a poor Indian, named Juan Diego, said being a native of Cuautitlan. Of all things spiritually he belonged to Tlatelolco.
On a Saturday just before down, he was on his way to pursue divine worship and to engage in his own errands. As he reached the base of the hill known as Tepeyacac, came the break of day, and he heard singing atop the hill, resembling singing of varied beautiful birds.
Occasionally the voices of the songsters would cease, and it appeared as if the mount responded. The song, very mellow and delightful, excelled that of the coyoltototl and the tzinizcan and of other pretty singing birds. Juan Diego stopped to look and said to himself: "By fortune, am I worthy of what I hear? Maybe I dream? Am I awakening? Where am I? Perhaps I am now in the terrestrial paradise which our elders had told us about?
7/2001, Seite 4INFORMATIONEN AUSKIRCHE UNDWELTEin Bischof für Fulda: Heinz-Josef AlgermissenDer bisherige Weihbischof von Paderborn ist in den Kommissionen für �Liturgie" und �Ehe undFamilie" im Rahmen der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz tätig. (ZDF-Meldung vom 17.6.2001)Tätig im Apostolat der Kirche3.862.269 Menschen widmen sich dem Apostolat: 4.482 Bischöfe, 405.009 Priester (davon 265.012 Weltpriester),26.629 ständige Diakone, 55.428 Ordensbrüder, 809.351 Ordensschwestern, 31.049 Mitglieder vonSäkularinstituten, 80.662 Laienmissionare, 2.449.659 Katecheten. (vgl. Fides, Nr. 4242)Wenn jeder Katholik seinen Auftrag ernst nimmt, gibt es über eine Milliarde Menschen, die Zeugnis von JesusChristus geben, die Welt auf ihn hinordnen, für die Rettung aller Menschen mit Gebet und Opfer vor Gotteintreten.Eine Computerstudie über die Augen der Gottesmutter von GuadalupeNach zwanzig Jahren Forschungsarbeit ist es José Aste Tonsmann mittels modernster Digitaltechnik gelungen, inden beiden Augen der Jungfrau von Guadalupe eine Reihe menschlicher Gestalten nachzuweisen. Es sieht so aus,als handle es sich gleichsam um ein �Foto", eine �Momentaufnahme" von den Zeugen des Wunders, die genau imAugenblick des Erscheinens des Bildes der Madonna auf dem Umhang des Indios Juan Diego gemacht wurde.Die Personen erscheinen in unterschiedlichen Größenverhältnissen sowohl im rechten wie im linken Auge derJungfrau, geradeso wie wenn sie sich in den Augen eines menschlichen Wesens gemäß den physikalischenGesetzen abbilden würden, die von den Wissenschaftlern Purkinje und Samson erst im Jahre 1860 entdecktwurden. Auch wenn sie mikroskopisch klein sind, so weisen die Bilder doch viele Details auf. Außerdem habenviele der darauf entdeckten Persönlichkeiten historischen Bezug.Die Digitaltechnik hat es möglich gemacht, die dreizehn Bilder der in den Augen der Gottesmutter enthaltenenPersonen - sie haben nicht mehr als acht Millimeter Durchmesser - zu vergrößern und herauszufiltrieren.In der ersten Szene sind die verschiedenen Personen abgebildet, die die Madonna sah, bevor sich ihr Bild in denUmhang von Juan Diego einprägte. Die zweite Szene zeigt eine aztekische Familie mit Vater, Mutter, Großelternund drei Kindern. Drei wichtige Botschaften schickt auf diese Weise die Muttergottes: Einheit der Familie,Antirassismus, Evangelisation mit modernen Medien. (vgl. Fatimabote, 6/2001, S. 86 f)Von Gott erzählt - fristlos gekündigtMarek Lieske, Pfleger in einer psychiatrischen Klinik: �Zwei neugierige Mitpatienten aus dem Zimmer nutztendie Gelegenheit und stellten auch noch Fragen über Gott... Jedenfalls sind wir da angekommen, dass die Jungen,einer nach dem anderen, Gott darum gebeten haben, ihnen ihre Fehler und 'Ausraster' zu vergeben und bei ihrenProblemen oder Sorgen zu helfen. Mit so viel Offenheit und der spontanen Reaktion hatte ich gar nicht gerechnet.Aber so sind eben Kinder.Mit ganz anderen Folgen dieses Abends hatte ich allerdings noch weniger gerechnet: Eine Woche später hielt ichmeine fristlose Kündigung in der Hand. Der Grund: Ich würde mit meinen religiösen Ansichten den Therapie-Erfolg extrem gefährden." (Vision 2000, 3/2001)Ohne Rücksicht auf die GottesmutterIn Tutzing ließ der Pfarrer von St. Josef die Hälfte der Kollekte, die während der letzten Maiandacht stattfand,dem Verein �Donum vitae" zukommen. Pfarrer B. fördert damit die Institution, die gegen den Willen des Papstesund den Willen der Bischöfe Beratungsscheine ausstellt, die allein dazu dienen, ungeborene Kinder straffreiabzutreiben.Die Kanzlersgattin ruft nach Erziehung!Passend für Schlagzeilen in einer Zeit, in der die Bundesbürger durch Ökosteuern geschröpft werden, in der dieArbeitsplätze entgegen jeder politischen Vorankündigung nicht vermehrt werden, in der permissive Gesetze dieGesellschaft aushöhlen!Die Kanzlersgattin fordert strenge Erziehung. Erziehung um der Erziehung willen? Erziehung muss ein Ziel habenund Erziehung muss auf einer sicheren Grundlage erfolgen. Die Zeichen stehen auf Subjektivismus undEgoismus. Dafür öffnet die Gesetzgebung schon seit Jahrzehnten alle Möglichkeiten. Ehescheidung oderTrennung nach Belieben ohne Frage nach Schuld; Empfängnisverhütung mit Abtreibung nach dem Willen derBetroffenen ohne Frage nach dem Lebensrecht des Kindes; Homosexuellenehe gegen jedes Naturrecht;Prostitution als ehrenwerter Erwerb. Bezeichnend, dass die Gattin des Kanzlers keine Inhalte für ihre Art vonErziehung nennt! Vielleicht würde doch so manches, was in der Klosterschule ihr an Bildungsinhalteneingepflanzt wurde, der Politik ihres Mannes widersprechen.Exzellenz, brauchen wir das? Sex - künstlerisch verpackt und religiös verbrämt36 Bilder der Ausstellung �I.N.R.I." sind erstmals in einer katholischen Kirche zu sehen. Was in Frankreich alsBlasphemie gescholten wurde, wird in der Jugendkirche Tabgha, Oberhausen, präsentiert. �Die radikale
Nican Mopohua
THE FABRIC
The image, imprinted on the tilma of a 16th-century peasant, led millions of indigenous Indians in Mexico to convert to the Catholic faith.
The image has not been painted by human hand. As early as the 18th century, scientists showed that it was impossible to paint such an image in a fabric of that texture. The "ayate" fibers used by the Indians, in fact,
deteriorated after 20 years. Yet, the image and the fabric it is imprinted on have lasted almost 470 years ago.
THE IMAGE
Richard Kuhn, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, has found that the image did not have natural, animal or mineral colorings. Given that there were no synthetic colorings in 1531, the image is inexplicable.
In 1979, Americans Philip Callahan and Jody B. Smith studied the image with infrared rays and discovered to their surprise that there was no trace of paint and that the fabric had not been treated with any kind of technique.
So, how it is possible to explain this image and its consistency in time without colors, on a fabric that has not been treated?
How is it possible that, despite the fact there is no paint, the colors maintain their luminosity and brilliance?
Callahan and Smith showed how the image changes in color slightly according to the angle of viewing, a phenomenon that is known by the word iridescence, a technique that cannot be reproduced with human hands.
THE EYES OF THE VIRGIN OF GUADAULUPE
In 1929, Alfonso Marcue, who was the official photographer of the old Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, found what seemed to be a clear image of a bearded man reflected in the right eye of the Virgin. Initially he did not believe what was before his eyes. How could it be? A bearded man inside of the eyes of the Virgin?. After many inspections of many of his black and white photographs he had no doubts and decided to inform the authorities of the Basilica. He was told that time to keep complete silence about the discovery, which he did. More than 20 years later, on May 29, 1951, Jose Carlos Salinas Chavez, examining a good photograph of the face, rediscovers the image of what clearly appears to be a bearded man reflected in the right eye of the Virgin, and locates it on the left eye too.
Since then, many people had the opportunity to inspect closely the eyes of the Virgin on the tilma, including more than 20 physicians, ophthalmologists. The first one, on March 27, 1956, was Dr. Javier Torroella Bueno, MDS, a prestigious ophthalmologist. In what is the first report on the eyes of the image issued by a physician, he certifies the presence of the triple reflection
(Samson-Purkinje effect) characteristic of all live human eyes and states that the resulting images are located exactly where they are supossed to be according to such effect, and also that the distortion of the images agree with the curvature of the cornea. The same year another ophthalmologist, Dr. Rafael Torrija Lavoignet, examined the eyes of the image with an ophthalmoscope in great detail. He
observed the apparent human figure in the corneas of both eyes, with the location and distortion of a normal human eye and specially noted a unique appearance of the eyes: they look strangely "alive" when examined. Many other examinations by ophthalmologists have been done of the eyes of the image on the tilma after these first ones. With more or less details all agree with the conclusions of the
ones mentioned above.
Studies into the reflections present in the eyes of the Virgin of Guadalupe have been ongoing since as far back as 1948, and possibly earlier. There are reports that in several studies on pictures of the eyes, opthalmologists have even identified micro artery circulation in the free edge of the image's eyelids.
Digital technology is giving new leads in understanding a phenomenon that continues to puzzle science: the mysterious eyes of the image of Virgin of Guadalupe.
Engineer José Aste Tönsmann sees a reflection, literally, from a scene in 1531. In his research, Tonsmann used a digital process used by satellites and space probes in transmitting visual information.
For over 20 years, this graduate of environmental systems engineering of Cornell University has studied the image of the Virgin left on the rough maguey fiber fabric of Juan Diego's tilma [cape G-fs]. What intrigued Tonsmann the most were the eyes of the Virgin.
Though the dimensions are microscopic, the iris and the pupils of the image's eyes have imprinted on them a highly detailed picture of at least 13 people, Tonsmann said.
The same people are present in both the left and right eyes, in different proportions, as would happen when human eyes reflect the objects before them.
Tonsmann says he believes the reflection transmitted by the eyes of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the scene on Dec. 9, 1531, during which Juan Diego showed his tilma, with the image, to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga and others present in the room.
The scientist began his study in 1979. He magnified the iris of the Virgin's eyes 2,500 times and, through mathematical and optical procedures, was able to identify all the people imprinted in the eyes.
The eyes reflect the witnesses of the Guadalupan miracle, the moment Juan Diego unfurled his tilma before the bishop, according to Tonsmann. In other words, the Virgin's eyes have the reflection that would have been imprinted in the eyes of any person in her position.
Also present, Tonsmann believes, is an Indian, likely Juan Diego, of striking features, with a beard and mustache, who unfolds his own tilma before the bishop; a woman of dark complexion, possibly a Negro slave who was in the bishop's service; and a man with Spanish features who looks on pensively, stroking his beard with his hand.
In a word, the Virgin's eyes bear a kind of instant picture of what occurred at the moment the image was unveiled in front of the bishop, Tonsmann says.
Dr. Aste Tonsmann published his last studies on the eyes on the tilma in the book "El Secreto de sus Ojos", with complete details and photographs of his work.
Moreover, in the center of the pupils, on a much more reduced scale, another scene can be perceived, independent of the first, the scientist contends. It is that of an Indian family made up of a woman, a man and several children. In the right eye, other people who are standing appear behind the woman.
