Our Lady of Guadeloupe, according to legend, was an apparition of the Virgin Mary that appeared to peasant Juan Diego in 1521, and then left a miraculous image of herself on his cape. She is beloved of Mexican Christians as having native features and is elevated in Mexican history and politics. There is no historical evidence of her worship until the mid-1600’s, and secular scholars doubt that the incident vision ever occurred. The abbot of her shrine Guillermo Schulenburg was quoted in 1996 as saying that Juan Diego is "a symbol , not a reality." He touched off national outrage and was soon dismissed from his post.

This image is an unusual one, but has been dated as contemporaneous with the time of the original legend. The mixture of Aztec and Christian imagery is rare.

Here is a link to the Fred R. Kline Gallery, which holds all rights to this image. 

 Former Virgins