Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Layperson. Visionary of Our Lady of Guadalupe. First indigenous saint of the Americas. Roman Catholic Saint from Mexico.
Feast: 9 December (current Roman calendar, optional memorial) · not in the 1962 Missal
Who they were
Cuauhtlatoatzin was a Nahua man born around 1474, who was baptised in 1525 with his wife, María Lucía, at the Church of San Diego in Tlatelolco, taking the name Juan Diego.
On 9 December 1531, on the hill of Tepeyac outside Mexico City, Our Lady appeared to him, and then three more times. On 12 December the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on his tilma, his cloak. He died in 1548.
The miracles
Juan José Barragán Silva — Mexico City — May 1990
On 3 May 1990 a severely depressed 19-year-old fell about 30 feet from the balcony of his family's apartment onto concrete and suffered grave head injuries; he was not expected to live. His family prayed for Juan Diego's intercession. By 6 May, the day John Paul II beatified Juan Diego in Mexico City, he had fully recovered, and doctors called the healing inexplicable.
Why that counted as sanctity
Beatification followed on 6 May 1990 by John Paul II. The case of Juan José Barragán Silva was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 31 July 2002 by John Paul II.
- Holy See - homily of John Paul II at the canonisation in Mexico City, 31 Jul 2002
- National Catholic Register - Where St Juan Diego walked
- Wikipedia - Juan Diego
- Wikidata Q335539 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Juan Diego (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.