Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666

Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666 (English: The Proceedings of 1666) is a Spanish document that helped support the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin at the hill of Tepeyac in 1531. The apparition is also known today as the iconic Virgin of Guadalupe. The Proceedings of 1666 consist of a series of investigations, record examinations, testimonies from artists, physicians, and Aztec historians, and oral accounts from elderly men and women who had knowledge and experience with Juan Diego and his contemporaries.

As soon as Bishop Zumárraga and his subordinates viewed Juan Diego’s miraculous tilma painting on December 12, 1531, devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe began. News about the apparition became widespread and many people came to visit the cathedral that would temporarily house the painting. According to Miguel Sánchez’s account of the apparition, when the painting was placed in the cathedral church, “all the city learned of it; and everyone was moved to such a degree that all wanted to see face to face this Miracle so new; and devotion hurried everyone to come together in Christian gatherings.” It would become so popular in the surrounding areas that a hermitage was quickly held on December 26, 1531. This special devotion became such an important part of Mexican life that the local priests began to think about how to ask permission from the Pope for a special Mass and proper office for celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Unfortunately, little was done about this until Francisco Siles proposed a new plan to the Viceroy of New Spain in 1663.

This group of painters consisted of Juan Salguero, Tomás Conrado, Sebastián López de Avalos, Nicolás de Angulo, Juan Sánchez and Alonso se Zarate. These men were well-known, acclaimed artists, and were considered to be masters of painting. After examining the tilma painting, they all came to the conclusion that it was “impossible that any human artist could have painted or created a work so smooth and outstanding and beautifully formed on a fabric so coarse and rough as the tilma.” In addition, these men found that the tilma was painted from the reverse side of the fabric and could not determine whether the painting was done with oil or tempera paints and declared that only the “Lord [their] God alone knows the secret of this work.”

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