Nican Mopohua

Huei tlamahuiçoltica omonexiti in ilhuicac tlatocaçihuapilli Santa Maria totlaçonantzin Guadalupe in nican huei altepenahuac Mexico itocayocan Tepeyacac [ˈwei t͡ɬamawisoɬˈtika omoneˈʃiti in ilˈwikak t͡ɬatokasiˈwapilːi ˈsanta maˈɾia tot͡ɬasoˈnant͡sin ɡwadaˈlupe in ˈnikan wei aɬtepeˈnawak meˈʃiko itokaˈjokan tepeˈjakak] (Nahuatl) : "By a great miracle appeared the heavenly queen, Saint Mary, our precious mother of Guadalupe, here near the great altepetl of Mexico, at a place called Tepeyacac".

These are the opening words of a 36-page tract published in Mexico City in 1649 by Luis Laso de la Vega, the vicar of the chapel at Tepeyac. It is generally known by the short title Huei tlamahuiçoltica (translated as "The Great Event"). In the preface Laso de la Vega claims authorship of the whole work. This claim is the subject of an ongoing difference of scholarly opinion.

The tract is written almost entirely in Nahuatl and includes the Nican mopohua which contains the story of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyac in 1531. According to the sworn testimony of D. Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, the original preprint was in the calligraphy of Valeriano, its author. A very old and battered partial manuscript copy of the Nican Mopohua in 16 pages, dating c. 1556, can be found at the Public Library of New York; it has been there since 1880 together with two later ones (one copy is complete). The older copy appears in Tonanzin Guadalupe with full historical details.

There is an equally contentious and much shorter manuscript in Nahuatl preceding the Nican Mopohua, which is known as the Inin huey tlamahuiçoltzin meaning This is the great marvel, also known as "The Primitive Relation" of the apparitions. It is kept at The National Library of México.

The Huei tlamahuiçoltica contains also the "Nican motecpana" listing the miracles attributed by some to D. Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl; neither he nor Valeriano are mentioned as authors by Laso de la Vega.

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