This year the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrates the tenth anniversary of our founding as a Shrine of the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Universal Catholic Church. It is in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is the Blessed Mother of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who appeared on Tepeyac Hill in Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City, to a native Aztec by the name of Cuauhtlatoatzin known now as St. Juan Diego in the year 1531. In that encounter, our Blessed Mother requested a simple request that would later become a monumental sign of the new evangelization. She said to St. Juan Diego: “Go to the Bishop that I greatly desire that a house (church) be built on this spot (Tepeyac Hill) in order that I may give all of my love, help and protection to all of the inhabitants of this land.” It has been 491 years since that faithful day and hundreds of millions of people throughout America have come to know Christ, thanks to the intervention and intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe.