Anti-Apparitionists

The Anti-apparitionists

"Where the Body is there will the eagles gather." Some Doctors of the Church have interpreted these words of Our Lord to mean that wherever the Faith is strong, there will you find the forces of hell working with more frantic fury to destroy it. Certainly, the enemies of Jesus Christ have been a very visible reality south of the Rio Grande. And in that land they know full well that in order to crush His Church they must first demoralize the people's confidence in Our Lady of Guadalupe. But as they have learned from experience, the more they attack her the more will her children rise up in her defense.

The most recurrent attempt at disparaging the Holy Virgin was to attack the authenticity of the Image itself. Their futility in this ridiculous endeavor is pointed out in the accompanying article on the Miraculous Image. However, the anti-apparitionists, as they are called by the loyal Guadalupanos, seem never to weary of falling flat on their faces after being floored by the return fire of their own scientific weaponry.

Having failed in their laboratories to shake Our Lady off her throne, less sophisticated enemies resorted to more violent measures. During the Calles persecution in the 1920's (which persecution by the way dared not close her shrine) the wretched conspirators attempted to blow her out of existence with a time bomb. The potent explosive, ticking away from its concealment in a flower vase right below the Image, went off on schedule during a high Mass on November 14, 1921. So severe was the explosion that it shattered all the stained-glass windows in the basilica and uplifted whole chunks of marble and masonry from the sanctuary. A huge bronze crucifix that stood above the altar was twisted as though it were made out of putty. When the smoke lifted, the stunned congregation was amazed to see that no one was hurt, not even the celebrants at the altar. And expecting to see the miraculous Image severely damaged, they looked up to her and, lo and behold, there she was, totally unscathed by the blast, and not even a crack on the protective glass that shielded her!