South Side Murals: Our Lady Of Guadalupe

By Laura M. Browning in Arts & Entertainment on May 12, 2010 6:00PM

Part of a larger mural, Our Lady of Guadalupe prays on a viaduct wall on 16th Street at Carpenter.

Photo by \<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/m500/577128118/\"\>JOE MARINARO\<\/a\>

A brilliantly colored Virgin Mary on the side of the Casa Aztlán building in Pilsen.

On the side of the Casa Aztlán building.

A ghostly vision faded on a brick wall.

A small Virgin hides in an ordinary mural scene.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is everywhere in Pilsen, including on the walls of taquerias.

The Virgin and Corona.

Overlooking the Lavanderia at Ashland and 19th Street.

A shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe hides under the El tracks in Pilsen.

An impromptu shrine.

May is the month of mothers, of spring, of new beginnings. It's also the month when the Catholic Church celebrates Mary, so we overcame our Catholic Guilt at not having been to Mass in the better part of a decade to bring you this gallery of Pilsen virgins.

According to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared several times to an Aztec peasant named Juan Diego in 1531 in Mexico and spoke to him in his own language. She miraculously imprinted an image of herself on Diego's cloak, instructing him to show it to the local bishop as a sign to build a church there. She told him, "call me and my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe."

Even if you don't have 14 years of Catholic education behind you, if you've been to Pilsen, you already have an idea of what the imprinted cloak looked like. The familiar image of Mary, standing with her hands folded in prayer, a starburst of color emanating from behind her, seems to be around every corner, praying for us from the walls of taquerias and community buildings. An important figure to Mexican Catholics, we love the omnipresence of this iconic figure around Pilsen.