Seeing the Virgin Mary

In Richard Stayton’s theater review “ ‘La Virgen’: Simple Fable as Dazzling Celebration” (Dec. 14), on the wonderful production “La Virgen de Tepeyac,” a program note by Luis Valdez attributes the mysterious appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to be the “first time in the history of the world that the Mother of Christ made herself miraculously visible to anyone.” This assertion is not quite true.

When the apostle St. James, the elder, was a missionary in Spain, the Virgin appeared to him atop a pillar in the city of Zaragoza, from which derives Our Lady of the Pillar. St. James erected a church at this site, the first one to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

This miraculous event, which occurred while the Virgin Mary was still living in the Holy Land, marked the beginning of a very successful conversion period. Eventually this would lead to the adoption of St. James as patron saint of Spain.

We can conclude that, at best, the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531 was the first time that the Mother of Christ made herself visible after her death, and certainly in America.

JAIME F. TORRES

Pacific Palisades