Empress of the Americas

– Answered by Father Johann Roten, S.M.

Q: Is Mary Empress of the Americas?

A: We have much information on Guadalupe, in image and in text. Continue to search this website to discover a variety of aspects, historical, spiritual and iconographical in nature. As to the name and influence of Our Lady of Guadalupe behold the following: in 1737 Our Lady of Guadalupe was made patroness of the City of Mexico, in 1746/1747 of the whole of "New Spain" or America Septentrional. Benedict XIV in his Breve Non est equidem (1754) gave the Guadalupe feast a special office and formulary. In 1757 Our Lady of Guadalupe became patroness of Cuidad Ponce in Puerto Rico. In 1895 there followed the solemn coronation of the miraculous image. Leo XIII extended the privilege of office and formulary to all Latin-American countries. Pius X made the Guadalupana patroness of all Latin American countries in 1910. Pius XI extended her patronage to the Philippines in 1935. Finally, Pius XII, in his radio message commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the crowning of the Guadalupe image in 1945 (October 12, See AAS 37, 1945, 264-267), called her "Empress of the Americas." John XXIII called her in 1960 the "celestial missionary of the New World" and "Mother of the Americas." Paul VI honored Our Lady of Guadalupe in a televised message to the faithful gathered in the Basilica of Guadalupe on October 12, 1970 (AAS 62, 1970, 681-683). John Paul II saw in her not only the "Mother of the Church in Latin America" but also the "Star of Evangelization" of the whole sub-continent (Puebla, 1979). In recent years, the reference to "the Americas" (patroness, empress of the Americas) has been applied to both North (USA and Canada) and South (Latin American countries). Its original meaning covered in a special way the Latin American nations. With the strengthening of US Catholicism, thanks to large numbers of Hispanic Catholics, the application of patroness, empress to both North and South seems very appropriate.