BORN IN 1474
It is believed that Juan Diego was born in 1474 in the calpulli (ward) of Tlayacac in Cuauhtitlan which is about 20 kilometers north of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City).  His name was Cuauhtlatoatzin or 'One Who Talks Like an Eagle', 'Eagle That Talks' or 'Singing Eagle'. In the Nican Mopohua, the earliest writings of the Guadalupan event, he was identified as a 'Macehualli' (Poor Indian).  He did not belong to any of the social categories of the Aztec Empire such as warriors, merchants or priests yet he was not a slave.  It is recorded that he was a hard worker and was the maker of mats.
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HE AND HIS WIFE BECOME CHRISTIANS
Juan Diego was happily married but he and his wife had no children. He owned a piece of land and had a house.  He was a very devoted man and soon he and his wife converted to the faith of the Christians who had overtaken Montezuma under the command of Cortez in 1521.
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They were baptized into the Catholic Church in or around 1524 - 1525 - probably by the well known  Franciscan Fray Toribio de Benavente, called “Motolinia” (Poor One) - deeply loved by the Indians for his kindness and love for them.  This, according to the Informaciones Guadalupanas of 1666, which was the first formal investigation of the church re the events of the Virgen (1531). He took on the name of Juan Diego and his wife became, Maria Lucia.
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DEVOTED TO THE EUCHARIST
He was deeply devoted to the Eucharist and was a mystical and silent man. He received Eucharist 3 times a week by special permission of the Bishop, highly unusual at that time. He walked 20 kilometers (14 miles) from his village to Tenochtitlan to receive his instructions to become a Christian and later to Mass. He would leave before dawn as the walk through the mountains took about 3.5 hours, barefoot since he was not of the social class allowed shoes or sandals.
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WHEN HIS WIFE DIED
When his wife died in 1529, he moved in with his uncle Juan Bernardino in Tolpetlac.  He was then only 9 miles from church in Tlatelolco -Tenochtitlan. In the colder months he wore a mantle or 'tilma'. This tilma was a very coarse fabric, woven of Maguey cactus cloth, as cotton was used by the upper classes of the Aztec. .
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MARY'S VISIT TO JUAN DIEGUITO
When he was about 57, Mary visited Juan Diego, old by the standards of his countrymen whose average age was about 40. He was on his way to Tenochtitlán when she spoke to him in his native language of Nahuatl,

“Juanito, Juan Dieguito “, “the most humble of my sons”, “my son the least”, “my little dear”.

It was December 9th, only 10 years after Cortez conquered the Aztec Nation. He was on his way to attend catechism classes and he heard the beautiful singing of birds when she spoke to him on the hill called Tepeyac. She asked him to tell Bishop Friar Juan de Zumárraga she wanted a temple to be built on this spot. He was obedient but the Bishop did not believe him. Juan decided to give up on this but she repeated her request. Again he spoke to the Bishop but was not believed. Finally, the Bishop, sensitive to his sincere request and obedience, *asked for a sign of this visitation.  He also had his servants follow Juan home but they lost him on the way.  The Virgin again spoke to Juan telling him that she would give him proof the following day.
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It was early morning on the 12th of December.  His uncle, Juan Bernadino was ill and needed a priest so he tried to avoid the visitation of the Lady by going around the hill another way. She found him and gave him a message of hope.  She affirmed her origin and assured him the temple would be a message of great peace to all the world. Then she instructed him to go to the top of the hill where he found beautiful roses blooming in the frosty December morning. He picked them and put them in his cloak and carried them to her.  She rearranged them and sent him to Bishop Friar Juan de Zumárraga. On arrival, he opened his cloak and the flowers fell onto the floor in front of the Bishop.  But Bishop Friar Juan de Zumárraga was intent on anther miracle - as there on his cloak made of coarse cactus cloth,  an image of the Blessed Virgin began to appear.
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At the same time, she appeared and healed Juan Bernadino, telling him she was Guadalupe, the Perfect One and the forever Virgin Mother of the True God.
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PILGRIMAGES
 After  Our Lady's visit, he moved into a small room attached to the chapel where the holy image of Our Lady was hung.  He had given his business and land to his uncle so he was free to share the story of the Mary's visitation to the Americas until his death on May 30, 1548.  He was 74. Today, the shrine is visited by millions every year and her original image, intact and complete brings a powerful message of life to the unborn.
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 "Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything."
(Words of Our Lady to Juan Diego)
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*Some accounts reveal that Bishop Friar Juan de Zumárraga had secretly prayed to Our Lady for a sign long before the event of Juan Diego's visit.  This sign was for  roses.  This was a spiritual sign given by Mary to encourage her children.  But the Bishop did not ask for any rose, he asked for a special rose only to be found in his native land, Castilian Roses and this is exactly the kind of rose that appeared in the cloak of Juan Diego.

Q: Can these figures be the work of humans?

Aste: No, for three reasons. In the first place, they are not visible to the human eye, except for one: that of the Spaniard, which is the largest. Nobody could have painted such tiny silhouettes.

In the second place, the origin of the pigments of these figures is unknown. The same is true of the Virgin's image. It is not painted, and no one yet knows how it was stamped on Juan Diego's tilma.

Q: And the third?

Aste: The three figures are reproduced in both eyes. What artist would do that? Moreover, their size varies from one eye to the other, according to how close the personage was to the Virgin's left or right eye.

Q: What process did you follow in your experiment?

Aste: First photographs are taken of the eyes. Then they are digitalized. They are read by the computer, enlarged and screened from the images.

Q: Who appears in the eyes?

Aste: There is a virtually naked servant; an elderly man -- Bishop Friar Juan de Zumárraga; a youth -- the interpreter; an Indian with a tilma -- Juan Diego; a black woman -- a slave; a bearded Spaniard; and, lastly, an Indian family including father, mother, three children and two more adults, who could be grandparents or uncles.

Q: How do you know that the other figures correspond to the slave, the interpreter, etc.?

Aste: There is evidence in history. The elderly man who appears in the Virgin's eyes looks very much like the paintings of that period of Bishop Zumárraga. As to the black slave, Zumárraga said in his will that he released her. We also know that she was called Maria. In the Indies Archives there is a record of the bishop's embarkation when he left for the New World.

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BEAUTIFICATION AND CANONIZATION

In April of 1990 Juan Diego was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. The following month, in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, during his 2nd visit to the shrine, John Paul II performed the beatification ceremony.
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The summer of 2002, Juan Diego was canonized a Saint.
The Holy Father flew to Mexico City after World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto in July.  It was his 5th visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.