Divine Providence

Abstract

More than one hundred sermons on Our Lady of Guadalupe were published in New Spain during the colonial era. Bartolomé Felipe de Ita y Parra was the most prolific of the published Guadalupan preachers. Four of his extant twenty-two published sermons are focused on Guadalupe, each corresponding to a significant communal event: the 1731 bicentennial of the Guadalupe apparitions, the final service for a 1737 novena to plead for Guadalupe’s aid during a severe matlazahuatl epidemic, and two sermons linked with the campaign to declare Guadalupe the patroness of New Spain. This chapter explores the growth of Guadalupan devotion during the colonial era leading to her official designation as New Spain’s patroness in 1754. It also examines critically the theological claims articulated in colonial sermons such as those dedicated to Guadalupe, especially the central claim that divine providence guided society and its inhabitants.