248 THE MIRACULOUS IMAGE. 



telling him finally to bring some sign, which, 

 W Tc-ally the Mother of God, his directress 

 could readily furnish. 



The perplexed Indian left the bishop's pre- 

 sence resolved to avoid farther molestation 

 from his spiritual acquaintance, by takin 

 another route ; yet, when near the place of 

 his first meeting, he again encountered the 

 apparition, who, hearing the result of his mis- 

 sion, ordered him to chmb a naked rock hard 

 by, and collect a boquct of flowers which 

 he would find growing there. Juan Diego, 

 albeit without faith, obeyed, when, to his sur- 

 prise he found the flowers referred to, and 

 brought them to the Virgin, who, throwing 

 them into his tilma, commanded him to carry 

 them to the bishop ; sapng, " When he sees 

 these he will believe, as he well knows that 

 flowers do not bloom at this season, much 

 less upon that barren rock." The humble 

 naessenger now with more courage sought the 

 bishop's presence, and threw out the bloom- 

 ing credentials of his mission before him; 

 when lo ! to the astonishment of all, and to 

 the entire conviction of his Senoria ilustrisiina, 

 the perfect image of the apparition appeared 

 imprinted on the inside of the tilma.^ 



The reverend Prelate now fully acknow- 

 ledged the di\dnitT of the picture, and in a 



/ This 



dians. wh 



by the In 



ments of a species of ma^ey, and a little resembled the common 

 coffee sacks. The painting, as it necessarily must be on such a 



niaterial 



''^th a blue robe bespangled with stars. 



