Luis Laso de la Vega
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Luis Laso de la Vega (or Luis Lasso de la Vega) was a 17th century Mexican priest and lawyer. He is known chiefly as the author of the Huei tlamahuiçoltica ("The Great Happening"), an account in the Nahuatl language of the Virgin Mary's apparition to Saint Juan Diego, an indigenous convert to Roman Catholicism, in 1648.
[edit] Biographical information
Little is know about Laso's life. He was a criollo, i.e. a Mexican-born person of full Spanish ancestry. Historians have culled from church and academic records that he earned a Bachelor's degree, and registered for a course in canon law at the University of Mexico in 1623. He had the title of Licenciado (literally "Licensed", or "Bachelor"), generally meaning someone licensed to practice secular or Canon law.
He was appointed vicar of the sanctuary of Tepeyac (near Mexico City) in 1647, and rebuilt the first chapel there, walling in the local spring. He was promoted to the cathedral chapter in 1657. His writings demonstrate a great zeal for the Catholic faith and expertise in the Nahuatl language.
[edit] Writings
Aside from narrating the apparition, the Huei tlamahuiçoltica also contained an account of miracles occurring in its wake and a prayer of devotion to the Virgin. Beside the Huei tlamahuiçoltica, Laso de la Vega also wrote a glowing review of Miguel Sánchez's Image of the Virgin Mary, the first known written account of the Guadalupan apparition. Of Sánchez he wrote, "I and all my predecessors have been like sleeping Adams, possessing this second Eve in the paradise of their Mexican Guadalupe". Some authors have cited this passage as Laso de la Vega's admission of his debt to Sánchez for providing him a text on which to base his translation and paraphrasement of the apparition narrative.
