St. Michael at San Miguel del Milagro

Details
Place
San Miguel del Milagro, Tlaxcala
Country
Mexico
When
1631
Status
Bishop approved
Visionaries
Diego Lázaro de San Francisco

Summary

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In 1631 St. Michael appeared to the young convert Diego Lázaro near Tlaxcala, revealing a spring of healing water during epidemic hardship. Local bishops investigated and approved the events; the shrine of San Miguel del Milagro remains a major Mexican pilgrimage.

Account

On 25 April 1631, during a procession for the feast of St. Mark, St. Michael appeared to Diego Lázaro de San Francisco, a young Indigenous convert in what is now the state of Tlaxcala. The Archangel identified himself and directed Diego to a ravine where, beneath a great rock, a spring of water would be found for the healing of diseases. Diego hesitated; further appearances—including on the night of 7–8 May, a date linked in Michaeline devotion to Monte Gargano—confirmed the command, and Diego was led to the place of the spring.

Water from the spring was brought to the bishop as part of the investigation; tradition recounts cures among those who received it. A shrine rose at the site, and the settlement became known as San Miguel del Milagro (St. Michael of the Miracle). Blessed Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Bishop of Tlaxcala, later ordered construction associated with the sanctuary. Church inquiries in the seventeenth century (including approvals reported in 1632, 1644, and 1675 in local accounts) supported public devotion.

Pilgrims still visit, especially around the feast of the Archangels on 29 September. The spring and shrine stand in continuity with Guadalupe-era Mexico's flowering of popular Catholic devotion a century after the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Ecclesial character. Catalog status is diocesan approved, based on repeated local episcopal recognition and an enduring shrine. As with all private revelation, belief is not obligatory; the faithful may seek St. Michael's intercession here with the approval of the local Church.

Narrative source SanctumNomen (public historical digest) · Catalog source SanctumNomen curated catalog · Further reading Catholic World Report (historical account) · Private revelation is not required belief. Approval means the faithful may believe with prudence. · Images from Wikimedia Commons (public domain or Creative Commons).

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