The 1631 apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel in Mexico

Tlaxcala, Mexico, Apr 25, 2022 / 16:58 pm (CNA).

Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to Diego Lázaro de San Francisco, a young convert, for the first time on April 25, 1631 in what is now Mexico’s Tlaxcala state.

This apparition would be the first of three that the archangel made that year to Diego, who was about 17 at the time.

There is now a shrine at the site, in the town of San Miguel del Milagro, about 12 miles southwest of Tlaxcala City.

According to tradition, Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to Diego while he was participating in a procession for the feast of Saint Mark.

In that encounter, the archangel told the young man: “You must know, my son, that I am Saint Michael the Archangel. I come to tell you that it is God’s will and mine that you tell those of this town and its surroundings, that in this ravine made by two hills and it’s the one that’s in front of this place, they will find a miraculous spring of water for all diseases, which is under a very large rock. Do not doubt what I tell you, nor not do what I command you.”

However, Diego doubted the apparition and, fearing that people wouldn’t believe him, decided not to do what the archangel told him.

The official Facebook page of the Shrine of Saint Michael the Archangel states that “in  punishment for his disobedience, a deadly fever in his entrails came upon the young man.”

The archangel appeared to Diego again the night of May 7-8, healing him and taking him to the place where the shrine would be erected. The archangel appeared once more, on Nov. 13.

The young man collected water from the spring and took it to the local bishop, who in turn, as part of his investigation of the apparition, distributed it among some sick people. According to tradition, those who drank from the water were cured.

Some years later, Blessed Juan de Palafox y Mendoz, who was Bishop of Tlaxcala, ordered the construction of the current Shrine of Saint Michael the Archangel.

In San Miguel del Milagro the apparition is remembered with great festivities, especially on September 29, the feast of the Archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel.