Standard histories on the Age of Colonization tell a sad story of the ills inflicted on indigenous peoples by exploitative Western powers. This book offers a realistic corrective. The Spanish conquest of the New World is shown vividly--in its fervor and exuberance, but most importantly, with its central evangelical and civilizing impulse that transformed the Americas from savagery into a central part of Christendom.

As the Spaniards were preparing to reconquer Santa Fe from the Pueblo Indians in 1692, Captain-General Don Diego de Vargas solemnly vowed to build a special chapel for his own favorite statue of Our Lady of the Rosary should he gain a quick victory, and also to hold a yearly procession in her honor. The image was carried into battle and the Spaniards gained an effective conquista, and thereafter this particular image came to be known as La Conquistadora. Other legends and practices grew around these bare essentials of the story. Many people have tried, in all sincerity, to evaluate the historic aspects of the tradition and to draw the best plausible conclusions therefrom, but Fray Angélico Chávez seemed best suited to detail the origins and development of America's oldest devotion to the Virgin Mary in a scholarly yet devout manner.

Gelina O Monoghan, a female warrior in the earliest years of Ireland's past, meets her match in Conn of the Hundred Battles, the handsome High King of Ireland

The oldest image of the Virgin Mary in the United States―a petite wooden statue―accompanied Spanish Conquistadors and missionaries to the Kingdom of Nuevo México in 1625. Her existence has been tumultuous. She was rescued from a burning church, kidnapped and held for ransom, and had her wooden form mutilated and remade. This book conveys the essence of devotion given to the statue who is yearly celebrated at "La Fiesta de Santa Fe" and yearly carried in procession based on a promise made over 300 years ago. She is the Queen of New Mexico, enthroned in her own chapel at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in the heart of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has the wardrobe of a Spanish Queen with over 200 exquisite gowns and priceless crowns and jewelry. Her name is La Conquistadora, "Our Lady of the Conquest." Was she a conqueror of territories or a conqueror of hearts and healer of human weaknesses? This is her story. Sue Houser is a native of New Mexico and is interested in preserving the history and culture of the state. A retired social worker, she writes about the inspiration and passion behind the stories. This is her second historical, non-fiction book.

Nearly a decade after Spain's conquest of Mexico, the future of Christianity on the American continent was very much in doubt. Confronted with a hostile colonial government and Native Americans wary of conversion, the newly-appointed bishop-elect of Mexico wrote to tell the King of Spain that, unless there was a miracle, the continent would be lost. Between December 9 and December 12, 1531, that miracle happened, and it forever changed the future of the continent. It was then that the Virgin Mary famously appeared to a Native American Christian convert on a hilltop outside of what is now Mexico City. The image she left imprinted on his cloak or tilma has puzzled scientists for centuries, and yet Our Lady of Gudalupe’s place in history is profound. A continent that just months before the apparitions seemed completely lost to Christianity suddenly and inexplicably embraced it by the millions. Our Lady of Guadalupe's message of love replaced the institutionalized violence of the Aztec culture, and built a bridge between two worlds — the old and the new — that were just ten years earlier engaged in brutal warfare. Today, Our Lady of Guadalupe continues to inspire the devotion of millions. From Canada to Argentina — and even beyond the Americas — one finds great devotion to her, and great appreciation for her message of love, unity and hope. Today reproductions of the Virgin’s miraculous image can be seen throughout North and South America, in churches and homes, on billboards and even clothing apparel. Her shrine in Mexico City, where the miraculous image is housed to this day, is one of the most visited in the world. In Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love, Anderson & Chavez trace the history of Our Lady of Guadalupe from the sixteenth century to the present discuss of how her message was and continues to be an important catalyst for religious and cultural transformation. Looking at Our Lady of Guadalupe as a model of the Church and Juan Diego as a model for all Christians who seek to answer Christ's call of conversion and witness, the authors explore the changing face of the Catholic Church in North, Central, and South America, and they show how Our Lady of Guadalupe's message was not only historically significant, but how it speaks to contemporary issues confronting the American continents and people today.

Months before Alma López's digital collage Our Lady was shown at the Museum of International Folk Art in 2001, the museum began receiving angry phone calls from community activists and Catholic leaders who demanded that the image not be displayed. Protest rallies, prayer vigils, and death threats ensued, but the provocative image of la Virgen de Guadalupe (hands on hips, clad only in roses, and exalted by a bare-breasted butterfly angel) remained on exhibition. Highlighting many of the pivotal questions that have haunted the art world since the NEA debacle of 1988, the contributors to Our Lady of Controversy present diverse perspectives, ranging from definitions of art to the artist's intention, feminism, queer theory, colonialism, and Chicano nationalism. Contributors include the exhibition curator, Tey Marianna Nunn; award-winning novelist and Chicana historian Emma Pérez; and Deena González (recognized as one of the fifty most important living women historians in America). Accompanied by a bonus DVD of Alma López's I Love Lupe video that looks at the Chicana artistic tradition of reimagining la Virgen de Guadalupe, featuring a historic conversation between Yolanda López, Ester Hernández, and Alma López, Our Lady of Controversy promises to ignite important new dialogues.