The Saint Juan Diego will be celebrated by the Archdiocese of Detroit as a feast day with a mass and a rosary.

“Join us for the Feast of Saint Juan Diego in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Thursday, Dec. 9, beginning at 5:15 p.m. with the rosary, followed by performances and mass. Tune in to the livestream here on the AOD Facebook page or at aod.org/livemasses,” the Archdiocese of Detroit wrote in a Facebook post.

Born in Mexico City in 1474, Juan Diego was given the name Cuauhtlatoatzin, which means “the talking eagle,” according to the Vatican.   

The Vatican reports that there is not much information available regarding Diego’s life before his baptism at age 50 by one of the first Franciscan missionaries and he is honored on Dec. 9 because in 1531, he was visited by the Blessed Mother. 

“She appeared to him as he was on his way to morning Mass, asking him to tell the Bishop to build a shrine at that spot, Tepeyac Hill,” according to the Vatican. “The Bishop did not believe Juan Diego and wanted proof that Mary had appeared to him. Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac on Dec. 12, when Mary appeared to him again, instructing him to climb the hill and pick the flowers that he would find blooming there.”

Diego followed instructions and discovered blooming roses even though it was winter, the Vatican added. 

“When Juan Diego presented the roses to the Bishop, they fell on the ground and, left pressed into his cloak was an image of the Blessed Mother,” the Vatican states. “This miraculous image is now preserved in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

The image of Mary is one of the most recognized symbols in Mexico and titled Our Lady of Guadalupe, according to Britannica.

Juan Diego was beatified by Pope John Paul II beatified in 1990 and canonized in 2002, which made him the initial first indigenous saint from the Americas earning him the recognition as the patron saint of indigenous people, according to Catholic.