Juan Diego (with a birth name Cuauhtlatoatzin) was born in 1474 in Chichimeca nation to a peasant family.
His birth name is in Nahuatl language and means "Who Talks like an Eagle.
" He grew up in one of the city's of Aztec Empire Cuahtitlan, which is located around 20 kilometers from the northern part of Tenochtitlan, now known as Mexico City.
Diego's conversion to Catholic region is believed to take place somewhere between 1524 to 1525.
When he changed his name to Juan Diego, he moved to Tolpetlac, a region that is near Tenochitlan where Franciscan friars set up a Catholic mission.
It is said that on December 12, 1531, Diego saw the vision of the Virgin Mary for the first time while he was walking from his village to the city.
According to Diego, the Virgin Mary spoke to him in Nahuatl language and told him to build a church in the area.
However, when Diego informed the Bishop about this, the bishop did not believe him and asked for miraculous signs.
To show the bishop miraculous signs that he was asking, the Virgin Mary told Diego to gather flowers from the hill, although it is winter time when literally no flowers would bloom.
Diego managed to find Spanish roses and showed them to the bishop.
When the Spanish roses fell from Diego's apron, the Virgin Mary's icon was imprinted on the cloth and remained there.
The bishop believed Diego's story and after two years - in 1953, the church was finally built.
The story of Juan Diego was used by the priests to help spread the Catholic religion among indigenous people in the Aztec Empire.
This resulted to the conversion of millions of indigenous people.
On July 31, 2002, the Roman Catholic Church canonized Juan Diego and he became the first indigenous Mexican saint.