El discurso de la ceremonia de jura: un estatuto visual del reino de Nueva España: El caso del Patronato Guadalupano de 1746

Qn the morning of the l2th of December in 1796, the ecclesiastic chapters and the civil town-councils led by the viceroy-archbishop and the audience, constituting “the Mexican court” (“la corte de Mexico”), carne out to the main square to acclaim the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. At the same time, all the regional authorities of New Spain did the same. In this way, a royalist proclamation and a pastoral edict were fulfilled. Both of these demanded a new pledge from the people: the approval of the Patronato of Guadalupe “over the American nation”. In the history of Mexican jurisprudence, the important significance of this event has not always been considered.
The politics of the monarchy on this matter was apparently contradictory: firstly, supporting the pledge, and secondly encouraging the royal chronicler J.B. Muñoz to disqualify the cult of Guadalupe. This policy must be considered in a wider context within the context of negotiation and the renewal of the colonial pact.
It must not be forgotten that the same standard of Guadalupe that was taken for the emancipation by the priest Hidalgo, was precisely one of a “pledged image”. That is to say, an image with legal acknowledgement and an emblem of the loyalty to the king beyond the obvious devotional connotations or popularity.