who is its true author". According to the sworn testimony of D. Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, the original preprint was in the calligraphy of Antonio Valeriano, its author. A very old and battered partial manuscript copy of the comprising 16 pages and dated to c. 1556 can be found at the Public Library of New York; it has been there since 1880, together with two later copies, one of which is complete. The older copy appears in the Tonanzin Guadalupe with full historical details. Some contemporary scholars hold the notion that Becerra Tanco, Florencia, and Sigüenza y Góngora endeavored to authenticate the events of the narrative by placing its original authorship in hands that were both native to Mexico and of greater antiquity than the mid-17th century. Since Mexican petitioners to the Vatican for official recognition of the miracle relied on Sigüenza y Góngora's testimony that the story predated the publication of both the and Image of the Virgin Mary, ecclesiastical writers have continued to cite Valeriano as its author. Notes References 1649 books 1649 in New Spain Colonial Mexico Virgin Mary in art Mexican culture Mexican folklore Latin American folklore Nahuatl literature Classical Nahuatl Catholic Church in Mexico Our Lady of Guadalupe