In the year 1531—ten years after the Spanish under Cortes took the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan—the Virgin Mother of Jesus of Nazareth appeared on Mount Tepeyac and spoke in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, to an Aztec Indian named Juan Diego. She told him to tell the Spanish bishop of Mexico to build a church for her on the spot. After two failures to persuade the bishop, the Virgin made roses grow in December on an arid piece of desert and then told juan Diego to take them in his cloak to the bishop.