Our Lady of Guadalupe, known affectionately in Hispanic culture as La Virgen, has been revered on murals, candles and shrines.

More than a religious icon, La Virgen’s image is a cultural one that has been used on car hoods, wall calendars and tattoos.

“It certainly has a commercial appeal,” says Oswald John Nira, an Our Lady of the Lake University assistant professor who teaches religious studies.

Displaying her image in the home, at work and on possessions isn’t meant to be disrespectful, he says. For many, her image is a way of blessing the place where it’s displayed.

In the Mexican American culture, there is more openness toward displaying religious symbols on everyday things, Nira says.

“As Mexican American Catholics, (religious symbols are) so integrated in our culture that seeing an image of La Virgen on a tie or a T-shirt isn’t viewed as offensive or crossing a line,” he says.

The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated Dec. 12, when Latino Catholics throughout the United States and Latin America pay homage to the Blessed Virgin who appeared to peasant Juan Diego on a Tepeyac hill near Mexico City in 1531.

The popularity of La Virgen’s image goes well beyond her feast day and extends to non-Catholics.

“Devotion to her is strong because she’s identified as a mother, as a protector, as a liberating force,” says Theresa Torres, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, who has studied La Virgen’s mass appeal as a cultural and religious figure.

“I think people are drawn to the sacredness of her image,” she says. “She crosses borders in many ways.”