LOS ANGELES (AP) -- For 15 years, the sacred image of the Virgin of
                  Guadalupe has adorned the side of El Principio market, her peaceful face
                  gazing down over praying hands. But just days ago, vandals splashed black
                  paint across the streetside mural, shocking some residents who view her as
                  their protector.

                  "This is the first time they have put paint on the Virgin," said store owner
                  Miguel Bernard, 59, who has seen his share of graffiti in the neighborhood.
                  "I saw it and said 'This is not good."'

                  That sentiment is being echoed throughout this predominantly Hispanic area
                  in South Central Los Angeles where murals of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the
                  patron saint of Mexico, have been defaced over the past few weeks on
                  about a dozen businesses ranging from liquor stores to taquerias.

                  The graffiti is unusual because images of the dark-skinned Virgin, who is
                  typically depicted in a royal green robe and surrounded by a bright halo of
                  light, are revered by Roman Catholics everywhere.

                  The image is so strong among many Hispanics that men wear T-shirts with
                  the Virgin's image to the market; gang members tattoo her on their bodies
                  and graffiti artists refuse to scribble on her image.

                  "Most of these businesses paint it because 80 percent of our kids here who
                  would be responsible for graffiti are gangsters and they are not going to
                  disrespect her like that," said Officer Cathy Reyes of the Los Angeles Police
                  Department.

                  The vandalism started in the neighborhood about a month ago, said resident
                  Elvia Partida, after a reproduction of the Virgin of Guadalupe arrived for a
                  three-month pilgrimage in Los Angeles-area churches.

                  The Virgin of Guadalupe is believed to have first appeared in 1531 to a
                  peasant Indian named Juan Diego in the hills outside of Mexico City. As a
                  proof of her divinity, she left behind a shawl with her image. A reproduction
                  of that shawl is on tour.

                  "She was the very image of the cross between the native Indian and the
                  Spaniard," said Rev. James Forsen of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church
                  in Baldwin Park. "The color of her skin is what the true image is and the
                  Mexican people are able to see, through her skin, an image of themselves
                  and a path to the father."

                  Rev. Forsen, whose church will host the shawl reproduction this week, said
                  he believes the vandalism is the work of an individual.

                  "It's likely someone who has emotional problems and thinks they're evoking
                  God," Forsen said. "It's probably an expression of someone's emotional
                  instability."

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.