Diocese celebrates Feast of Our Lady of Gaudalupe

Intermountain Catholic

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Bishop John C. Wester presided at the Mass in the Cathedral of the Madeleine at midnight on Dec. 11 for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. See photo album on Facebook. IC photo/Laura Vallejo

SALT LAKE CITY — The Cathedral of the Madeleine together with different parishes around the Diocese of Salt Lake City celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 11 and 12.

This year the Cathedral of the Madeleine celebration had a different approach.

Besides the traditional procession led by the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, and Father Eleazar Silva, parochial vicar of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, the different groups from the Cathedral offered various gifts to the Lady.

After the procession, Fr. Silva welcomed everyone as well as the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Cathedral.

"With love let’s all receive and welcome our dearest Mother," said Fr. Silva.

Following the greeting, the different groups presented their gifts to Our Lady.

Among them were the Hispanic Knights of Columbus of the Cathedral, who presented their baldrics as they said, "We offer you the sash that identifies us as Knights and as your sons."

The Cathedral’s religious education teachers presented their books as their gifts to the Lady, saying "Help us, our Mother, to teach them [the children] the road to you."

The hospitality ministry from the Cathedral offered a program saying, "Our mother teaches us to be welcoming to the ones who arrive to your house; we offer the program with which we welcome your sons every Sunday."

Among those who attended the celebration was Cathedral parishioner Mayra Juarez, who, with her children, dressed in traditional costumes for the occasion.

"Celebrating our Mother is wonderful. It’s important because it is our tradition. I have this love for our Mother as an appreciation to all that she gives to us," she said.

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe is celebrated by Catholics as one of the Virgin Mary’s many aspects; her feast day is Dec. 12.

The story says that Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego, a peasant of mixed race, as he walked from his village to Mexico City in the early morning of Dec. 9, 1531.

On the Hill of Tepeyac, Juan Diego saw a vision surrounded by light. A girl of about 15 spoke to him in Nahuatl, the local dialect, and asked that a church be built there in her honor.

Juan Diego recognized the girl as the Virgin Mary, but when he told his story to the archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, he was told to return to Tepeyac Hill and ask for a miraculous sign as proof of the Virgin Mary’s identity.

The first sign was the Virgin healed Juan Diego’s uncle. The Virgin also told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. Although December was very late in the growing season for flowers to bloom, Juan Diego found on the usually barren hilltop Castilian roses, not native to Mexico. He wrapped those in his cloak, known as a ‘tilma.’ When he opened the cloak before Bishop Zumárraga on Dec. 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and imprinted on the tilma’s fabric was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.