Hispanic community celebrates Our Lady of Guadalupe
By Erick Rommel
Head Staff Writer and
Christina Leslie
Correspendent
While most people enjoy spending post-midnight and predawn hours snug in bed, thousands of Catholics were up past the stroke of midnight or before the crack of dawn across the diocese Dec. 12 to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, also known as the Empress of the Americas.
The celebration honors the appearance of a dark-skinned Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego more than 400 years ago.
For the Mexican population, Our Lady of Guadalupe is their path to draw closer to God explained Claretian Father Francesco Iacona, pastor, Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Perth Amboy. “For Mexicans she came to them as one of their own; an indigenous woman. She’s not a European Mary, she’s theirs. She doesn’t sit on a throne or pedestal, she’s on foot talking to Juan Diego.”
The Catholic News Service reports that in 2002 Juan Diego, a Nahuatl Indian, was the first indigenous person in the Americas to be declared a saint. As a probable member of the Texcoco kingdom, bordering the Aztec empire in what is now Mexico, he symbolizes the Church’s evangelization of the native peoples of the New World during the Spanish Conquest.
Diego experienced an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in December 1531. She was dressed as an Aztec Princess with a black rope tied around her waist, a sign that she was pregnant. This is the only apparition in which she appeared with a baby in her womb. Because of this, she’s known as the Protectress of the Unborn.
As proof for his local bishop, his cloak received the imprint of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who the Church honors as patroness of the Americas.
The feast is celebrated with dance and song. “It’s a tradition in Mexico,” explained Missionary Catechist of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary Sister Lucia Flores, pastoral assistant in St. Joseph Parish, Bound Brook, which celebrated the feast with a Mass.
“It is a custom for the peasants and farmers to pray before they go to work in the fields,” explained Victor Gomez, parishioner in Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Perth Amboy, who came to a 5:30 a.m. event in the church with his wife Gladys. “We continue the tradition.”
Because the feast day fell on a Sunday this year, many parishes changed that tradition slightly and celebrated the feast during their regular weekly Mass. Some, such as St. Joseph Parish, held separate celebrations. Others, such as Our Lady of Fatima Parish and La Asuncion Parish, Perth Amboy, kept with the traditional schedule, including early morning celebrations.
At 11:30 p.m. Dec 11, mariachis arrived at La Asuncion Church to sing “Las Mananitas,” a Mexican version of happy birthday, and parishioners acted scenes of the apparition appearing to Juan Diego. Mass began at midnight and included a typical native Indian dance during the offering of gifts. “It is the same presentation that was done in front of the Holy Father at the canonization of Juan Diego in Mexico City,” explained Father John B. Gordon, pastor. “It expresses the culture that is indiginous in the way of recognizing the Christian message.”
A similar celebration took place at Our Lady of Fatima, as the conclusion of a triduum, a three-day celebration, which began with special Masses Dec. 10 and Dec. 11. The singing of mananitas and a procession from the church hall to the church began at 5:30 a.m. Dec 12 with young children in ethnic garb carrying banners showing a traditional Virgin Mary and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Deep-hued roses and miniature portraits of the Virgin Mary were also placed in the church.
Father Ruben A. Matute Gallo conducted the entire Mass in Spanish. During the “Our Father,” the congregation sang to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence”. In his homily, Father Gallo urged the congregation to follow the Virgin’s request and observe the Sacraments of Communion and Reconciliation. He then enthusiastically shouted, “Viva nuestra Senora De Guadalupe!” The congregation then thrice replied, “Viva!”
After Mass, Gomez stood at the cantor podium and led the crowd in cheers for the countries of their birth. “Viva Mexico! Viva Ecuador! Viva Cuba!” he bellowed, pumping his fist.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law