Community gathers to celebrate Guadalupe feast

Intermountain Catholic

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Diocesan Administrator Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald releases a dove at the shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the central plaza of the Skaggs Catholic Center following the Diocesan Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Dec. 9. IC photos by Christopher Gray

DRAPER — With shouts of devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Hispanic communities throughout the state gathered at St. John the Baptist Church adjacent to Juan Diego Catholic High School for the bilingual Mass for the Diocesan Celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec. 9.

Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to the peasant Juan Diego Dec. 9, 1531, on Tepeyac Hill outside what is now Mexico City. To prove her existence to Juan Diego’s bishop, she filled his tilma (a poncho-like robe) with roses even though it was December, and her image was imprinted on the tilma. Juan Diego’s tilma, with the image still as vivid as it was when it first appeared to Mexican Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, is kept in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. In 1979, Pope John Paul II designated Our Lady of Guadalupe as the "patroness of the Americas;" Juan Diego was canonized July 31, 2002, becoming the first Native American saint.

At the Mass, Father Javier Virgen, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in West Valley City, spoke at length in his homily regarding Our Lady of Guadalupe as a unifying, central figure to the American Hispanic experience and as patroness of the Americas.

In keeping with a tradition to dedicate each year’s Guadalupe celebration to another of the epithets ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, this year’s celebration was dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, queen of peace.

"We chose to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe as queen of peace because it is what we need more than anything this year," said Maria-Cruz Gray, director of Hispanic ministry for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. "Peace in our homes, in our families, in our parishes, in our diocese, and in the whole world."

As the Mass drew to a close, the Mariachi Zavala joined the Diocesan collected Hispanic choirs in the "Mañanitas," a traditional song that is strongly related to the veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and later a group of Aztec dancers from throughout the state engaged in a ceremonial dance honoring the image. Mass ended with a procession outside to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the central plaza of the Skaggs Catholic Center, where Diocesan Administrator Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald released a dove, a symbol of peace. At the reception following the Mass, dancers from St. Joseph Parish in Ogden and a group of young actors from Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Salt Lake City recreated the story of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Throughout the year there are only a handful of celebrations which bring together the whole diocese. The next event of diocesan importance will be the Diocesan Celebration of Las Posadas, Dec. 16, at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City at 7:45 p.m.