PATERSON On Gaudete Sunday, throughout the Diocese, the faithful came in huge numbers to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Masses, processions, and rosary rallies to mark the Marian event that took place exactly 490 years ago. Known as the Patroness of the Americas, the feast celebrates the apparition of the Blessed Mother to St. Juan Diego on Dec. 12, 1531 in Tepeyac, Mexico City, Mexico.
While the Blessed Mother’s title, Our Lady of Guadalupe, is associated with a devotion for Mexicans, many around the Diocese and around the world celebrated the feast day, no matter what culture they came from.
During the weekend of Dec. 11–12, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at several parishes. He marked the Vigil Mass for Gaudete Sunday at Holy Trinity Church in Passaic in a celebration that included the Danza Azteca Del Anauac based in Philadelphia and the Guadalupe Torch Run from Mexico City. On Sunday, he celebrated Mass in St. Mary Help of Christians Church here to also mark the parish’s 150th anniversary (see story, page 3) and at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here.
In St. Paul Church in Clifton, the parish celebrated Our Lady of Guadalupe beginning with a feast day Mass on Dec. 9 for St. Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican convert to the Catholic faith. The Blessed Mother left a miraculous image of her appearance on his tilma, which still exists today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Then on the weekend of Dec. 11 and 12, the parish celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As early as 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, serenata de Mananitas — songs dedicated for the Blessed Mother by mariachis — began at the Clifton church.
Father Leonardo Jaramillo, pastor of St. Paul’s, said, “Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas and this manifestation of our Blessed Mother was recognized right away by the Catholic Church. She is the mother for all and we can see how she gained the designation as the patron of the Americas and Mexico.”
At the parish, there is a large Spanish-speaking community and the feast is an important part of Mexican and Latino culture. Father Jaramillo said, “All Latinos celebrate this important feast of our Blessed Mother. It is through her that we have Our Savior.”
In the city of Passaic, parishes all around the city marked the feast, which has a large Mexican population. At Our Lady of Fatima/St. Nicholas Parishes in Passaic, a citywide celebration took place with a rosary procession beginning in the chapel of Our Lady of Fatima Church on Exchange Place in Passaic, to St. Nicholas Church on Washington Place in Passaic, the evening of Dec. 12.
Father Rolands Uribe, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima/St. Nicholas, said, “The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is very important to the Mexican and Hispanic communities because she is part of our history and we identify with her and St. Juan Diego. Our Blessed Mother appeared to an indigenous person who had converted to Christianity and he became a very devout Catholic. Because our Blessed Mother chose an indigenous person, we feel represented by him and acknowledged. Mary could have picked people of influence to send the message but she picked one of our own to deliver the message. Not only did she pick a lay person, she spoke to Juan Diego in Nahuatl, his native language.”
Nearby at another Passaic parish, St. Anthony Church, Rosa Gomez, a young adult who serves on the youth ministry team, attended the feast day Mass with her family, originally from Mexico. “My family celebrates this day with gratitude and because it is part of our culture,” she said. “The veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is practiced from generation to generation. We all present our petitions to Our Lady and it is special to us all. The spirit was full of glee, thankfulness, kindness, and togetherness.”
In Parsippany, St. Peter the Apostle Church hosted celebrations the evening of Dec. 11 with a bilingual Mass to mark the feast day with the growing Hispanic community in Morris County.
Marla Martinez, a parishioner of St. Peter’s, attended the Mass with her mother. “We had a beautiful celebration, starting with songs of worship, a bilingual Mass, and rosary led by different families from our parish,” she said. “A Holy Hour and the Mananitas at midnight. On a personal matter, I made a promise to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, which I did a couple of years ago and ever since I have been very devoted to our ‘Morenita,’” she told The Beacon.
Many more parishes also marked the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which was established by Pope St. John Paul II in 1999. At that same time, the late pope also gave Mary the title as the Protectress of Unborn Children.
On the Diocese’s Spanish-language Facebook page, a message for Spanish-speaking Catholics read: “Meeting as a pilgrim church that we are to celebrate ‘La Morenita’ we ask that those words addressed to San Juan Diego: ‘Am I not here, I, who am your mother?’ be for us a source of encouragement and strength during difficult times of our lives. May she be, the Patroness of Mexico and Empress of the Americas, who always guides us by her hand toward a personal encounter with her son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah we eagerly await with joy. Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe!”