Celebrating the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Sacred Heart of Jesus Church holds annual procession on Walker Street
A group from Breckenridge’s Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, dressed in traditional costumes, danced to the beat of a drum, while others walked, carrying images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, for the annual procession celebrating the Patroness of the Americas down West Walker Street on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Many participants in the procession dressed in traditional costumes and danced to the beat of a drum. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
According to the Knights of Columbus website, as well as countless other resources, almost 500 years ago, in the area known as Tepeyac, near Mexico City, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin met a beautiful woman adorned in clothing that “shone like the sun.” The woman introduced herself as “the immaculate Mother of God” and explained that she came to request a church to be built there, and she wanted Juan Diego to take her request to the head of the Church in Mexico, Bishop Juan de Zumárraga. From Dec. 9-12 in the year 1531, Juan Diego met the woman four times.
Juan Diego talked to the bishop three times, trying to convince him to build the church. On the third visit, at the insistence of the woman, he took flowers that were growing on the hillside. It was December, and the flowers should not have been blooming, but they were. The woman arranged the flowers in Juan Diego’s cloak, also known as a tilma or tilmàtli.
When Juan Diego took the cloak with the flowers to the bishop, the flowers fell out and on the cloak was revealed an image of the woman, now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Virgin of Guadalupe. The bishop believed Juan Diego’s story, and the chapel was built within two weeks. The tilma is on display in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Also during that time period, Juan Diego’s uncle became deathly ill. After he, too, was visited by “the Perfect Virgin Holy Mary of Guadalupe,” he was healed.
On Dec. 12, the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe — or the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe — is celebrated throughout the United States and Mexico and beyond.
The Breckenridge procession was escorted by Hubbard Creek Volunteer Fire Department trucks and was accompanied by a band. They traveled from the 1800 block of West Walker Street to the church at 208 S. Miller St.
The Our Lady of Guadalupe Procession takes place each year on or about Dec. 12, known as the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
The procession features dancers dressed in brightly colored costumes, followed by church members carrying images of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Breckenridge’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Procession traveled down Walker Street for several blocks and then down Miller Street to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church. Click here to see more photos. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
