Procession celebrates feast day for Our Lady of Guadalupe
On Thursday, Dec. 12, members of Breckenridge’s Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church participated in the annual Our Lady of Guadalupe procession. This year, the procession traveled from West Elliott Street to the church on South Miller.
Participants in the procession carry the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe into the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church on Thursday, Dec. 12. (Photo by Tony PIlkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Many of the participants were dressed in traditional costumes and danced to the beat of a drum, while others walked, carrying images of the Patroness of the Americas. The Breckenridge procession was escorted by Hubbard Creek Volunteer Fire Department trucks and the Breckenridge Police Department and was accompanied by a band.
According to the Knights of Columbus website, as well as many 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. 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. He 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.
Pictures and statues based on the image that appeared on Juan Diego’s tilma play an integral part of the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
The procession included a band, playing traditional music. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Many of the participants in the procession wore brightly colored traditional costumes. Click here to see more photos. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Cutline, top photo: The Our Lady of Guadalupe procession traveled from West Elliott Street to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church on South Miller Street on Thursday, Dec. 12, the feast day for the Patroness of the Americas. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
