Breckenridge celebrates Our Lady of Guadalupe with colorful procession, music
By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Our Lady of Guadalupe was celebrated in Breckenridge on Friday, Dec. 12, when members of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church participated in the annual procession, dressed in colorful costumes and accompanied by traditional music.
Earlier in the day (9 a.m., Breckenridge time), almost 6,000 miles away, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in St Peter’s Basilica for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Participants in this year’s Our Lady of Guadalupe procession in Breckenridge danced in vibrant, elaborate costumes and headdresses. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
In Breckenridge, participants of all ages participated in the procession from West Elliott Street to the church on South Miller Street. Some wore traditional costumes and danced to the beat of a drum, while others walked, carrying images of the Our Lady of Guadalupe, aka as the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary and the Patroness of the Americas. The procession was escorted by Hubbard Creek Volunteer Fire Department trucks and the Breckenridge Police Department and was accompanied by a band.
The procession was followed by mass at Sacred Heart.
The story starts almost 500 years ago, in 1531, in the area known as Tepeyac, near Mexico City, when Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, a member of one of Mexico’s indigenous groups, met a beautiful woman adorned in clothing that “shone like the sun,” according to information on the website for the Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe in Mexico City.
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.
As part of the procession, a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was carried along the route. Click here to see more pictures from the procession. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
From Dec. 9-12, 1531, she appeared to Juan Diego 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 still on display in the church.
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.
Now, every 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.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II canonized Juan Diego, making him Mexico’s first indigenous saint. The feast day for St. Juan Diego is celebrated on Dec. 9.
In delivering his homily on Friday, according to an article in the Vatican News, Pope Leo XIV said that in both Juan Diego’s time and today, Mary “is the voice that makes the promise of divine faithfulness resound, the sustaining presence when life becomes unbearable.”
Click here to see more photos from Breckenridge Our Lady of Guadalupe procession.
This statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe represents the way she appeared to Juan Diego in 1531. (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)
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)
Participants wrapped up the procession at Sacred Heart, followed by mass. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Cutline, top photo: Included in the pilgrimage is a processional shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe, along with dancers in traditional costumes. Click here to see more photos from the event. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
