Colorful Guadalupe Feast Abound in Diocese

By Alfonso Aguilar
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 12/12/02)

The increasingly popular celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe has a new aura this year— that of St. Juan Diego, recently canonized by the pope in Mexico City, where the story of the Virgin and the Mexican peasant developed in 1531.

In the metro area the first celebrations held last weekend were highlighted by the presence of the Guadalupan Torch 2002 (Antorcha Guadalupana), which began its journey in Mexico City Oct. 29, traveling across the United States en route to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to promote both the Catholic faith and an amnesty program for immigrants.

The torch tour, organized by Asociación Tepeyac in New York, is the special religious activity that Mexican young people like to be involved in, to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron saint of the oppressed and exploited. 

This year the religious pilgrimage includes 18 states, 45 cities and a total of 3,133 miles. In Mexico states included are Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz and Tamaulipas, and in this country Texas, Louisiana, Mississipi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C.; Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.

Participants take turns carrying the torch and two large oil paintings framed in gilded wood, one of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the other of St. Juan Diego. According to organizers, 2,000 runners from the five boroughs of New York, plus many others have joined the pilgrimage as it advances to its final destination.

"So far this has been a great experience," said Gelacio Vargas, a pilgrimage coordinator, while holding the torch at St. Anthony Parish in Falls Church, where hundreds of parishioners and mariachis welcomed the Mexican delegation last Saturday.

"In this journey we have seen everything — rain, snow, hail, mud, high temperatures, low temperatures," he said as many runners began their way to the Capitol and the Washington Monument to express their petition for a new amnesty program for immigrants.

"We are asking our Virgin for a miracle," said Adan Zanez, a member of the Asociación Tepeyac, wearing a headband with the word "Amnesty."

On Sunday, Arlington Bishop Loverde Paul S. Loverde initiated the Guadalupe celebrations in the diocese with a solemn, packed Mass in Spanish at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More, followed by mariachis and a reception.

"I am really happy to see so many people honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe," said Bishop Loverde.

A similar celebration occurred at St. Anthony church in Falls Church and will continue through Dec.15 in many other diocesan parishes. Dec.12 is the official feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

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