Celebrating 'Our Lady of Guadalupe’
Saturday, December 12, 2009 (Updated 3:00 am)
By Jennifer Fernandez
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO — Anticipating a large crowd, Our Lady of Grace moved its annual Our Lady of Guadalupe ceremony to the Meridian Convention and Event Center on Friday night.
The church moved the ceremony last year as well, drawing about 1,600 people for two Masses that year, said the Rev. Fidel Melo.
The Mass, which was preceded by a celebration that included singing and dancing, honors the Virgin Mary’s visit to a Mexican peasant five centuries ago.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe came in a very key moment and time of the history of the people,” Melo said. “It was a wonderful, beautiful message at the time.”
As legend has it, in December 1531 the Virgin Mary visited Juan Diego, an Aztec who had converted to Christianity. She identified herself as the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe and told him to build a shrine to her atop Tepeyac Hill, now a suburb of Mexico City.
Diego told his bishop, who refused to believe without a sign. Mary appeared again to Diego, telling him to pick the flowers on Tepeyac Hill. He found a multitude of flowers growing there in the middle of winter and filled his coat with them to carry back to the disbelieving bishop.
When Diego spilled the flowers out of his cloak for the bishop, they discovered a likeness of the Virgin Mary on the inside of the cloak.
Her visits led to the conversion of millions of Aztecs to Christianity, Melo said.
The cloak with its image of the Virgin Mary still resides today at the Basilica de Guadalupe in Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, a northern suburb of Mexico City.
Up to 20 million people visit the Basilica annually, according to a New York Times travel review.
The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated every Dec. 12, the anniversary of her appearance on Diego’s cloak.
Saturday, December 12, 2009 (Updated 3:00 am)
By Jennifer Fernandez
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO — Anticipating a large crowd, Our Lady of Grace moved its annual Our Lady of Guadalupe ceremony to the Meridian Convention and Event Center on Friday night.
The church moved the ceremony last year as well, drawing about 1,600 people for two Masses that year, said the Rev. Fidel Melo.
The Mass, which was preceded by a celebration that included singing and dancing, honors the Virgin Mary’s visit to a Mexican peasant five centuries ago.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe came in a very key moment and time of the history of the people,” Melo said. “It was a wonderful, beautiful message at the time.”
As legend has it, in December 1531 the Virgin Mary visited Juan Diego, an Aztec who had converted to Christianity. She identified herself as the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe and told him to build a shrine to her atop Tepeyac Hill, now a suburb of Mexico City.
Diego told his bishop, who refused to believe without a sign. Mary appeared again to Diego, telling him to pick the flowers on Tepeyac Hill. He found a multitude of flowers growing there in the middle of winter and filled his coat with them to carry back to the disbelieving bishop.
When Diego spilled the flowers out of his cloak for the bishop, they discovered a likeness of the Virgin Mary on the inside of the cloak.
Her visits led to the conversion of millions of Aztecs to Christianity, Melo said.
The cloak with its image of the Virgin Mary still resides today at the Basilica de Guadalupe in Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, a northern suburb of Mexico City.
Up to 20 million people visit the Basilica annually, according to a New York Times travel review.
The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated every Dec. 12, the anniversary of her appearance on Diego’s cloak.
No comments:
Post a Comment