Faithful from around Southern California braved the rain and cold the evening of Dec. 11 to fill the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and celebrate another year under the protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe, “Empress of the Americas.”
The birthday celebration of sorts included a rosary and Mariachi performance, as well as Aztec dancers and free refreshments on the Cathedral Plaza. It culminated in a Midnight Mass to kick off the 491st anniversary of Our Lady’s final apparition to an indigenous peasant in present-day Mexico City.
And in what has become an LA tradition, the evening attracted some star power to the cathedral to lead a late night “mañanitas” birthday serenade for the Virgin.
The tradition of singing to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico — and televising it — began in 1951 — when the serenade had to take place outdoors because the Vatican wouldn’t give permission to sing inside the original basilica in Mexico City. Five years later, the restriction was loosened and the live “mañanitas” event became a national TV spectacle with the biggest names in Mexican music singing before her image.
The LA cathedral, which houses a small fragment of the miraculous Guadalupe “tilma” (“cloak”) fabric, was also the scene of a live special program aired by the local NBC and Telemundo TV stations that included coverage from San Diego, the Bay Area, and Mexico. The live transmission of the event itself was made possible through a collaboration with EWTN Español.
It is commonly said in Mexico that one is a “Guadalupano” first and a Mexican second. The evening’s festivities offered evidence that among the Mexican immigrant community, the Faith and its traditions have immigrated with them. Archbishop José H. Gomez, a native of Mexico himself, urged the hundreds who stayed for the midnight Mass in honor of Guadalupe not to forget those roots.
“The Virgin of Guadalupe is our mother!” said the archbishop in his homily, delivered in Spanish. “She is who we are! She is where we come from! She is the one we long to be with — because she shows us Jesus, she shows us God.”
Full story at Angelus News.
I saw this on EWTN! It was just beautiful!
How many of them attended Mass on the holy day of obligation, the Immaculate Conception, the week prior? I’m willing to bet less than half of them did. This is not about being Catholic as much as it is about being Mexican. If it were about being Catholic, they would have attended Mass on the holy day of obligation. How many of them faithfully attend weekly Sunday Mass? Probably not many, as a percentage. It’s not Catholic faith that they are expressing; it’s Mexican heritage. You can tell by the costumes. It’s the same with the Vietnamese and their Lady of LaVang celebrations. It’s about being Vietnamese, not about being Catholic. The Catholic Church needs to be Catholic first. Ethnicity and national origin are irrelevant.
I agree! I recall, Abp. Gomez said that too, at the Mass. He said, “we are all (Catholics) Guadalupanos, first– and Mexicans, second.” I, too, have been horrified, to see the very small numbers of Mass-goers, recently, on Holy Days of Obligation, even the Feasts of the Immaculate Conception, and Assumption– Feasts of Our Lady, once very popular! The Vatican II-era Church leaders have monkeyed around too much with the Catholic Faith, causing massive confusion, betrayal of basic religious truths, and abandonment of the Faith. Worse– the current pope has done many disastrous things! He recently appointed a German bishop to be Prefect (head) of the Dicastery of Doctrine of the Faith, Bishop Heiner Wilmer, who is very heterodox, pro-German Synodal Way. A sure disaster awaits.
No he has not made that appointment.
Yes, the appointnent was recently announced by the Vatican. It is in many recent Catholic news stories.
Oh– I get it. Perhaps you are concerned, because Italian Catholic news sources in Rome state that the appointment of Bishop Wilmer was “confirmed.” But perhaps their real meaning, is that the appointment is “probable,” not exactly “confirmed.” Well– then, let’s just say, the appointment is “probable.” Translators get mixed up, too.
Aztec dancers? I hope they weren’t in the cathedral. The Aztec nation was pagan and barbaric. They offered human sacrifice to their gods and blood letting. They believed war was their duty and ritually murdered their prisoners. Nothing to be celebrated.