Amador County – The local Catholic community marked the “Celebracion a Nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe,” the “Celebration of Our Virgin of Guadalupe” with a procession on her Feast Day, Monday on Main Street in Jackson.

People gathered at Saint Patrick’s Church for the procession’s start, marked by church bells, and through downtown, with escorts fore and aft from Jackson Police Department vehicles. The feast day of the Virgen de Guadalupe, Dec. 12, is one of the most important dates in the Mexican calendar.

Jeannine Crew, secretary of St. Katharine Drexel Parish, said the procession is the traditional Hispanic way to celebrate the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patron Saint of the Americas, marked with songs and a float to reenact the apparition that occurred in 1531, when Mary, mother of Jesus, appeared to Juan Diego.

The procession always ends with mass and liturgy, asking for special intercession by the Virgin. Crew said Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas and is an important example of how to follow Christ.

The procession was organized by Lourdes Cassillas; and celebrated with Father Roland Ramirez, the parochial vicar, and Brother Jaime Garcia, the parochial deacon. Riding on the float on the back of a pickup truck, Diana Santacruz portrayed the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Giovanni Cassillas portrayed the young Juan Diego, before whom she is said to have appeared 480 years ago.

Saints & Angels, on Catholic.org, noted: “According to Roman Catholic tradition, on Dec. 9, 1531, Juan Diego, a recently converted Aztec indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert near Mexico City. The lady asked him to build a church exactly on the spot where they were standing. He told the local Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, who asked for proof in exchange.”

Miracles were said to ensue, including the healing of Diego’s uncle, and led to the conversion to Catholicism of millions of Mexicans. The Lady of Guadalupe told Diego to pick flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, and the Virgin herself arranged the flowers in Diego’s apron-like mantle. He took them to Zumarraga, who found the flowers were roses from his native homeland, miraculously bloomed in the Mexican winter. Mary’s image also appeared on Diego’s mantle, and the image is still on display at the Lady of Guadalupe’s Basilica, “the most visited Catholic pilgrimage destination in the world.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.