Our Lady of Guadalupe: Empress of the Americas

¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!

Or, 'long live Our Lady of Guadalupe!'¹

As I wrote in a previous post, Mary is a pretty big deal for many Catholics.

America, Churches, and Our Lady of Guadalupe

Devotion to the Virgin Mary isn't worship, but I can see how people in America might get that idea.

There's a tradition in some American styles of church design to make the sanctuary a sort of sensory-deprivation chamber: White walls, white ceiling, as little embellishment as possible.

Now and again there'll be a Catholic church where, maybe in a effort to 'fit in,' the same approach is taken.

Generally, though, the inside of a Catholic church isn't particularly bland.


St. Mary's Church, Melrose, Minnesota.

On the other hand, we do accommodate local cultures and customs. Look carefully in that photo of St. Mary's sanctuary, and you'll see a good old American "EXIT" sign.


Yep, that's an "EXIT" sign.

This Church of St. Mary is in Melrose, about 10 miles down the road. If you sit in the very front row and look to your right, you'll see a niche, between two stations of the cross:


Shrine: Our Lady of Guadalupe.


Our Lady of Guadalupe, between 'Jesus carries the cross' and 'Jesus falls for the first time' - in central Minnesota?!

That Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine is newer than the Melrose church. I haven't confirmed this, but my understanding is that the shrine was built when Hispanic families started moving to this area.

Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Hispanic Thing, Right?

Right now, I'd guess that the odds are pretty good that someone who has a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is also Hispanic. But it's not a requirement: any more than your having to be French to have a devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes.

Pope Piux XII declared Our Lady to be Patroness of the Americas in 1946, so I don't think it's that much of a stretch to think that anybody living in the Americas can have a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Our Lady of Guadalupe: 1531

We call the man who made an out-of-season flower delivery Juan Diego - and that is his name. Part of it, anyway. When Cuauhtlatoatzin ("speaking eagle") was baptized, he received the Christian name Juan Diego. I'll admit that it's easier - by far - for me to say "Juan Diego" than "Cuauhtlatoatzin," so I'll stick to that part of his name in this post.

You may be familiar with the account of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There's a pretty good re-telling on the sancta.org website. Very briefly, Juan Diego met and talked with Mary on a hill northwest of today's Mexico City. The hill's called Tepeyac. She wanted a church built on the site, and had Juan Diego act as a messenger, taking her request to the local bishop. So far, aside from the rank of the person making the request, just another item in the workings of the Catholic Church.

The bishop didn't believe Juan Diego. I can't say that I blame him. Most bishops go through their entire careers without getting messages direct from Our Lady. The bishop asked for a sign.

He got one.

Juan Diego came back with an assortment of roses - and an image on his tilma. The image, and the tilma, are still around: which is a bit odd, since that sort of cactus-cloth deteriorates in about 20 years. Juan Diego acted as go-between for the bishop and Our Lady in 1531. You do the math.

The bishop built the church.

"Empress of the Americas"?

Almost 478 years after that bishop got that assortment of roses, almost 22,000 people got together in Glendale's Jobing.com Arena. It's not a particularly 'spiritual' place. Incubus, Pink and the Ting Tings, and the Jonas Brothers are slated to be there this month, too.

But, it's got the seating capacity that the event organizers needed.

There's a pretty good writeup of last week's Our Lady of Guadalupe festival in The Catholic Sun:

"Nearly 22,000 people packed Jobing.com Arena for an Aug. 8 festival honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe and featuring a relic of St. Juan Diego's famed tilma.

"The event was hosted by the Knights of Columbus and followed their two-and-a-half day Marian Congress. During the festival, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson reflected on the unparalleled influence Our Lady of Guadalupe has had on the Americas.

" 'Your presence here today is a testament to the power of the message of love that Our Lady brought to this hemisphere,' Anderson told the crowd. 'Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Empress of the Americas. She calls all of us to unity within the Gospel message of her Son.'..."
The Catholic Sun

In context, the Supreme Knight calling Our Lady of Guadalupe "Empress of the Americas" makes good sense: and isn't part of a popish plot to overthrow the Anglo-Saxon States of America.

I think it highlights a sort of cultural gap between Catholics and 'real Americans.' At least since the days of Thomas Nast and Maria Monk, Catholics have been regarded as strange and, well, un-American.

We're not as scary as you might think. Stories about Jesuit Assassins, although colorful and dramatic, aren't an accurate reflection of the Catholic Church. We're even required to be good citizens. (September 24, 2008)

As a Catholic, however, I'm part of a group that's almost two thousand years old, spans the globe, has seen nations and empires rise and fall, and today numbers somewhere upwards of 1,000,000,000 people.

For someone whose highest allegiance is to a 233-year-old country with a population a little over 307,000,000 - that could be scary.

But, terms like "Empress of the Americas" notwithstanding, we're really not a threat to the United States government. As I said, we're required to be good citizens.

Vaguely related posts:

• "Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Church: Yeah, She's Pretty Important"
  (August 11, 2009)
• "Mother's Day: A Nice Cultural Tradition, and a Quite Catholic Celebration"
  (May 10, 2009)
• "Reflections on Isaiah, 2nd Corinthians, the Gospel of Mark, and Saint Faustina"
  (March 7, 2009)
• "Playboy Cover Didn't Play With Mary: Allegedly"
  (December 15, 2008)
• "Elections and Citizenship, Catholic Style"
  (September 24, 2008)

Background:

• Our Lady of Guadalupe
  • "Our Lady of Guadalupe"
    Advent Calendar / December 12, 2008
  • "Liturgical Calendar 2009 for the Dioceses of the United States of America"
    (2009) (pdf format)
  • "Shrine of Guadalupe"
    Kevin Knight, Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, via New Advent (2009)
  • "Saint Juan Diego"
    Monthly Letter, Abbaye Saint-Joseph de Clairval, via EWTN (December 12, 2003)
  • "Homily o fthe Holy Father John Paul II"
    Canonization of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
    Vatican.va (July 31, 2002)
    • "Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548)"
  • "Our Lady of Guadalupe: Historical Sources"
    L'Osservatore Romano, via EWTN (January 23, 2002)
  • Our Lady Of Guadalupe / Patroness of the Americas
    
    • A website registered to sancta, Herndon VA 20172, URL 1st registered in May, 2000
• Stations of the Cross
  • "Lent"
    Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
    Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
    Principles and Guidelines (Vatican City, December 2001) Particularly 131-135, Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross
  • "Stations of the Cross"
    based on those celebrated by Pope John Paul II on Good Friday, 1991 (1991)
  • "Sacramentals"
    Chapter 4: Other liturgical Celebration, Catechism of the Catholic Church
    Particularly 1614
• "Lourdes-France.org, Site internet des sanctuaires Notre-Dame de Lourdes"
  Lourdes france, le site officiel des Sanctuaires vous accueille
  Look out: This site will adjust your browser. Cool photos, though

In the news:

• "Nearly 22,000 people pack arena for festival honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe"
  The Catholic Sun (August 10, 2009)
• "Head of Knights says Our Lady of Guadalupe can inspire, unite people "
  The Catholic Spirit (August 10, 2009)
• "Our Lady of Guadalupe 'completely beyond' scientific explanation, says researcher"
  Catholic News Agency (August 7, 2009)

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Hats off to thecatholicsun, on Twitter, for the heads-up on their article.