2 More Holidays

Feast of St. Therese of Liseux
On October 1, roses are traditionally blessed and given to the sick, the elderly, and others with special needs in the parish. This tradition undoubtedly derives from St. Therese's promise while on Earth that she would spend her time in heaven sending a "shower of roses" to the faithful. As a nun in France, St. Therese had given flowers as a small act of her love for God, since she believed that she could never perform great deeds. She is the patron saint for those diagnosed with AIDs and, of course, florists.

Feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe
Catholics, especially those with Hispanic backgrounds, celebrate this feast day on December 12 (yes, today). The Basilica of Guadalupe sits on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City, where a dark-skinned Virgin Mary reportedly appeared to St. Juan Diego, a poor Indian peasant, almost 500 years ago. The Virgin of Guadalupe left her image on Juan Diego's cloak as proof that she had appeared. (If this sounds familiar to those of you in your early 20s, it might be because the children's television show Wishbone featured the story.)

Today, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe decorates almost anything Hispanic:t-shirts, storefronts, and even cars. Many Hispanics identify with and devote themselves to her. To understand why the Virgin is so popular, one needs to understand the historical context of her appearance. Ten years prior to her 1531 appearance, the Spanish had ravaged Central America, commiting genocide on the local tribes. The Indians were demoralized and a collective death wish took hold.

That all changed with the Virgin's appearance to Diego, an Indian who had been converted to Christianity. She spoke to him in his native tongue, saying, "Do not let your heart be troubled... Am I not here? Am I not your mother?" Diego said that she told him to build a church where she could hear her people's weeping and sorrow. When Diego told the Spanish Bishop Juan de Zumarraga about what he had seen, the Bishop of Mexico did not believe him. Ashamed at his failure, St. Diego avoided Tepeyac Hill, but the apparition found him again and told him to fill the pockets of his coat with roses and to only open his cloak for the Bishop.

Diego did as he was instructed and, when he opened his tilma, the roses fell out and an image of the Virgin was miraculously impressed upon the cloth, bringing the Bishop of Mexico to his knees. The church was built on Tepeyac Hill (where it still stands) and, more importantly, the native people had a place to worship and thus regained their will to live-an even greater miracle.