MEDIA ADVISORY: December 9, 2022
Mass and Enthronement Ceremony for Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego
The Mass and Enthronement of the images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego gifted to the Archdiocese of New York will take place on Monday, December 12, 2022 at 10:00 AM in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The principal celebrant for the Mass will be Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York; concelebrating will be Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent Observer of The Holy See To The United Nations, Bishop Ramon Castro, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference in Mexico, Bishop Alfonso Miranda Guardiola, Auxiliary Bishop of Monterrey, Bishop Héctor Mario Pérez Villarreal, Bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico, and our New York State Bishops. Father Javier del Castillo, U.S. Vicar of the Prelature of Opus Dei will serve as homilist. Ambassadors and Consul Generals of the United Nations representing Latin America are expected to attend.
The annual procession from the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe on 14th Street to St. Patrick’s Cathedral will begin at 7:30 AM arriving St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 9:30 AM.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a title for the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. The tradition and devotion arose from an encounter between Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego, a Mexican peasant of indigenous descent in the sixteenth century, to whom she appeared and spoke in his native language of Nahuatl. She commissioned him to build a church in her honor. That church, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world today. Saint Juan Diego was canonized in 2002.
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe holds great significance for all Catholics in the Americas and the new shrine enthroned to the images is the most visited shrine at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.