[Gocamino] ] 120 000 pilgrims per day - 20million pa!!

Wed Dec 12 19:52:01 PST 2007

Hello you all,

If you are a fellow insomniac and were surfing the web last night after midnight you may have come across two (of the six 24/7 TV channels in Spanish that we have in New York) TV stations  broadcasting live from Mexico City  the traditional Serenade to the Virgin of Guadalupe and the following midnight Mass. It is a much sought-after honor to appear at the Virgin’s Serenade, and famous artists vie for the opportunity.   Placido Domingo, who grew up in Mexico, has sung at the serenade a few times, as have Latin artists of international stature such as Roberto Carlos from Brasil and Lucero from Mexico. After the Serenade last night Mass was celebrated jointly by priests from every American country, including the USA and Canada; the music was provided by a noted mariachi band with the solo parts sung by different highly regarded and well known singers.

I was particularly moved by the beautiful, tender and soulful singing of the boys’ choir which reminded me of their famous counterpart in Vienna.  According to the announcers, there were over 100,000 people in attendance there for Mass, with most of them in the large square outside the Basilica. 

The first church built for the Virgin almost 450 years ago is atop the Tepeyac hill (one has to climb up to it) and is small. Over the centuries several large churches have been built at the foot of the hill and they are museums today, quite notable for the many works of art they contain and the “retablos” in them. A retablo is a small pictorial retelling, mostly on a tin surface, of a special grace granted by the Virgin and taken to the Virgin by the person favored as recognition and gratitude. They are, in my view, priceless pieces of living historical popular art.

The present day church is modernistic in design, ample, and quite well suited for the purpose. The “tilma” containing the image of the Virgin hangs in a wall behind the altar, and the colors, lighting, general structure and directional focus of the church is such that one’s eyes inevitably go to it. .  Underneath the framed image, and unseen from the church, there are four electric conveyors that move people underneath the image without stopping, and thereby accommodate the immense multitudes that seem to crowd the Basilica at all times. On the arched sides of the altar there are huge marble arms to receive and display, for a little while, the unbelievable amount of flowers that are brought constantly by the faithful.   In fact, outside the Basilica compound there is an entire, and large, flower market for the purpose.

When Juan Diego was rebuked and dismissed by the church authorities as a messenger from the Virgin he was told by her to take to the church authorities, as proof of the genuineness of the message, roses blooming on the hill which, of course, would not have done so in December.  Juan Diego gathered the roses in his mantle and when he showed them to the priests in charge what appeared on his mantle was the image of the Virgin which hangs in the Basilica today.  Because of this, the most common flowers taken to the Virgin, in Mexico, and everywhere, are roses.

(The word “rosary”, of course, refers to a collection of prayers offered to the Virgin as though they were a bouquet of roses).

The news just reported that by nine o’clock p.m., Mexico City time, more than two million people had visited the Basilica since the night before, and that the numbers were not abating.  Pilgrims come from all over, and a few times a year pilgrimages are organized for groups that walk from as far away as Argentine.

The Virgin of Guadalupe was much beloved by the late Pope John Paul II. The first country which he visited as a Pope was Mexico, and he visited it more than any other country during his papacy.  He had a very beautiful chapel built for the Virgin of Guadalupe at the Vatican, to the left of the place where St. Peter’s urn is.  The artistic value of the pieces in that chapel is astonishing.

When the late Pope came to New York the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was placed in the very center of Saint Patrick Cathedral’s altar. Today the Virgin of Guadalupe occupies, permanently the area to the right of the main altar.  If you come to New York and go to the Cathedral you will be inevitably drawn to it by the number of people in front of it, and by the flowers.

At the Cathedral in Santiago the Virgin of Guadalupe occupies the pride of place in the Sacristy… which has been repainted and relit for the purpose.

There is an outstandingly beautiful church in Vienna called the “Gothic” church. It was built by the Archduque Maximilian as thanks for keeping his brother, the emperor Francis Joseph, from being killed in an assassination attempt. What is, to me, extraordinary, is that on the right of that magnificent church there is a stunning chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, and that the image is surrounded by Viennese “retablos”, as it were: carved marble tiles with thanks to the Virgin, in German, of course, for some favor granted. Another unbearably touching detail in that church is that the candle offerings in that chapel come in a small plastic candle container bearing a reproduction of the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and, in German, what she told Juan Diego that cold December morning almost 450 years ago: “Do not be afraid…. I am here, and I am your mother”.

As most of us know, to the very end of his days the admonition of the late Pope to us was always “do not be afraid”.

I’ll be going to Vienna the day after Christmas and will, of course, go the Gothic Church where the music is gorgeous. If somebody here would like me to get for her, or him, a couple of those little Virgin of Guadalupe candle-holders I’ll be glad to do so.  I’ve never seen their like anywhere else.

Meanwhile, happy Virgin of Guadalupe feast day.
Rosina

-----Original Message-----
From: Sil <sillydoll at gmail.com>
To: saintjames at yahoogroups.com; Gocamino <gocamino at oakapple.net>
Sent: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 1:52 am
Subject: [saintjames] 120 000 pilgrims per day - 20million pa!!

Leaders at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, which
houses St. Juan Diego's tilma with the image of the Virgin, say that by
Wednesday, some 7 million pilgrims will have visited the church in the last
four days.

Wednesday is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the day that brings the
most pilgrims to the site, located in Mexico's mountain capital. But the
four-day span between Dec. 8 -- feast of the Immaculate Conception -- and
Dec. 12 traditionally brings overflowing crowds.

This Dec. 12 commemorates the 476th anniversary of the last of the
apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego. Juan Diego was canonized by
Pope John Paul II in 2002.

Each year between 18 - 20 million pilgrims visit the basilica, making it
Christianity's most visited sanctuary and one of the most visited pilgrimage
sites in the world. There are days on which the basilica is visited by up to
120,000 people.

The caretakers at the basilica expect that all attendance records will be
broken this year with the arrival of 7 million visitors in only four days --
2 million pilgrims are expected Wednesday.--
Sil

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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