GARY – Several inches of snow and temperatures that felt in the teens did not stop the faithful from gathering for the annual procession in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas.
Beginning at Ss. Monica and Luke in Gary, a statue of La Guadalupana traveled five miles to St. Joseph the Worker on Sunday, Nov. 30. The statue will remain there for the novena leading up to the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.
Father Ed Shea, OFM, began the procession with a prayer service on the first Sunday of Advent, lighting the first purple candle on the Advent wreath at Ss. Monica and Luke. The Franciscan friar noted that while those present would be making a physical journey with the statue of the Blessed Mother, everyone in the Church is on a pilgrimage on the way to heaven.
“May this be a journey when we walk together as a light for the city of Gary, for hope and for peace,” he prayed. “Let us honor the Virgin with our love and devotion.”
The statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe that belongs to Ss. Monica and Luke has a history of stirring devotion and answered prayers. In the 1940s, during World War II, a parishioner knelt before the statue at the since-closed St. Anthony of Padua in Gary. She prayed that if Our Lady of Guadalupe brought all of the servicemen of the parish home safely from the war, she would honor her with a crown of pure gold.
When her prayer was answered, she got to work raising $2,000 for the crown. Although the parishioner herself was of limited means, she contacted the families of servicemen who made it home safely and the young adults of the parish held fundraisers as an act of thanksgiving for the Blessed Mother’s protection.
The gold crown remains affixed atop the statue, which annually is loaned to St. Joseph the Worker, now a predominantly Hispanic parish, for the novena in her honor.
Following the brief prayer service, which included a reading of the history of the statue to stir up devotion and trust in the intercession of Our Lady, four men carried the plexiglass-encased statue to a flatbed truck outside, where she was secured for the journey and adorned with floral arrangements.
While Gary police provided traffic control and ensured a safe journey, neighbors stopped to take pictures or gently honked their car horns in support of the pilgrims. Mariachi provided musical accompaniment while pilgrims sang and chanted.
The procession arrived at St. Joseph the Worker with celebratory shouts of, “¡Sí se pudo!” or “Yes, you did it!” and the faithful entered the warmth of the sanctuary after the nearly two-hour journey through snow-lined streets. The statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was removed from her plexiglass case and processed into the main aisle of the church, where she was placed among floral arrangements and serenaded by those present.
As the crowd made their way to their seats and prepared for the afternoon Mass to conclude their pilgrimage, Father Shea made an announcement: in addition to being visited by Our Lady of Guadalupe, Most Rev. Robert J. McClory, Bishop of Gary, was also surprising the community with a pastoral visit that afternoon.
“I began this morning with my family in Michigan, where I was for Thanksgiving,” the bishop explained, “and I told them I was leaving to come be with my family in Gary.”
After offering his blessing, Bishop McClory joined the congregation in serenading Our Lady of Guadalupe with “La Guadalupana” accompanied by mariachi before making his way through the congregation to greet each person individually. The traditional song tells the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s apparition to St. Juan Diego and her image that she placed on his cloak, also known as a tilma.
In that miraculous image on St. Juan Diego’s tilma, Our Lady is adorned with symbols that were known to the indigenous peoples of Mexico, such as a turquoise mantle that symbolized royalty and the ribbon around her waist that shows she is pregnant. Within 10 years of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance in Mexico, over nine million people converted to Catholicism.
“Desde entonces para el Mexicano, ser Guadalupano es algo esencial,” the congregation sang. “Since then, for the Mexican, to be devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe is essential.”
Caption: The congregation at St. Joseph the Worker in Gary serenades a historic statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Nov. 30, following the annual procession with the statue from Ss. Monica and Luke to kick off the novena leading up to Our Lady’s feast day on Dec. 12. Most Rev. McClory offered his blessing on those gathered and joined in the singing of “La Guadalupana” after the five-mile pilgrimage.
