COUNTYWIDE : Latinos to Celebrate Patron Saint Day

Thousands of Orange County Latinos will gather this weekend to take part in Guadalupe Day festivities, commemorating a 461-year-old legend of the patron saint of Mexico.

More than 1,500 people are expected at a Mass today honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Most Rev. Norman F. McFarland, bishop of Orange, will preside during the noon Mass at St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church in Anaheim.

Msgr. Jaime Soto, who heads the diocese’s Hispanic Ministries, said that each Dec. 12, Latinos in the United States and in Mexico begin a month of religious celebrations including Las Posadas, Navidad, and Dia de los Reyes Magos. Many of Orange County’s 560,000 Latinos will be taking part in the celebrations.

According to legend, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared before Juan Diego, a poor Mexican Indian. Diego was on an errand over Tepeyac Hill, in what is now Mexico City, on Dec. 9, 1531. Suddenly, a vision of a woman appeared and the apparition told him to ask the bishop to build a shrine where she stood.

But the bishop did not believe Diego until the vision appeared again on Dec. 12.

She called herself Holy Mary of Guadalupe, and she became the patron saint of Mexico. Her celebration in Mexico and in parts of the Southwestern United States is known as Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe or the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Soto said most Catholic churches with a large number of Spanish-speaking parishioners would celebrate a Mass very early this morning.

With each parish in charge of its own celebrations, Soto said some events planned for this weekend are simple and others are elaborate, such as at St. Boniface, with mariachi groups providing entertainment at 11:30 a.m.

The diocese is helping sponsor today’s celebration at St. Boniface because Our Lady of Guadalupe is also the patroness of the diocese. The church is at 120 N. Janss St. in Anaheim.

Other churches celebrating Mass early today include Our Lady of the Pillar, 1622 W. 6th St., Santa Ana, at 5:30 a.m.; Mission San Juan Capistrano, 5 a.m.; and St. Anthony Claret, 1450 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim, 5 a.m.