Alexandria’s immigrants celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe – Alexandria Echo Press

ALEXANDRIA

— Spanish speakers got a rare chance to hear a Catholic mass in their own language in Alexandria on Dec. 11 — and it was no ordinary mass.

It was the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary in 1531 to an indigenous Mexican man who had converted to Christianity, and is a major event in Central and South America. The event at

St. Mary’s Catholic Church

provided a taste of home to Alexandria residents originally from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Nicaragua, or other countries south of the border, many of whom still have family there.

The celebration included a procession of children, a reenactment of the event, dancing and singing.

“It’s an honor to have this,” said Nelly DeLaRosby of Alexandria, who wore traditional dress with flowers in her hair and led the children in presenting roses to the statue. The roses are significant because according to the church, the man, named Juan Diego, was instructed by the apparition of Mary to bring roses growing on the hillside to the bishop as a sign he should build a chapel where she stood. He found the roses growing despite that it was winter, and despite the fact that they were Castillian roses not native to Mexico. However, the bishop was Castillian and recognized their presence as a miracle.

To attend a Spanish mass, immigrants who live in the Alexandria area have to drive to one of eight parishes in the diocese that have a Spanish speaking priest, including Long Prairie and Perham.

“I’m working on making us No. 9,” said Father Matthew Kuhn, who delivered the Spanish mass despite not being able to hold a conversation in Spanish. He speaks Italian, he said, and the pronunciation is similar, so that he was able to read the service. He gets many requests from the immigrant community for baptisms and other services and he hopes the bishop will assign a Spanish-speaking priest to the Alexandria church.

Right now, he said, the annual Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the only service they offer in Spanish.

“It’s not enough,” he said.

Ana Aguilera’s eyes lit up at the thought of having a regular Spanish mass in Alexandria.

“It would be great,” she said. In Nicaragua, where she has from, the feast day is celebrated with mariachi bands, tamales, prayers to the virgin, and giving of candy bags, she said. Although there were no mariachi bands on Monday, she said she was happy to have the celebration in her own language.

“We still feel really good today,” she said.

Several children wore dresses or shirts with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is key to the other part of the story. Juan Diego wrapped the roses up in his cape and when he unrolled the cape, where the roses had been appeared an image of Mary. Maricruz Bedoy and her son Jared Rodriguez, 10, reenacted this part during the mass.

The feast and the story are widely seen as reminding the Spanish conquerors in Mexico that God loved the indigenous people and it prompted millions of indigenous people to convert to Catholicism.

DeLaRosby grew up in Guadalupe near the cathedral and has attended the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe there. The nearly-500-year-old cathedral still stands, she said, but it is sinking and has been replaced by a more modern structure. The shrine there is one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world; Kuhn said it is second only to Rome.

DeLaRosby too, said she hopes that this one Spanish language feast day a year will grow into something more, especially as the Spanish-speaking community grows locally.

“I love to bring the community together,” she said.

The event was followed by a feast prepared by Casa Jalisco and El Loro, two local Mexican restaurants.

Pablo Rodriguez, whose family owns Casa Jalisco, said the community had supported their restaurant when it suffered

extensive water and fire damage

this year.

“Now we’re returning the favor,” he said.

Reporter Karen Tolkkinen grew up in Plymouth, Minnesota, graduated from the University of Minnesota with a journalism degree in 1994. Driven by curiosity and a desire to learn about the United States, Karen Tolkkinen has covered local news from Idaho to New Hampshire to Alabama and landing at the Echo Press in Alexandria in 2017.