Dancers in colorful costumes swish their skirts as they walk in Tuesday’s procession honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wilkes-Barre.
Tony Callaio | Times Leader
Mother of Jesus is ‘patroness of the Americas’
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The statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe is carried down the aisle of St. Nicholas Church in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday evening, nearing the end of a procession that began close to 2 miles away on Ketchum Street in Wilkes-Barre Township.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
The permanent statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Nicholas Church in Wilkes-Barre was adorned with hundreds of roses in honor of the Blessed Virgin’s Feast Day Tuesday. The loving message above the statue says ‘Nuestro (Corazon) es tuyo,’ which means ‘Our (heart) is yours.’
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
Two costumed children await the start of Mass at St. Nicholas Church celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
A mariachi band plays traditional music at that start of Mass celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Tuesday at St. Nicholas Church. The flower-laden statue was carried in a nearly 2 mile procession preceding the arrival at the church.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera, center, was lead celebrant of the Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Tuesday, hosted by the parish of St. Nicholas - St. Mary in Wilkes-Barre. At left is parish pastor the Rev. Joseph Verespy and at right is assistant pastor the Rev. Fidel Ticona.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
St. Nicholas Church was near capacity before the Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe began. By the time the rites started, it was several people deep in standing room only.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
The procession celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Tuesday makes its way over the South Street Bridge.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
Even after arriving at St. Nicholas Church around 5:30 p.m., the crowd taking part in the procession continued to sing, dance and pray around the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe (back toward the camera) outside St. Nicholas Church.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
This year marks the 20th year for the procession, as this young man’s shirt explains.
Tony Callaio | Times Leader
Tony Callaio | Times Leader
Re-enacting a bit of folklore, a procession partipant represents one of the elders who helped drive a leopard away from a village.
Tony Callaio | Times Leader
Father Fidel, at left, joins the walkers as they make their way to the church in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Tony Callaio | Times Leader
If you Google the distance between Ketchum Street in Wilkes-Barre Township and St. Nicholas Church in downtown Wilkes-Barre, a computer will estimate you could drive the 1.8 miles in six minutes.
But for several hundred people late Tuesday afternoon, the ideal way to travel was on foot — walking or dancing, singing or playing a musical instrument, perhaps throwing rose petals in front of, or taking a turn to carry a statue of la Virgen de Guadalupe.
“You see the men carrying the statue,” procession participant Jesselis Engel of Wilkes-Barre said, looking up from her song sheet to point toward the volunteers who had shouldered the statue on a rose-covered platform called a carrosa. “They’re taking turns, and it is an honor.”
The procession was followed by a standing-room-only Mass hosted by the Parish of St. Nicholas and St. Mary in Wilkes-Barre, as worshippers celebrated the Feast Day of la Virgen de Guadalupe, who was declared “Patroness of the Americas” by Pope John Paul II in 1999.
The day is especially meaningful to Catholics of Mexican heritage, because the feast honors the belief that the mother of Jesus Christ appeared to a devout Aztec peasant, St. Juan Diego, in 16th century Mexico to request that a church be built on the site. The traditional story speaks of roses and an image of the lady that miraculously appeared on Juan Diego’s cloak, or tilma, withboth the flowers and the image helping to persuade the bishop in Mexico to grant the request.
Many participants in Tuesday’s procession wore shirts or vests or ponchos imprinted with the image of la Virgen de Guadalupe, who is recognizable by stars on her cloak and an angel under her feet.
Berenice Rodriguez of Wilkes-Barre and her 6-year-old son, Leonardo, were both wearing ponchos with the image as they took part in their first-ever procession.
Leonardo had spotted something about Our Lady of Guadalupe on TikTok and was curious, Rodriguez said, so she wanted him “to experience part of our culture” first-hand. As they walked along Nicholson Street in Wilkes-Barre Township, Rodriguez said she was glad they came. “Look at all the happiness it radiates.”
“My favorite part is the dancing. It’s a beautiful part of our culture,” said Karen Sosa, 15, who walked alongside her cousin, Mariely Sosa, 16.
One particularly active group of participants, wearing straw hats and continually dancing, paid tribute to folklore — re-enacting a legend about villagers who drove away the leopard that was threatening their village.
Another group dressed as Aztec warriors, with one member, Jesús Sanchez, blowing every now and then on a conch shell that he had fashioned into a musical instrument.
When the hundreds of people in the procession entered the church, they found at least as many people waiting there
Obispo Joseph Bambera — as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Scranton would be styled in Spanish — was the main celebrant of the Mass, where he got things started: “En el nombre del Padre del Hijo y del Espiritu Santo …”
Cantor Megan Wood sang the praises of la Virgen Maria in Spanish, leading the congregation in the refrain “Tu eres el orgulio de nuestra raza,” which translates to “You are the highest honor of our race.”
And Deacon Mike Golubiewski read the gospel story about Mary traveling in haste a un pueblo de las montañas de Judea, or to the hill country of Judea, to visit her cousin Elizabeth, when Mary was expecting Jesus, and Elizabeth was expecting John the Baptist.
