Darkness enshrouded St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elgin early Wednesday morning but inside it was ablaze with the vibrant colors of white and pink roses and foil hearts in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
St. Joseph was one of many churches in the Fox Valley to commemorate the feast day with masses, prayers, songs and plays. In Mexico, Our Lady is a national symbol and her day an important event on the religious calendar.
This year, St. Joseph chose to decorate the altar with items from the region of Tepeyac, Mexico, where the vision of the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant in 1531.
“We have turned this into the little hill of Tepeyac to remember Our Lady of Guadalupe so she will continue to listen to our needs and our prayers,” said the Rev. Jesus R. Dominguez, who heads the Division Street church.
When Our Lady appeared before a peasant named Juan Diego, it’s said she requested a shrine be built at the site in her honor. Diego told the bishop but he wanted proof. Diego saw the vision again and told her he needed a sign. She told him to go Tepeyac Hill, use his cloak to gather the roses he found growing there. When he emptied them from the cloak to present to the bishop, an image of Mary was emblazoned on the cloth.
A shrine was built on the site, and later a basilica, where Diego’s cloak is kept.
Among the items placed on the St. Joseph altar/hill were cacti, roses and items handmade by indigenous Mexicans living near the region of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tepeyac, a suburb of Mexico City.
“We also decorated Our Lady of Guadalupe (statue) with custom garments with bright colors that women in the (region) wear. It is called Huipil,” Dominguez said during a mass Wednesday. “We thought this year it would be very nice to decorate in Our Lady in Huipil, bringing back our customs.”
Another custom is making cut-out hearts wrapped in foil and decorated for Our Lady, Dominguez said. If there is something a person needs Our Lady’s intercession on or wants to thank Our Lady for, a heart is placed at an altar in her name, he said.
“Just think of how many miracles and blessing we have received from Mary,” Dominguez said. “We give our hearts to Mary when we are in need. We all have different needs in our lives so there are different shapes and different colors of heart.”
Parishioners like Gustavo Santoyo spent hours helping decorate the altar for the Feast of Our Lady Guadalupe, he said.
“We come to give thanks for all we received during the year,” he said.
Mexicans are known around the world for their culture, their faith, their history and their humility, the Rev. Eliserio Palencia told those who attended a 5 a.m. Spanish mass at the church.
“Thank you for preserving your traditions and faith and making us part of your lives and culture,” said Palencia, who is from Columbia. “May Our Lady continue to bless you.”
