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Following Dec. 12 morning Mass, a young couple prays silhouetted against the brightly lit shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe set up at St. Edward Church in Little Rock. Dwain Hebda photo Luis Hernandez (left), Bob Maloney and Miguel Andradi, members of the Knights of Columbus, install the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the altar at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Rogers. Alesia Schaefer photo Altar servers, followed by members of La Danza San Jose dance group, lead a procession Dec. 15. More than 500 Hispanic parishioners of St. Joseph Church in Conway formally observed the feast day. Members of St. Stephen Church in Bentonville re-enact the vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego at a recent performance of the play. Dancers from Danza San Eduardo, a Hispanic heritage dance troop at St. Edward Church in Little Rock, performs to close the morning Mass and music there Dec. 12. Dwain Hebda photo Father Joseph Archibong, an associate pastor at St. Joseph Church in Conway, dons a sombrero for the Dec. 15 procession.
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Arkansas parishes celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe

Catholics' Queen of America honored with Masses, re-enactments and celebrations

Published: December 20, 2013         

By Dwain Hebda
Associate Editor

Dwain Hebda
Cirilo Guerrero, a member of Danza Azteca, a heritage dance troupe at St. John Church in Hot Springs, performs during the evening Mass Dec. 12 for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Hispanic faithful in parishes across Arkansas gathered to celebrate the feast Dec. 12 and on the weekend, Dec. 14-15. The feast commemorates the four appearances in 1531 of the Virgin Mary to a local peasant, Juan Diego, at Tepeyac, near Mexico City.

A source of particularly deep devotion among Mexican Catholics, Our Lady of Guadalupe was proclaimed patroness of the Americas by Pope Pius XII and Queen of America by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

The local Catholic churches’ slate of events to mark the event included processions, elaborate decorations, native dance troupes, reenactments of the apparition and parish dinners. Many also included elaborately costumed participants.

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