INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL MEXICAN SINGERS JONATÁN SÁNCHEZ AND HELEN OCHOA TO JOIN AMERICA’S GOT TALENT SEMI-FINALIST ALONDRA SANTOS FOR CATHEDRAL’S CELEBRATION IN HONOR OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, DEC. 11

December 7, 2016  |  By: newsroom  |  Press Releases  |  

-Annual celebration to feature traditional dances, veneration of the only relic in the U.S. of the tilma of St. Juan Diego on which the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared 485 years ago-

This year marks the 485th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego, and to continue annual celebrations to honor the Virgin, which started in the Archdiocese in September, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels will host a special celebration on the eve of her Feast Day, December 11, starting at 7 p.m. with traditional dances. A musical tribute will follow with special guest Regional Mexican singers Helen Ochoa, Jonatán Sánchez and Angelito García, America’s Got Talent semi-finalist Alondra Santos, pastoral singers Jacky Ibarra, Anna Betancourt and Estela García-López, and Stephanie Amaro de Abad, member of Latin Grammy® nominated Trio Ellas. A midnight Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez.

The festivities will begin at 7 p.m. with Aztec and Matachine dancers on the Cathedral Plaza, followed by veneration of the tilma of St. Juan Diego, the only relic in the United States of the cloth where the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared 485 years ago.

At 10 p.m., the celebration moves inside the Cathedral for a Rosary. At 10:30 p.m. there will be a mariachi performance by Mariachi Los Toros, and a musical tribute by the special guest singers, who will serenade the Virgin and sing “Las Mañanitas,” a traditional Mexican birthday song to honor the Virgin on her Feast Day. Midnight Mass will be presided by Archbishop José H. Gomez.

The festivities are made possible by the support of the Catholic Communication Collaboration (C3) with Sprint, Guadalupe Radio, EWTN Español, Oregon Catholic Press, Tacos El Gavilán, Vallarta Supermarkets, and Dorado Design & Construction Inc.

The celebration follows a tradition in Mexico City where millions gather at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe where the tilma or cloak of St. Juan Diego where the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared, is displayed. A half-inch square relic of the tilma is enshrined at a gilded chapel inside the Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles. It is the only piece in the United States, a present to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from the Archbishop of Mexico City in appreciation and friendship after Los Angeles Archbishop John J. Cantwell led a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City in the early 1940s, during the Cristero War.

Given the natural agave fibers used to make the tilma, experts say it is miraculous that the relic at the

Cathedral in Los Angeles, and the rest of the tilma in Mexico City, have survived for almost five

centuries. For more information regarding the celebrations to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe visit

http://www.olacathedral.org/guadalupe.

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