Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Show of faith: Replica of Our Lady of Guadalupe inspires many during tour stop

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the rear of St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Henderson stood taller than the slight woman who had just asked the icon for help on Tuesday morning.

"It might be just a painting," Nellie Salvador said, pointing to the image. "But I feel that it's the same as an apparition ... (and) I think she's done a lot of miracles."

Like Salvador, the faithful at 10 churches around the Las Vegas Valley this week prayed before a replica of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The original is in Mexico City.

According to the Roman Catholic Church, the original is a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary that 471 years ago was left on the cloak of St. Juan Diego, an Aztec who converted to Catholicism.

The replica of the image, measuring 4-feet by 6-feet, is carted around the United States to bring the icon to the faithful. It was in the Las Vegas Valley for a week and leaves today for San Francisco where it will stay through Jan. 27.

Because the image originated in Mexico, the icon is particularly revered by many in the rapidly growing segment of the Las Vegas Valley that is of Mexican descent. In 2001, Clark County had about 273,000 residents who were of Mexican descent, 55,300 more than the prior year, according to U.S. Census estimates. Those totals also reflect a huge increase when compared with the 1990 Census statewide tally of 124,000 Hispanics of all national origins.

"Our Lady of Guadalupe gave Mexican indigenous people their life and dignity," said the Rev. Bede Wevita, director of communication for the Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas.

Gigi Smith, a parishioner at St. Thomas More for the last decade, said her parish had a lot of Hispanics.

"They're strong believers in Our Lady of Guadalupe and tend to stop and touch a small image we have on display in the church," she said.

If you add to that what the Rev. Thomas Rausch of Loyola University called the "large role of popular religiosity" in other developing countries such as the Philippines, whose natives have also populated the valley in recent years, then the week's tour can be seen as particularly important to immigrant churchgoers here.

The tour also brought the valley's churches to participate in what Rausch, an expert in religious history, said was a tradition dating back to at least the second century.

"There's a long history of this," said Rausch, a professor of theological studies.

"The impulse of the (Catholic) church from the beginning is to see art as symbolically representing the divine."

Salvador, originally from the Philippines, left a petition in a basket at the feet of the image for help with her two children, who she said were "struggling in life."

Ray and Mary Canchola, also parishioners at St. Thomas More, said they were moved by Our Lady of Guadalupe's visit because they are Mexican-Americans.

"Her appearing in Mexico City meant so much for the Mexican people," Ray said.

"Now she appears all over the world, and this makes us very proud."

The Cancholas left a petition asking for a speedy recovery from heart surgery for their son-in-law.

Rausch said Our Lady of Guadalupe is full of symbolism reflecting the Aztec culture of pre-Hispanic Mexico.

"She's morena -- or brown-skinned," he said. "And she's also pregnant, which you can tell because of the sash she has that the indigenous peoples used to show a woman was pregnant.

"I don't know of any other images of Mary like this."

The idea that Our Lady of Guadalupe was pregnant has also led the image to be used to protest abortion. While in the Las Vegas Valley, the image was taken to seven abortion clinics.

The Rev. Patrick Render, in his Tuesday morning Mass, made several references to the sanctity of life represented by the image.

But for most of the 30 or so faithful who stayed behind after the Mass, many of whom were immigrants or of Hispanic or Asian background, Our Lady of Guadalupe's visit was a chance to ask for help and pray for something dear to them.

"We tend to forget that Jesus had to go to Egypt and was a refugee," the diocese's Wevita said.

"So having Our Lady of Guadalupe here is a wonderful time to ... give (immigrants) their dignity ... and make them feel at home."

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