Relic from Mexico draws Catholics in awe

[pappagooch]

AVONDALE - As Latin choral music filled the air, the devout came quietly, in awe.

Kneeling before a small glass case in an alcove of a church in southern Chester County, some prayed, others stared agape before an ancient relic from Mexico.

Inside the case was a half-inch piece of cactus cloth believed to have come from the cloak worn by Juan Diego, an Indian peasant. According to church tradition, Diego saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in Mexico in 1531. A colorful image of the Virgin, which came to be known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, is said to have miraculously appeared on the cloak afterward.

"Our faith is based totally around the Blessed Mother," said Antonio Tepayotl, who was born in Puebla, Mexico, and now lives in South Philadelphia. "I feel very happy to know that a little piece of her is here and that she can listen to us.

"The scrap of cloth, which hangs on a silver chain around the neck of a 17th-century statue of Mary, is on display through today at St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother Church in Avondale.

It is the second to last stop in a 21-city tour organized by the Los Angeles Diocese, which has custody of the relic, to celebrate Juan Diego's canonization last year. The rest of the cloak, called the Tilma of Tepeyac, hangs in Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Mexico City.

Tepayotl had worked late at his restaurant job in Old City the night before, but that didn't stop him from boarding a bus at 9 a.m. yesterday for an hour-long trip with about 40 parishioners from St. Thomas Aquinas in South Philadelphia.

"You can't describe it with words," said Susanna Pimentel, who came with the group. "It's really beautiful. It's something you get to see once in your lifetime."

The relic is very important to Catholics from Mexico because it reminds them of the story of Juan Diego and the Blessed Mother, said Sister Maria Murillo, who accompanied the St. Thomas Aquinas group.

"To Mexicans, her presence is everything," she said. "When they go [to see the cloak] in Mexico, they go on their knees... . She is the one who really brought the faith."

View: Full Article | Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer