Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass at Saint Paul Cathedral

Pittsburgh—Auxiliary Bishop William Waltersheid will celebrate a festive Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass on the evening of Tuesday, December 12, 2023, in Saint Paul Cathedral, Oakland.

Everyone is welcome to attend the celebration, with liturgy in Spanish, English and other languages, sponsored by the Latino ministry of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and its Hispanic Catholic Apostolate. A special invitation has been extended to Catholic high schools to encourage young people to come, said Jorge Vela, coordinator of the ministry. Students from North Catholic High School, Saint Joseph High School and Blessed Seelos Academy will be assisting at the Mass.

Ceremonies will begin with eucharistic adoration at 5:30 p.m. and the Rosary at 6 p.m. Confessions will be available from 5:30-6:30 p.m., in English, Spanish and Portuguese, followed by songs a capella at 6:45 p.m. The procession will include a color guard of banners and the flags of many nations, as the congregation sings the traditional Las Mañanitas, a hymn celebrating the Virgin Mary.

The Gospel and readings and Bishop Waltersheid’s homily will be in Spanish and English. The prayers of the faithful will include petitions in Spanish, English, French, Italian and Latin.

Bishop Waltersheid will present roses to Our Lady, represented by a replica of the painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe that hangs in Mexico’s Basilica of Guadalupe. Lay participants will also present flowers.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, and her appearance in the form of a pregnant, Indigenous woman led to the rapid growth of the Catholic faith among Indigenous people in what is now Mexico. The feast commemorates her apparition to a Mexican peasant, Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, in 1531. She left a miraculous image of herself on his cactus fiber cloak, or tilma, which remains on display for veneration in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Each year an estimated 10 million people visit that basilica, which is the world’s most popular Marian shrine and the second-most visited church after Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

The Latino Catholic Apostolate provides Mass, confession, sacraments of initiation, faith formation, retreats and other spiritual and liturgical celebrations for Latino Catholics throughout the diocese. It provides ministry at the churches of Saint Rosalia, Greenfield (Saint Paul Cathedral Parish); Saint Catherine of Siena, Beechview (Saint Teresa of Kolkata Parish); Saint John the Baptist, Plum (Holy Family Parish); Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Meadowlands (Saint Oscar Romero Parish); and Saints John and Paul Church, Wexford (Saint Luke the Evangelist Parish). Each celebrates a Mass in Spanish, and Saint Catherine also offers a Mass in Portuguese.