Archdiocese to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe with yearly procession, cathedral celebration

This month the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will present two annual traditions honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe — the patroness of the Americas — also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe.

On Dec. 6, the 84th Procession and Mass in honor of Our Lady will begin at 11 a.m. at the corner of Cesar Chavez Avenue and the 710 Freeway. The mile-long trek will conclude inside the open-air Weingart Stadium at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park.

Procession participants will accompany the official archdiocesan framed images of St. Juan Diego and the Virgin. The Guadalupe image — referred to as la Peregrina — is a digital reproduction of the original image of Our Lady housed at the Guadalupe Basilica in Mexico City. The reproduction, which was blessed by the late St. Pope John Paul II, was a gift to the archdiocese from the basilica.

The Guadalupan festivities will continue on Dec. 11 with the 2015 Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Downtown Los Angeles. The celebration will begin at 7 p.m. with Aztec dancers on the Cathedral plaza and veneration of the relic of the Tilma of St. Juan Diego, to be followed by a blessing by the archbishop of the expanded outdoor tile mural dedicated to the Virgin.

At 10 p.m. the festivities will move into the Cathedral, where there will be a rosary, followed by a musical tribute to Our Lady starting at 10:30 p.m. featuring renowned local singers Adrian Cruz and Jacky Ibarra, a mariachi band, and the Cathedral Choir. The evening will conclude with a midnight Mass (in Spanish) welcoming the arrival of the official Feast of Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

For additional details (in both English and Spanish) regarding the Dec. 11 celebration, visit the web: www.olacathedral.org/guadalupe.