Hispanic Catholics Look to Virgin of Guadalupe as Protector

FLORIDA (By Sandra Hernandez, Sun Sentinel) December 13 2004 - When Martha Alvarado boarded a plane in Mexico bound for Florida in 1990, she carried one suitcase with just the essentials she would need for her new life in the United States: some clothing, a few photographs and a stamp-size image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

"I brought her with me because I needed her protection," said Alvarado, of Tamarac. "I wasn't sure what I would find here, and for a long time I couldn't even find a church that had Masses in Spanish. So I would pray to her."

A decade later, Alvarado made the same trip, but this time she carried with her a 5-foot likeness of the famous Mexican icon for the parishioners at St. Isidro in Pompano Beach. "She took care of my family, and of course I have to show my gratitude. I can't tell you how many times I prayed to her as I cried because I felt so alone in a new country," Alvarado said.

This past weekend, thousands of Hispanics in Florida joined millions around the world to honor Mexico's patron Virgin. The masses, processions and songs, known in Spanish as mañanitas, began Saturday and culminated on her feast day, Sunday. They are another quiet reminder of the profound demographic changes that have quietly influenced Florida's spiritual life.

Once thought of as a strictly Mexican symbol of the Roman Catholic Church, the Virgin of Guadalupe has gained prominence and followers around Latin America and in South Florida, where she increasingly is seen as a reminder to Hispanic Catholics of the church back home.

"We are all looking for something from home, and the Virgin of Guadalupe is something that reminds anyone from Latin America," said Violeta Ortiz, who left her native Panama in 1996 and attends St. Luke's Catholic Church in Lake Worth. "I am very devout to her because she reminds me of the indigenous in all of the Americas."

In Palm Beach, almost 40 percent of the Catholic church's 250,000 members are Hispanic, according to Jim Brosemer, a spokesman for the Diocese of Palm Beach. "Our Hispanic congregation has ballooned in the last 10 years."

The Virgin of Guadalupe was said to have appeared in 1531 to Juan Diego, a poor Indian. She instructed him to tell church officials to build a church in what is now Mexico City. The bishop ignored Juan Diego's plea. The Virgin re-appeared, this time telling Juan Diego to pick roses and deliver them to the bishop. When he dropped the flowers before the priest, an image of a dark-skinned, dark-haired Virgin appeared emblazoned on his garment.

While most Latin American countries have their own patron Virgins -- Cubans have the Virgin of la Caridad del Cobre, Colombians have the Virgin de Chiquinquira, and Venezuelans have the Virgin de Coromoto -- Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Virgin of Guadalupe empress of the Americas in the 1990s.

That proclamation, along with the influx of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians and others, helped pave the way for celebrations in Florida that honor the dark-skinned Virgin.

"It used to be that the only places that celebrated this day were in Homestead or maybe the one church in Pompano where the migrant workers went," said the Rev. Alberto Cutie, director of Radio Paz, a Miami-based program, and host of Padre Alberto, a nationally televised talk show on the Spanish-language network Telemundo. "These days, however, it's celebrated in almost every parish."

In fact, the revolutionary image of the dark-skinned Virgin, whose features are a reminder of the mix of the new world and the old, can be found far outside Mexico's border, where she is part religious icon and part pop culture symbol.

"People tattoo them on their backs; you see her on T-shirts; she is part of pop culture," said Gregorio Luke, director of the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, Calif. "I think what happened with the Virgin in the United States is that in communities with large Latino populations these religious images become more then religious icons ... She is an icon of identity."

Moreover, unlike other images in the Catholic Church, the Virgin of Guadalupe remains a popular figure among young and old, poor and rich alike.

But in South Florida, her appeal is much simpler for many like Alvarado. She and spend much of the year cooking tacos, tamales and empanadas that are sold at bake sales in hopes of raising the estimated $6,000 they need to create a grand celebration featuring a carriage that carries the 5-foot likeness to a football field where the miracle of the Virgin is re-enacted.

"I can't tell you what this means to me, and many others. When I sing the mañanitas, I cry. I see the Virgin and I think about my life here and I am so grateful," said Alvarado. "I know she took care of me."

Sandra Hernandez can be reached at shernandez@sun-sentinel.com or 954 354 4514.