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| Fr. Osvaldo Briones is pictured with the new image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Aloysius Church in Sauk City. (Contributed photo) |
SAUK CITY — All are invited to join in a grand celebration on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 at St. Aloysius Church, 115 Madison St., in Sauk City. On display will be a new life-sized framed canvas of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The family Rosary will begin at 6 p.m., with natural roses being used to complete the Rosary. The Rosary bouquet will be placed in front of the image of Our Lady and all will be invited to make the consecration to Our Lord through Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Mass will follow at 7 p.m. All are then invited to the gym for free Mexican food, mariachis, Mexican music, and lots of red roses.
Hispanic community efforts
The Hispanic community at St. Aloysius has put incredible effort and drive towards raising the funds necessary to purchase the new framed oil-on-canvas image of Our Lady.
Their campaign, “Guadalupe 2013,” had a goal of finding a canvas “as big as our love to our Lady of Guadalupe.”
They began in September with a raffle drawing and Mexican food after Mass on September 8, the Nativity of Our Lady. This celebration was complete with Mexican music.
Their amazing raffle prizes were on display in the lobby to attract much attention to their worthy cause.
Celebration at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish |
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MADISON — St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison will hold its annual celebration honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec.12. The evening will begin with a bilingual Mass and an offering of Aztec dance and drumming. After Mass there will be a gathering in the social hall with tamales, tres leches cake, and beverages. St. Thomas Aquinas has begun offering a bilingual Mass the second Sunday of every month at 6:30 p.m. St. Thomas Aquinas is located at 602 Everglade Dr. on the far west side of Madison and all are welcome to attend. |
They followed these efforts with another raffle drawing and celebration in late October to raise funds for the framing of the new canvas. The gym was filled with people enjoying authentic Mexican food, mariachi music, and piñatas for both kids and grownups.
Exact reproduction
The goal was reached and the life-sized framed image of our Lady will be on display in St. Aloysius Church. This is an exact reproduction of the original image made in Mexico and is based on negatives taken from the original image without the protective glass. The frame is hand-carved wood, which took 40 days to make.
Fr. Osvaldo Briones, parochial vicar of Divine Mercy Parish, stated that “many people of non-Hispanic origin have been helping us, even if they do not speak or understand Spanish fluently. But the love to Our Lady has been uniting us all. And here is the result!
“When we started the campaign ‘Guadalupe 2013,’ we only wanted to do something to our Lady for this year. Now we have everything that we dreamed: canvas, food, roses, mariachis, and some other surprises . . .”
The mariachis are a group of five singers from Madison called “Los Gavilanes.” They will play at Mass and after Mass in the gym and are contributions from a group of generous Hispanic families.
Las Milpas, a restaurant in Baraboo, is donating food for the event. Jose’s Restaurant in Baraboo is donating the more than 500 roses to adorn the church. La Mexicana, a restaurant in Sauk City, has also contributed to the campaign.
Father Osvaldo stated that “the list of all the people who help will be too long, but all of them will receive the blessing of Our Lady.”
The Hispanic and English community are all invited to join in the festivities on Thursday, Dec. 12, to welcome her image to Sauk City.