Eight silver roses honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe were blessed by Pope Leo XIV and will be part of an annual pilgrimage hosted by the Knights of Columbus across Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The pilgrimage will visit 11 different parishes and the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche as it makes its way through the Diocese of St. Augustine, March 7-14. It is an opportunity to enhance one’s Lenten Season.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a revered Marian apparition of the Virgin Mary, who appeared to an Aztec Indian peasant named Juan Diego nearly 500 years ago.
The Virgin Mary suddenly appeared to him out of a bright cloud, as a pregnant maiden dressed as an Aztec princess. She instructed him to go and tell the archbishop to build a shrine on the hill where they were standing.
Juan Diego relayed the message, but the archbishop doubted the peasant and requested proof. Mary again appeared to him and directed him to gather roses from an unusual winter blooming garden on the cold rocky hilltop.
He collected the flowers into his cloak and brought them to the archbishop. As the roses spilled from his cloak, Mary’s image appeared on his cloak, and the astonished archbishop promptly fell to his knees as he witnessed the miracle, the proof he had requested.
The cloak imprinted with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe remains on display, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Mexico.
Silver Rose pilgrimage schedule:
March 7 Holy Faith Catholic Church, Gainesville; 5 p.m. Vigil Mass
St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Live Oak; 6:30 p.m. Vigil Mass
March 8
Corpus Christi Catholic Church, St. Augustine; 4 p.m. prayer service
St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Live Oak; 9 a.m. Mass (English) and 11 a.m. Mass (Spanish)
March 9
Cathedral Basilica, St Augustine; 6:30 a.m. rosary and 7 a.m. Mass
National Shrine of Our Lady of Le Leche, St Augustine; 9:30 a.m. prayer service
Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine; 11 a.m. veneration begins
March 10
Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine; 12:30 p.m. veneration ends
St. Benedict the Moor Mission, St Augustine; 1 p.m. prayer service
St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Orange Park; 5 p.m. procession and prayer service (multilingual)
March 11
St. Matthew Catholic Church, Jacksonville; 8 a.m. Mass
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Jacksonville; Noon Mass (English) and 7 p.m. Mass (Spanish)
March 12
St. Joseph Catholic Church, Jacksonville; Noon Mass, 1-5 p.m. individual prayer and meditation, 5:30 p.m. procession and prayer service (bilingual)
March 13
St. Michael Catholic Church, Fernandina Beach; 8 a.m. prayer service
March 14
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Atlantic Beach; 5 p.m. Vigil Mass
