Dec. 12 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. According to tradition, the story begins in Mexico City in 1531, when an indigenous man named Juan Diego went to seek help for his sick uncle. He noticed and followed a glowing figure on the hill of Tepeyac. It was Our Lady of Guadalupe, who introduced herself as the Virgin Mary and requested that he build her a shrine on that same spot.
Juan Diego notified the Archbishop, who didn't believe him and asked for proof. Juan Diego returned to Our Lady, who told him to pick some flowers. It was winter, and nothing should have been in bloom, but Juan Diego found some roses and returned to Our Lady of Guadalupe. She placed the divine flowers in Juan Diego's cloak, a tilma. She asked him to take the roses to the Archbishop. When he presented them, the flowers fell to the ground and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared on the tilma. The church, now known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was built. The tilma is displayed there today, and millions make a pilgrimage each year to see it. In 1990, Pope John Paul II visited Mexico and beatified Juan Diego. Ten years later he was declared a saint.
The story continues to resonate with many Catholics all over the world, including in the lives of these eight women and their children. Some have even made the pilgrimage from Minnesota to that same hill in Mexico City.
Dec. 12 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. According to tradition, the story begins in Mexico City in 1531, when an indigenous man named Juan Diego went to seek help for his sick uncle. He noticed and followed a glowing figure on the hill of Tepeyac. It was Our Lady of Guadalupe, who introduced herself as the Virgin Mary and requested that he build her a shrine on that same spot.
Juan Diego notified the Archbishop, who didn’t believe him and asked for proof. Juan Diego returned to Our Lady, who told him to pick some flowers. It was winter, and nothing should have been in bloom, but Juan Diego found some roses and returned to Our Lady of Guadalupe. She placed the divine flowers in Juan Diego’s cloak, a tilma. She asked him to take the roses to the Archbishop. When he presented them, the flowers fell to the ground and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared on the tilma. The church, now known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was built. The tilma is displayed there today, and millions make a pilgrimage each year to see it. In 1990, Pope John Paul II visited Mexico and beatified Juan Diego. Ten years later he was declared a saint.
The story continues to resonate with many Catholics all over the world, including in the lives of these eight women and their children. Some have even made the pilgrimage from Minnesota to that same hill in Mexico City.
Nelly Quesada, second from left, flanked by her granddaughters Gabriela Everett, 21, and Isabela Everett, 20, left and right, and her daughter Wendy Everett Quesada, far right, were photographed in their home in South St. Paul on Dec. 5, 2021. The four women share the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe Queens. Nelly Quesada, was first named “India Bonita” (beautiful indigenous queen) in 1960 in El Salvador. She fled El Salvador during the Civil War in 1981 when Wendy was only 3. She said her safe journey to the United States was made by the protection from Our Lady of Guadalupe. ”Kidnappings, killings, stealing, you name it, and it was a daily occurrence in our country back then,” Wendy said. “My mom earned her degree in education and business. We left everything and came with very little.” Nelly Quesada is now retired after working 25 years in the St. Paul Public Schools as an educational assistant, interpreter and community liaison. Gabriela Everett was crowned queen at Our Lady of Guadalupe church in St. Paul in 2017. Gabriela is a senior at Mankato. She is majoring in communications disorders with an emphasis in speech language pathology. “She [Our Lady of Guadalupe] embodies this aura of being a woman in my eyes,” said Gabriela Everett. “She represents power, and being a powerful woman and nowadays with the gender roles and everything its really difficult sometimes, but through her and remembering that she is what really shows of being a true woman, showing your power, showing your confidence is what made me feel that is something I should embody as well,” she said. Isabela Everett, 20, is the current reigning queen at Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul. She was crowned in 2018. Isabela is a kinesiology major at the University of Minnesota. “Our Lady of Guadalupe represents my faith and family,” she said. Wendy Everett Quesada was crowned Queen of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1995. She volunteered for many years educating girls for their Quinceañera preparation. She is a patient financial clearance analyst at Allina. “For me, I’m honored that my daughters chose to represent the Latino community and Our Lady of Guadalupe on their own,” she said. ”To us as a family, it was important for them to assume such a unique leadership role within the church and community. It isn’t often that a woman has the opportunity to have a role where she can grow not only in her community but also within her faith,” Wendy said. Part of being crowned Queen carries with it the responsibilities of representing the church with volunteer service and participating in a yearly traditional mass on Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Susana De Leon, 56, prayed with incense in front of the altar that she has made in reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Minneapolis. “By day I am an immigration attorney and serve the community in that role, and in the evening I teach the practices of ancient Mexico and the current practices of Mexico as well,” De Leon said. “She [Our Lady of Guadalupe] is our mother earth and represents all of the bounty that we have received from her to sustain ourselves and to be alive.” De Leon said she came to Minnesota from southern California in 1989 to go to school because her family was very poor. She is the General of the Aztec dance group Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue, a group she started in 1994. She gives primary credit to her grandmother Asuncion Alvarado Barretero for equipping her with all the traditions she has brought to Minnesota. She has placed many of her grandmother’s relics on her altar. “I think that everything that I do and who I am and the gifts that I receive from the world are all due to my beliefs and my devotion to something divine. I work here, and every day I see her and every day I see all of the energies, all the expressions of energy that the world is made up of. And I know that they guide me and I speak for my ancestors because I know that they are every day with me, and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be who I am. I am eternally grateful to this altar for giving me all of the gifts that I have.”
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Norma Mendoza came to Minnesota more than 20 years ago from Tampico, Mexico. With her, she brought her love and reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Not only does she participate in the yearly Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe but she also insists that her children participate as well. Mendoza dresses them in the clothes that represent the indigenous peasant who came across the Patron of the Americas. This tradition is very common. Here, Arlette Guadalupe Herrera Mendoza, 11, and her brother Sebastian Emmanuel Herrera Mendoza, 4, tried on the clothes for the upcoming feast (which will be held at their church at St. Odelia in Shoreview) in Inver Grove Heights. “She is very important for me because she is our mother,” said Mendoza. “She is filled with miracles and I named my daughter after her because she took care of us during my pregnancy.” Mendoza said that she got gestational diabetes and believes that Our Lady of Guadalupe helped her through that pregnancy. “I want my children to always pay homage to her,” she said.
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Yolanda Cabral was photographed in her home in Inver Grove Heights. For three weeks last year, Cabral was on a ventilator due to COVID. She doesn’t remember much, but after two days of being awake, nurses notified her that there were people outside the hospital praying the Our Lady of Guadalupe rosary. “I’m not supposed to be here today,” she cried. “The love from our mother is so big and manifests through miracles. I remember when I was discharged and went home, there were so many people waiting for me on my patio and praying the rosary to Our Lady of Guadalupe. My relatives even told me that they made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City to pray for my healing.” Cabral, however, brushes off what happened to her and remembers the miracle that came to her after praying to the Virgin Mary for healing for her son. When he was 15, he was found to have a degenerative disease. She remembers taking to her knees to pray and seeing something on his face. “Twinkling lights,” she said. Her son, Guillermo Laborico, now 23, is a business graduate from St. Thomas University.
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Silvia DeLeon prayed a rosary alongside a family in reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Blaine. “I was 16 when I had my first child. I would cry because I was a new mother and no one showed me how to be a mother,” DeLeon said. “I recall one day when my baby was a few months old, I was in Guatemala when they had a great celebration in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe where hundreds of people would parade a statue of her down the streets in a procession. It was on that day that I presented her with my heart and my child. I remember I held my daughter in my hands. I prayed to her that I don’t know how to be a mother,” she said. “I know that you are going to take care of her,” DeLeon remembers praying during the procession. “To this day I believe that she has not failed me and has taken care of my daughter. She has been my protector,” she said in front of an altar she made for a family in reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe. DeLeon said that this is why she has devoted her life to teach and pray about Our Lady of Guadalupe. Her daughter Jessica Berg is now 29 and lives in Wisconsin.
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Silvia DeLeon placed candles on an altar she made for a family in reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Susana De Leon, 56, took to her knees to pray in reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Silvia DeLeon prayed in front of an altar she made for a family in reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
