Minnesota’s Most Rural Diocese Diocese of New Ulm Vol. 34 No. 3 December 2019
¡La Virgen de Guadalupe!
(Photo by Christine Clancy)
MARSHALL – On Sunday, Dec. 8 the Latino community from the Bread of Life Area Faith Community (Holy Redeemer in Marshall, St. Mary in Cottonwood, and the merged parish of St. Clotilde in Green Valley) gathered with their pastor, Fr. Mark Steffl for a special Mass in honor of the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12). As Mass began, over 200 faithful processed from the back of the church to the altar carrying a rose to be placed in front of a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Before the procession began, a group of dancers called matachines, adorned in bright red skirts, t-shirts bearing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and hundreds of noise-making shells danced down the center aisle to the beat of a large drum. With a rose in hand, Manuel Cervantes kneels before the statue of Our Lady.