This story was originally published by The Merced FOCUS.
Ana Contreras stood outside south Merced’s Sacred Heart Church on a cold night, as hundreds of worshipers inside prayed to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe.
She recalled the story of a kind woman who approached her mother in a store while she was pregnant.
“Se le acercó una señora y le dijo que veía a la Virgen en su estómago — a lady approached her and said she could see the image of the Virgin Mary on her stomach,” Contreras said. “My mom thought it was something extremely beautiful that someone approached her and told her that.”
That kindness, her mother told her, felt like a miracle after she struggled with childbirth nine years earlier when she had her older son.
The story of how the matron saint of Mexico came to be, started in a similar way almost 500 years ago. Legend says a man named Juan Diego in the year 1531 walked down a hill outside Mexico City with a message no one believed.
He was Indigenous and spoke Nahuatl – a language with roots dating back to the Aztecs and other native civilizations. He said a woman appeared to him who looked like his people and spoke his language. She asked him to build a church where the poor could be seen and heard.
Catholics believe that the woman was Jesus’ mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe. As proof, she sent Juan Diego back with roses blooming in winter. When he opened his maguey tilma, a rough cloak made from agave, her image appeared on the cloth.
That moment changed the land. Historians say millions of Indigenous families found a new kind of faith and dignity in her story.
Local significance
For Angel Nevarez, president of the Guadalupanos Group at St. Patrick’s Parish in north Merced, the survival of the cloak housed at the Basilica de la Virgen de Guadalupe in Mexico City is proof that miracles are real.
“The scientific community has not been able to explain (its existence),” he said. “The material was supposed to last for 20 years. The image itself is no known paint. Nobody has been able to figure out what it is or where it came from.”
Scientists have tried to explain it, but their efforts have come up empty. The cloak also survived a bombing, and some claim it is still untouched by age or damage.
“I think somebody poured acid accidentally in that material, that’s when it repaired itself,” said Nevarez.
That same devotion lives in Merced County, where families will wake up before dawn on Dec. 12 to sing, pray, and remember the story that shaped their parents and grandparents.
“Ever since we were little, my parents got us to come here,” said Contreras, a 21-year-old devotee at Sacred Heart Church in Merced. She has been part of the celebration for 15 years.
Across the region, churches are concluding a nine-day prayer called a “novena.” The prayers lead into mañanitas at sunrise, Catholic Mass, and community meals that bring together hundreds of people. Nevarez said the novena is a simple act of asking for help and healing.
“We pray the rosary for nine days,” he said. “It’s usually a specific intention that you request.”
For him, the day carries deep meaning.
“For me, it’s a commemoration of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego,” he said.
He also spoke about the story’s impact centuries ago.
“At that time, the Spaniards were there with the indigenous people,” he said. “After her apparition, about nine to 10 million people converted to Catholicism.”
On Friday, the tradition known as “la misa de gallo” brings people out before the sun rises. Some parishes begin with midnight gatherings. Others start at 4 or 5 a.m. The morning is filled with prayer, food, matachines and mariachis singing “Las Mañanitas,” the Mexican birthday song to the Virgin.
“After the Mass, we serve breakfast,” said Nevarez. “We have pozole, pan dulce, hot chocolate, and coffee. It’s family and friends – we always come together. It’s a very beautiful time.”
Across town at Sacred Heart, Contreras sees the celebration as a way to honor the Virgin’s love and care for her devotees.
“We celebrate our mother Maria,” she said. “She’s not just Jesus’ mother, but ours as well.”
The decorations, colors, and dancers bring the celebration to life.
“It is truly something beautiful,” Contreras said. “The whole community comes together.”
Merced County Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations:
St. Patrick’s Parish – Merced
6:30 p.m., Dec. 11: Final Novena and Mass
5 a.m., Dec. 12: Mañanitas
6 a.m.: Mass
Breakfast after Mass: Pozole, pan dulce, café, and chocolate. Mariachis and danzantes expected.
St. Anthony’s Catholic Church – Atwater
11 p.m., Dec. 11: Start of the serenade in Honor of the Virgen de Guadalupe (Mañanitas begin late at night)
3 p.m., Dec. 12: Pilgrimage from Ralston Park on 3rd Street to the church
5 p.m.: Mass in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe
6 p.m.: Dinner and dancing in the parish hall
St. Joseph Catholic Church – Los Banos
6:30 p.m., Dec. 11: Rosario
7 pm: Misa
Midnight–all day Dec. 12: Church open
4 a.m.: Mañanitas with Mariachi Gilroy
5 a.m.: Mass, followed by café and bread
6 p.m.: Closing Mass with café, pan, and champurrado afterward
Shrine of St. Jude Thaddeus – Livingston
4–6 a.m., Dec. 12: Mañanitas a la Virgen
6 a.m.: Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass
5:30 p.m.: Rosary
6 p.m.: Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass
Sacred Heart Catholic Church – Planada
4–6 a.m., Dec. 12: Mañanitas (4 am sung rosary, 5 am Mañanitas with banda)
6 a.m.: Mass
7–9 a.m.: Music and food
9 a.m.–6 p.m.: Church open
6 pm: Mass
Confessions canceled on Dec. 12
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church – Le Grand
5 –7:30 a.m., Dec. 12: Mañanitas
7:30 a.m.: Mass
8 a.m.–12 p.m.: Church opens
12 p.m.: Mass, procession, and meal in Le Grand