BABY MARY’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Most are familiar with devotion to the Baby Jesus at Christmas but fewer know about devotion to the Virgin Mary.  Devotion to “little Mary” is strong here in San Miguel, and Mexico as a whole. On 6 January 1840, the Feast of the Three Kings, Sister Magdalena knelt …

MARY THE MASCOT

During the war for Independence from Spain the insurgents from San Miguel chose the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (that Fr. Hidalgo plucked from Atotonilco) to show how God’s mother was on their side. Did you know the Spanish side had their own Mary supporting them too? …

OUR LADY OF THE THREE HAIL MARYS

On August 17th the Virgin of the Three Hail Marys is a popular San Miguel festival continuing to celebrate Mary’s ascent into Heaven. It is said that in 1960 Father Benjamin Grimaldi Balderas built the chapel to the right of the main altar in the Templo …

MARY’S PARENTS

Saint Ann (Ana, Anna, Hannah or Anne) was the mother of Mary and grandmother to Jesus.  Her husband was Joachim (Joaquin).  Their combined feast day is July 26th. Normally statues of Mary and Joseph flank an altar.  However, in the Santa Anna church in San …

In the Name of…

For my parents choosing baby names was made fairly easy by the Church.  Their first daughter was born in a Marian year (a year the Pope devotes to Mary) so she, like most of the girls in her Catholic school classes, was named Mary.  The …