Los Angeles cathedral’s newest chapel houses Guadalupe relic

Los Angeles, Calif., Sep 4, 2012 / 23:51 pm

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles has dedicated a new permanent chapel inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels that houses a piece of the Tilma of Saint Juan Diego.

"Our Lady of Guadalupe has always had a special place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and
in the hearts of the faithful throughout our Archdiocese," the archbishop said Sept. 2.

He said "thousands" of people have venerated the Virgin Mary's image and the relic of the tilma at the cathedral, which marked its 10th anniversary the same day as the chapel dedication.

"We pray that this new chapel and this anniversary will inspire us to live our faith with new joy
and new strength," Archbishop Gomez said.

The archbishop blessed the new chapel and placed the relic in a new golden reliquary in the heart of a bronze sculpture of St. Juan Diego. The statue depicts saint at the moment he opened his cloak, on which the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously appeared in 1531.

A mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe, made in Rome, rests above the sculpture.

In 1941, the Archbishop of Mexico City gave the tilma relic to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after then-Archbishop John J. Cantwell's pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

The relic played a central role in the Aug. 5 Guadalupe Celebration at the Los Angeles Coliseum, which attracted over 70,000 faithful.

The new chapel was designed by the firm of Dario Bucheli and Associates. Father José Castaño consulted on the design. The Knights of Columbus and Bill and Helen Close supported the construction of the new chapel.