Misa de las Rosas: qué es, cuándo se celebra y por qué es tan importante

The Archbishop Primado of Mexico presides over the Mass of the Roses twice a year at the Basilica of Guadalupe to commemorate the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This liturgical celebration honors the moment Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin presented his tilma filled with out-of-season Castilian roses to Fray Juan de Zumárraga, revealing the miraculous image of the Virgin.

The Archbishop celebrates this Mass on October 12 and December 12. The October 12 service marks the encounter between indigenous and European cultures, the 1895 Pontifical Coronation of the image, and the 1976 consecration and relocation of the image to the new Basilica. The December 12 service commemorates the specific day Juan Diego presented the flowers to the first bishop of Mexico as a miraculous sign.

According to the Nican Mopohua, a 16th-century indigenous text by Antonio Valeriano, the flowers were noted for being fine and varied like those of Castile, despite it being the wrong season for them to bloom.