Skip to main content

Remembering the Feast of Our Lady of Refuge

By

Having served at Our Lady of Refuge parish in Long Beach since 1997, I like to take this opportunity every year to remind everyone that our patroness, Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, has her own feast day.  Though once notable, it is rarely remembered these days.

Sunday, July 5th has been the traditional celebration of Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners.  On January 4, 1843, the first Bishop of the Californias, Bishop  Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno stood at Mission Santa Clara (near San Jose) and proclaimed Our Lady of Refuge patroness of both Baja California (now a State of Mexico) and Alta California (now the State of California in the US). The entire text of the Bishop's proclamation is found in Mission Santa Clara's Libro de Patentes. He said: "We make known to you that we hereby name the great Mother of God in her most precious title, 'del Refugio, 'the principal patroness of our diocese… With so great a patroness and protectress, what can we not promise ourselves? What can be wanting and whom need we fear? If through the centuries this most worthy Mother of God has shown goodness and compassion to all peoples and nations… will she not do likewise for those peoples who bind themselves to her as their refuge and special patroness?"

In the early days of California, the feast of Our Lady of Refuge was celebrated with great solemnity at all the mission churches. The entire coat of arms of Bishop Garcia Diego included only the image of Our Lady of Refuge. A painting of Our Lady of Refuge holding her Child, usually the product of a local or native artist, graced each mission church after the bishop’s proclamation. To this day most of the twenty-one missions of Alta California still display this image in the churches or in their museums.

The original painting of Our Lady of Refuge came to the Franciscan College of Zacatecas in Mexico from Italy. An Italian Jesuit missionary brought it to Mexico to explain the enthusiastic interest in Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, that had developed in parish missions in eighteenth century Italy. Devotion to the Mother of Jesus under this title and in this pictorial representation gained wide popularity among the Mexican and California Franciscans and the people they served.

Paintings of Our Lady of Refuge are, with few exceptions, quite similar in design and execution. The heads of the Infant Jesus and his Mother Mary lean together with no background between them. Both figures wear a crown. Mary’s eyes are turned toward the observer, while the gaze of the child seems to turn left of the viewer.

Celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Refuge continued during the mission era of the State,  but with the securlarization of the Missions under the Mexican government in 1833, the custom waned, and was eventually displaced by other more popular images of our Lady (including Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima).  Still, the memory of Our Lady of Refuge remained, with a handful of parishes from Brooklyn to Long Beach entrusted with her care.  After a prolonged effort to recognize her importance to California, in 1981 the California Catholic Conference of Bishops petitioned the Vatican Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship for authorization to observe the feast of Our Lady of Refuge on July 5th as an obligatory memorial. This was approved by official document dated January 15, 1982, and signed by Archbishop Giuseppe Casoria.  While the feast is not generally observed, it does remain a feast on the Liturgical Calandar for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the other diocese in the State of California.

The feast is also celebrated in Mexico on its original day of July 4th, but owing to the conflict with Independence Day in the US, our celebration was moved to July 5th.

We are honored that our parish has been graced with Our Lady of Refuge as its patroness, a reminder of her loving care for us and the people of California.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ascension of the Lord - Cycle C

By
Following the traditional calendar, the Solemnity of the Ascension falls on a Thursday, 40 days after the Resurrection, and 10 days before Pentecost.  But since the Ascension is such an important moment for us as Church, many dioceses, including our own, have moved this celebration to this coming Sunday (in place of the 7th Sunday of Easter). The Word for the Ascension of the Lord Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23 Luke 24:46-53 Our first reading is from the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles.  While it might be more appropriate that this reading should follow our Gospel reading for today (as it naturally follows after Luke’s Gospel), the book-end effect of these two readings remains intact, reminding us how this was a pivotal moment for the Church.  Like most sequels, our reading opens with a recap of where we left off at the end of Luke’s Gospel with the Ascension of Jesus.  Also like most sequels, this “recap” of t...
Post a Comment
Read more

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle C

By
“In the beginning there was the Word…”  These are the dramatic opening lines from the Gospel according to John, and though we will not be reading from John’s Gospel this Sunday, these words ring true for our readings for this 3rd Sunday of Ordinary time.  The people are in the midst of something new, a new beginning that, as our readings will show, begin with The Word… The Word for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 (or 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27) Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 Our first reading is from the book of the Prophet Nehemiah.  Nehemiah, along with the priest/prophet Ezra, are the architects of the Restoration of Israel.  Their great Exile in Babylon is over and through the grace of the Persian King, Cyrus the Great, Israel is free to return to their land, to rebuild the Temple and to rebuild their lives as the people of God.  In an effort to guild them in this new beginning, Nehemiah and Ezra g...
Post a Comment
Read more

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion - Cycle C

By
How quickly things can change.  One moment we are celebrating, and the next we are brought to shock and grief.  This is Palm Sunday.  The same crowd that cheered as Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem is the same crowd that only a few days later is shouting for his execution.  How can this be?  Our own recent history has similar moments – The stay-at-home orders for the COVID-19 pandemic, the September 11th terror attacks, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, and for those who are older, the assassination of John F. Kennedy or the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor.  History defining moments that, for those who lived through them become emblazoned in their memories and can move an entire society to say, “everything is different now.”  This is Palm Sunday: The Word for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion Luke 19:28-40 Isaiah 50:4-7 Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 Philippians 2:6-11 Luke 22:14-23:56 As is our tradition, our gospel readings for...
Post a Comment
Read more