Bishop Byrne to Celebrate Our Lady of Divine Providence Mass
| 11/4/2023
By: Armando Machado
The liturgy at St. Patrick’s Cathedral honors the Patroness of Puerto Rico
Bishop Peter Byrne, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, will serve as principal celebrant and homilist of the 43rd annual Our Lady of Divine Providence Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The Spanish-language Mass is set for Sunday, November 19, at 4 p.m. Our Lady of Providence is the patroness of Puerto Rico.
“On November 19, 1969, Pope Paul VI declared Our Lady of Divine Providence the patroness of Puerto Rico – choosing this date because it is also the day Puerto Rico was discovered,” Wanda Vasquez, director of New York archdiocesan Hispanic Ministry, told The Good Newsroom this week.
“The pope wanted the people’s love of their homeland to be forever joined with their devotion and love for Mary. This shared love of Our Lady of Divine Providence is an example of how even though separated by distance, language, and culture, Puerto Ricans can find ways to connect with each other spiritually and continue their Catholic traditions in New York,” added Vasquez, who is Puerto Rican-born, emigrating from Puerto Rico to the United States with her family when she was eight years old. “This special Mass gives our faithful the opportunity to come together and join hearts with the people of Puerto Rico to give honor to Mary.”
Organizers have noted that Our Lady of Divine Providence has long been in a place of prominence in the hearts of faithful Puerto Rican Catholics – on the Caribbean island nation, in the New York area, and in other U.S. states. Many of them will express their devotion to the Blessed Mother under the Divine Providence title during this year’s Mass.
It has become customary to commemorate the day at St Patrick’s Cathedral on the third Sunday in November; and this year that falls on the actual feast day, November 19. St. John the Baptist is the island’s patron, and the namesake of its capital city, San Juan.
In past years, the Divine Providence Mass celebrants and homilists have highlighted the trailblazing reputation of New York’s Puerto Rican Catholics and their many contributions throughout the archdiocese – and how they paved the way for other Hispanics.
They were deemed “pioneers in the archdiocese who brought their faith, spirit, and beliefs with them from their native land” when they came to the U.S. The Mass committee has described Our Lady of Divine Providence, along with Christ, as “the focal point, the center of the Puerto Rican family.”
The original image of Our Lady of the Divine Providence was a 16th-century oil painting by Italian painter Scipione Pulzone, titled “Divinae Providentiae,” which depicted the Virgin Mary cradling a sleeping Infant Jesus. Devotion to Our Lady of Divine Providence originated in Italy and spread to France and Spain. The devotion was brought to Puerto Rico in the early 1850s by the Servite Order.
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