The annual Our Lady of Rocio Mass was celebrated Sunday, June 23 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, with Father D’Angelo Jimenez serving as principal celebrant and homilist. Our Lady of Rocio is a Marian devotion in Ecuador.       

Father Jimenez, born and raised in Ecuador, serves as a parochial vicar at Holy Name of Jesus/St. Gregory the Great parish on West 96th Street, Manhattan.            

“May we celebrate with love and with faith, and may we allow the spirit of Mary to enter into our hearts,” Father Jimenez said during welcoming remarks at the afternoon Spanish Mass.           

Later while delivering the homily, Father Jimenez said he was filled with joy and contentment to be “celebrating a Eucharist with my countrymen…We are here to celebrate the culture, the tradition, the history, the faith, the experience with my people – the people of my roots.”   

The priest went on to talk about the importance of Mary’s role worldwide, noting that not too long ago he visited the shrines of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal and Our Lady of Lourdes in France – and that more recently he visited the shrines of Our Lady of Cisne and Our Lady of Rocio, both on his native Ecuador.     

“People visit her (at shrines), the Virgin Mary with different names, different vocations, but she is the same – the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of each and everyone of us…When we are with Mother Mary, we feel welcomed and protected,” he said, citing the many times that immigrants leave their troubled lands in hopes of starting anew in the United States.  

Justice, love and forgiveness 

In addition, Father Jimenez spoke of the importance of parents teaching the faith to their children – how from this they can learn the significance of justice, love, charity and forgiveness. He also spoke of how “God never abandons us. He is alway there for us – to love us, to find us, and to always welcome us to His house…My dear friends of all many nations in this cathedral, I invite you – that each day we should wake up with God and invite Him and our Holy Mother to be our support.”

And the priest said in English, “Please pray for peace in Ecuador.”   

The choir for the livestreamed Mass was Ministerio Reina de Cisne, led by Manuel Merchan. The deacon of the Mass was Deacon Carlos Campoverde, also an Ecuador native, from Church of the Assumption in Peekskill. He gave closing words of gratitude. Marian and other special Spanish Mass celebrations at St. Patrick’s Cathedral are sponsored by the Office of Hispanic Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York.              

Our Lady of Rocío, whose shrine in Ecuador attracts thousands of pilgrims each year, is a Marian devotion with origins dating to 17th-century Spain and which, through the years, was adopted by the people of Ecuador. The shrine is built into the rocks above the village of Biblián.