Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Robstown image of Virgin touching many lives

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Friday, October 13, 2000

Robstown image of Virgin touching many lives
Worker who saw likeness, visitors from near and far marvel over outline of Our Lady of Guadalupe
By Aimée Courtice
Caller-Times

Alvarado

ROBSTOWN - Every morning for the past 50 years, Jose Alvarado has gotten on his knees and prayed to Our Lady of Guadalupe, asking for peace for the whole world and for him.
   But since seeing an image of the Virgin on a sheet of plywood uncovered earlier this week during construction at St. Anthony's Catholic Church, the 57-year-old construction worker's prayers haven't been the same. He now feels her presence more than ever.
   After word of the image's discovery quickly spread, visitors have been flocking to the site to see it firsthand and pray at the church.
   It began Tuesday, shortly after Alvarado and six other construction workers renovating the inside of the church came upon the image.

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Jose Alvarado (from left) and his nephew Raul Luna remove grout from the tiles at the entrance of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church. The two were working when the image was found. Alvarado made the connection between the likeness on the floor and the painting of Mary on the wall.

   Alvarado said he had been pulling up the church's old red carpet, working his way toward the altar from the back of the church.
   With each tear of the carpet, they began seeing more of the green padding on the floor.
   When workers pulled up the carpet and padding behind the altar at the front of the church, the plywood had a strange marking on it, Alvarado said.
   "Tio, tio!" the men called to Alvarado, affectionately referring to him as uncle. "What's this?"
   Alvarado walked up to where they had gathered by the sanctuary's tabernacle, where the wine and bread for Holy Communion is kept during Mass.

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Veronica Pena (from left) and her mother, Elva Pena came from Kingsville to visit the likeness of the Virgin of Guadalupe at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Robstown on Thursday. The likeness was found on the wood flooring beneath the carpet behind the altar.

   "I didn't think it was going to be anything," he said.
   Crouching over the spot, Alvarado felt the plywood with his own hands and said he knew instantly what he saw. But he wanted to make sure of it.
   He then ran quickly to another wall in the church just several feet away that displays a 3-foot statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
   The statue is painted with the Holy Mother wearing a robe and with golden rays beaming from behind, her hand above her stomach indicating she is with child.
   That is how the Virgin is said to have first appeared to Juan Diego, a poor Indian, in 1531 at Tepeyac Hill (now Mexico City).
   After matching the image on the floor with the statue, Alvarado ran quickly back to the exposed plywood on the floor.
   "It's the same! It's the same one!" he shouted. "It's the Virgin of Guadalupe!"
   From the same spot Thursday afternoon, Alvarado recalls how he felt after comparing the statue to the mark on the plywood.
   "It gives me chills all over," he said. "It gives me faith. And I feel good because I know that all the people who come here (to see the plywood) believe me. They have faith in the Virgin of Guadalupe."
   Church volunteers say crowds have been streaming in since Wednesday into the small hallway where the shrine is.
   More than 1,000 people visited Wednesday and more than 500 people - from Freer to Houston - had made their way to the church Thursday afternoon.
   "Every time I come, I see more when I look at it," said Rosa Rodriguez, who has come to look at the image three times since Wednesday. "I see changes in the color. I can see her hands more. I guess it's all in the way you look at it."
   The Rev. Bob Shaldone, a priest at St. Anthony's, said the next decisions about how the church will regard the image are up to the Most Rev. Edmund Carmody, bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.
   "The church has to investigate and make a ruling, whether it was something supernatural or miraculous," Shaldone said. "That's the bishop's jurisdiction."
   No matter what the bishop's decision, Shaldone said, he hopes people, especially Catholics, reflect on their faith.
   "I hope this all will help people to lead the regular and sacramental life of the church," Shaldone said. "This includes confession, going to Mass, taking communion and praying the rosary - and praying it with their families."
   For the church, October is Protect Life Month, which has a special connection to the Virgin, he said.
   "I think it is very providential that this has happened this month," he said. "Our Lady of Guadalupe is the protector of life. She is a reminder that we should protect all life."



Staff Writer Aimée Courtice can be reached at 886-3622, or by e-mail at courticea@caller.com

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