A Peruvian Parish Celebration

By John Lydon, OSA, Pastor The Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Pacasmayo held a large celebration to mark the Golden Jubilee of the canonization of St. Martin de Porres, called affectionately in Peru "Friar Broom" since he is always depicted with a broom in his hand. On May 6, 1962 Pope John XXIII canonized him, calling him "Martin of Charity" and proclaiming him Patron of Social Justice. For the values of peace, humility and service that excelled in his life, his cult has spread throughout the world. So the parish wanted to mark the anniversary with a celebration, a "Celebration of Parish Fellowship" involving the whole family. In preparation for the main day we visited for three weeks all the schools in Pacasmayo with the statute of San Martin, having with all the students a Liturgy of the Word and then the statue of St Martin stayed all day at school so that students could better reflect on the meaning of his life of holiness. Beginning on the main day, Sunday May 6th, the schools participated in a "Parade of Values" starting out at the parish church at 8:30 am with each school bearing flags of one of the values found in the life of St. Martin. After passing through the city streets, the parade of hundreds of students arrived at the sports stadium of the town where a special Mass was concelebrated by Frs John Lydon and Rogelio Adrianzén, to thank God for having given us the life and example of holiness of St. Martin de Porres. Finishing the celebration of the Mass we began another celebration with games for children and young people from schools and a bingo for adults with a statute of St. Martin being the final prize of the bingo. This went on for several hours accompanied by the youth band of the parish and with lunch prepared by lay people from among the many parroquial zones of the parish. It was almost 4 o'clock in the afternoon when the celebration ended, all excited by the parish celebration and atmosphere of fraternity that was promoted to celebrate the life of this great saint of Peru.