Minnesota’s first national Mexican parish, the first church in the state to offer Masses in Spanish and a place first-generation immigrants from Mexico gravitate toward is now a diocesan Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The designation for Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in St. Paul was requested by the pastor, Father Andrew Brinkman, and granted by Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

It is the first and only diocesan shrine in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The announcement was made by Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who presided at the parish’s 11 p.m. Dec. 11 anticipatory Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Father Brinkman also read the decree at the 5:30 p.m. feast day Mass Dec. 12. 

“We’re so excited,” said Deacon Gregg Sroder, the parish’s business manager. “It’s just awesome.” 

The anticipatory Mass was preceded by the parish’s annual one-mile procession for the feast day and included a reception with food and entertainment afterward, Deacon Sroder said. The announcement was a surprise for all 700 people there, he said.

“People clapped and cheered,” he said. 

Founded in 1931, Our Lady of Guadalupe is a religious and cultural touchstone, Deacon Sroder said. The decree states that shrines are called to play a role in the new evangelization of today’s society and the parish has long been a center of pilgrimage and popular devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.   

Plans at the parish now include touching up the Our Lady of Guadalupe chapel in the church, which is to one side and a little bit to the rear of the main sanctuary, Deacon Sroder said. 

A large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe hangs in the chapel, and stained glass windows depicting roses let in the light, Deacon Sroder said.

People often leave roses in the chapel, particularly during the feast day, he said. 

The apparation of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico in 1531 has brought the conversion of countless numbers to the Catholic faith, the decree signed by Archbishop Hebda notes, adding “may this Shrine in Saint Paul at the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe continue to be a place of conversion and renewal in this local Church.”