Pilgrimage

A tall, gaunt man strode south down the rough road from the mountain city of Queretaro last week at the head of a five-mile-long column of men. Mile on mile he moved across rugged hills, over the naked brown mountains. He walked past ancient churches and haciendas, through villages with pre-Christian names--Tepoztlan, Tlalnepantla, Cuautitlan. As he drew near Mexico City he passed modern factories--Azteca Cement, Nash Motors, La Consolidida Steel--whose chimneys ribbed the blue of Mexico's sky.

All this he ignored. In his right hand, outthrust before him, were three eggs, the offering he was bringing to the Virgin of Guadelupe at her shrine in Mexico City's suburb of Tepeyac. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus," he chanted as he walked with eyes half-closed. And behind him a chorus, 7,000 voices strong, took up the chant of the rosary: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners . . ."

"Dear Virgin." These were the men of Queretaro, on their annual 163-mile pilgrimage to Mexico's greatest shrine. They were well-dressed businessmen, overalled city workers, shoeshine boys, campesinos, Indians from the high sierra. Behind the man with the eggs, Santiago Sanchez walked with arms outstretched, like Christ's on the cross. Indalecio Gomez Romero carried his shoes in one hand, his hat in the other, that stones might rip his feet and the sun strike his head and his penance be more severe. Onesimo Cadena, from the sierra, walked with head bowed. He intended to ask forgiveness for being drunk in a cantina when his wife died unattended at home. Alfonso Noriega joked, laughed and wove a crown of flowers as he walked; he wanted to thank the Virgin because his store had made so much money this year. Arnulio Garcia stepped along with a pocketful of Queretaro's famed opals and his own private prayer on his lips: "Dear Virgin, May I have better luck selling my stones in Mexico City than I had on my trip to Mazatlan."

Day after day from dawn to dusk the procession wound through the mountains. A day's march ahead were the old, the women and the smart young Queretaro lawyers who arranged for overnight billeting of the aged and the very important. Among these last was Queretaro's Father Sebastian Berumen. Thin and steelyeyed, he marched in straw sun helmet and knee-length gabardine coat to cover the cassock that by law he is forbidden to wear in public. With him walked his chief aides: Tranquilino Gonzalez, president of Queretaro's Chamber of Commerce; John Herbert, English owner of Queretaro's ice factory, and three other businessmen and lawyers. All were followers of Father Salvador Garcia, the Queretaro priest who organized the first pilgrimage 57 years ago.

Long Live Christ the King. The tautly disciplined column marched in 38 groups, each under its own jefe de grupo. The groups even prayed in unison. Sometimes there would be a moment of silence. Then the column leaders would shout "Viva Cristo Rey," and back would come the roar: "Viva!"

Jeeps with two-way radios patrolled the lines, and ambulances tended first-aid cases. Doctors treated 98 cases of sunstroke, performed 15 minor operations (mostly infected feet). Masses were said in the fields, though Mexico's constitution requires that services be held inside churches. "Violation of the law?" laughed Father Berumen. "Why, in all the places we stop, I am an honored guest in the house of the municipal president."

Finally the procession reached Mexico City, wound up the Via Guadelupe to the shrine on Tepeyac Hill. There the 7,000 spread their blankets in the street and slept till the church organ called them at dawn. Many went the rest of the way on their knees--over the cobblestones and down the great center aisle to the main altar. There they could look up and see dimly through the thick glass the famous painting of the Virgin that, by legend, Juan Diego miraculously received on Tepeyac Hill 416 years ago. "All of us," one of them had said, "have our troubles and worries. We are just bringing them to the Virgin. She will take care of us. She always has."

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