Guadalupanos Coronation on Nov. 16 will focus on Queen
Ashley Castellanos will enjoy being the queen of the Guadalupanos for the next two years. Her grandparents, Graciela and Jorge Negrete, have taught her the family traditions and have also been her mentors.
Ashley wants to do charity work for the community, as have her grandparents. The grandparents are devoted to honor the Virgin de Guadalupe, the Mother of Jesus, who made an appearance in Mexico in Dec of 1531, and left her image there. She is also the queen of Mexico and empress of the Americas.
Ashley will soon be 14 and is in the 9th grade at Madera South High School. Ashley is bilingual in Spanish. She wants to be a pediatrician because she wants to help children and serve the community. Her interests are also in marine life, since she likes to go underwater and see the creatures there.
Her parents are Benjamin and Maria Castellanos, and live in Madera. Ashley feels the Virgin always takes care of her family. The doctor told her grandma that the baby in her womb was going to be blind. Her grandma was sad and went to pray at the church on her knees. After that, the doctor told her the baby was not going to be blind after all.
Another miracle — Ashley’s cousin, Roger Sandoval, was going to have to be in the hospital because of severe asthma attacks. Again, her grandma got a group together and started praying the rosary for a novena of nine days. Afterwards, her cousin Roger got better and better. He still has asthma, but not as bad, and does not have to go to the hospital for treatment.
Ashley is also a cheerleader and is the “flyer” of the group. She and loves to go up in the air during exercises. She also plans to join the Yearbook Club in school. She loves drama series and movies. Her favorite novela is “La Rosa de Guadalupe.”
Her favorite foods are enchiladas and tacos. Her favorite game controller is “Fortnite.”
The princess, Jessica Rojas, will accompany the queen for the next two years. She is 15 years, old born in Boise, Idaho and came to California at the age of one, and has been reared in Madera her whole life.
Jessica is in the 11th grade and attends Madera South High School. She plans to attend UC Merced or UC Davis and major in criminal science. Jessica’s family are members of St. Joachim church. They instilled in her the values and love of the Virgin de Guadalupe. Last year the family participated in the novenario (nine days of prayer) with the Guadalupano Society. That was a beautiful and wonderful experience for her, she said. This year she was chosen to participate as princess.
She is keenly interested in serving two years for the honor of serving in the Guadalupanos.
The Guadalupanos is one of the ministries of St. Joachim Catholic church in Madera, which was started in 1927. The mission of the group is to honor the Virgin de Guadalupe, Mother of Jesus, by praying to Jesus and doing charity in the community. Her feast day is every year on December 12th when festivities occur, including novena (prayer) for nine days, procession, mass, and festivities with free breakfast and entertainment.
The Guadalupana coronation will take place in the evening starting at 4 p.m. on Nov. 16 at the Holy Spouses hall at the school grounds of St. Joachim church. The public is invited for dinner and great music to celebrate the coronation of the queen with participation of the princess.
For information and tickets which start prepaid at $25.00 per person, call Gloria at 871-5355 or Ana at 706-0169.
