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In DeGrazia鈥檚 Mission in the Sun, Our Lady of Guadalupe looks on, her gaze an invitation to sit, pray and reflect.

Ettore 鈥淭ed鈥� DeGrazia built the chapel to honor Father Eusebio Francisco Kino and dedicated it to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

鈥淒eGrazia claims he wasn鈥檛 a church-going man, but he was a very religious man and was brought up Catholic,鈥� says Lance Laber, the executive director of the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun. 鈥淭he image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is just very special to Catholics of the Southwest and of Mexico.鈥�

The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12 celebrates the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego, an indigenous peasant newly converted to Christianity. In 1531, she is believed to have appeared to him and expressed her desire for the construction of a church on Tepeyac Hill in the area of modern-day Mexico City.

In anticipation of her feast day, the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun hosts a festival each year in her honor, this year on Sunday, Dec. 6.

Laber calls her 鈥渁n icon of the Southwest.鈥�

And for good reason. She is everywhere.

Our Lady of Guadalupe appears throughout Tucson 鈥� in churches such as Mission San Xavier del Bac, at the base of Tumamoc Hill and on a mural in the Menlo Park neighborhood.

The Virgin of Guadalupe, as she is also called, shows up on candles and clothing and in places of personal devotion.

This dark-skinned Lady has been called empress, patroness and mother of Mexico and the Americas.

鈥淪ince she appeared in the Americas, it is what would be considered a regional devotion,鈥� said Monsignor Ra煤l Trevizo, the pastor at St. John the Evangelist, 602 W. Ajo Way. 鈥淪he spoke to the reality of the people of Latin America and the Southwest.鈥�

In Tucson, devotion to the Virgin has been passed down through the generations, culminating on Dec. 12 鈥� the feast day in her honor.

Even those who don鈥檛 know the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe relate to her as an intercessor. She is 鈥渟omeone to whom you pray, and you know she will take care of your prayers before God because she has a privileged place before God,鈥� Trevizo says.

To Teresa Mancha, Our Lady of Guadalupe is dear. She learned that from her mother, who moved to the United States from Mexico in the 1940s.

Always, the family had an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in their home. Always, they thanked her for the blessings their family received.

鈥淲e have been blessed to have no major problems,鈥� Mancha says. 鈥淭hat all came from my mother, because her example was to be praying the rosary and praying to her, and she had so much devotion that she died on Dec. 12, the day of Our Lady.鈥�

Mancha says one of her sisters found their mother on her deathbed with her rosary.

鈥淲e turn to (the Virgin) and ask her for guidance, and I believe that is the reason why everyone in our family has achieved so much,鈥� says Mancha, who is the costume chairman for the Tucson Desert Harmony Chorus. 鈥淢y father was educated to the fifth grade and migrated in the 鈥�40s. We now have (in the family) doctors, nurses and lawyers.鈥�

Sister Esther Calderon, too, traces her current devotion to family tradition. She remembers the vigils the night before the Dec. 12 feast. People visited the family鈥檚 home in Klondyke, near Safford, and the flowers decorated Our Lady of Guadalupe鈥檚 image.

Now Calderon, a sister of the Dominican Sisters of Peace, lives in a home called Casa Guadalupe 鈥� named such by her religious order. Images of the Virgin fill the home she shares with Sister Corina Padilla.

When Calderon runs Bible studies in prisons, inmates sometimes give her drawings of Our Lady.

Years ago, the father of one of those men built the small shrine that now protects a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in front of the sisters鈥� home. When the man鈥檚 son was released from prison, the son returned to repaint the weathered statue for the sisters.

鈥淗er appearance was in Mexico, so the Mexican people have a really deep devotion to her,鈥� Calderon says. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 where we get it.鈥�

The traditions revolving around Our Lady of Guadalupe are both personal and ecclesiastical.

The night before the feast day, families might gather at home and in churches to pray the rosary and wait for dawn.

鈥淭hen, at daybreak, they would sing to Our Lady of Guadalupe what we call 鈥楲as Ma帽anitas,鈥欌�夆�� Trevizo says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a Mexican song and a festive song in which you greet people while celebrating their birthdays.鈥�

After a night of prayer, morning comes with food and song.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 stay up until 5 a.m. for 鈥楳a帽anitas鈥� (in church),鈥� Trevizo says. 鈥淏ut after midnight, we serve food and drink hot chocolate.鈥�

The next day, the parishes celebrate a Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe. Other traditions include dramatizations of her appearance to Juan Diego and prayer gatherings and processions in the nine days leading up to the feast day.

鈥淚t鈥檚 nine days of prayer, and it recalls the nine months that the Virgin Mary was pregnant with the child Jesus,鈥� Trevizo says.

In Tucson, even some without Catholic backgrounds identify with the Our Lady of Guadalupe.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an image that people understand beyond the sense of their religion, and they understand it from an archetypal human point of view of motherhood and protection,鈥� says Susan Gamble, a practicing Episcopalian and owner of Santa Theresa Tile Works.

Gamble considers herself a 鈥渂order dweller,鈥� and she and the other artists at Santa Theresa Tile Works often draw on the region to inspire their work.

Tile Works artist Kristine Stoner created one of Gamble鈥檚 favorite depictions of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a commission for the Pio Decimo Center.

鈥淚 can imagine every young mother alive right now, especially an immigrant mother, can identify (with Mary),鈥� Gamble says. 鈥淎nd the grace and dignity that she had 鈥� people can aspire to have that much love.鈥�

Gamble sees her as both a religious and cultural symbol.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I find her as an inspiration,鈥� she says. 鈥淏e it a literal story or a non-literal story, I don鈥檛 care. I don鈥檛 debate that. The point is that she is woven into our fabric.鈥�