As drums beat and cries of “Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe” rang out, Knights of Columbus from the United States delivered two Knights of Columbus Silver Roses to brother Knights from Mexico during a Dec. 10 ceremony at the midway point of the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge in Laredo, Texas.
The U.S. delegation, which included Supreme Master Michael McCusker, Supreme Director Alfredo Vela and Texas State Deputy Ron Alonzo, was met on the bridge by about 150 Knights and family members from Mexico, led by Mexico Northeast State Deputy Luis Gaston Manriquez Moya.
This year, the annual exchange also included the transfer of thousands of prayer intentions collected by Knights in 2024 at the National Eucharistic Congress, Life Fest and local pro-life prayer services organized along the roses’ routes, which began in Canada earlier this year. The roses and prayer intentions were later brought by Knights in Mexico to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and placed near the altar on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“Roses were the emblem that Our Lady of Guadalupe used to help build the Church in the New World,” Supreme Master McCusker said after the ceremony. “And the rose was a symbol used by early pro-life advocates when lobbying their elected officials because it’s a sign of life. For the two purposes to come together in one program that honors our patroness and shows our dedication to life is simply remarkable.”
Grand Knight Julian Luna of Laredo Council 2304, who helped organize the event and coordinate the Silver Rose tour in Laredo, further explained, “The Silver Rose is a reminder that silver loses its brightness and luster if not tended to. We need to tend to our faith and our commitment to life, to strengthen it, because without faith, there is no hope.”
About 250 Knights and family members from throughout Texas gathered at San Agustín Cathedral in Laredo before the ceremony for Mass celebrated by Father Iden Bello, rector of the cathedral and a member of Nuestra Señora del Rosario Council 13838.
After the liturgy, Knights followed behind the colorful sights and sounds of a local matachines dance troupe and made the short, six-block journey from the cathedral to the international bridge — a major port of entry between the two countries that shuts down entirely for the ceremony each year.
“The Laredo Bridge System has to close the bridge and stop all traffic and pedestrians so we can do the ceremony at mid-bridge,” said Luna. “It’s a special occasion, and the city of Laredo has always prided itself on supporting this event each year.”
It was the supreme master’s first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, but participating in the ceremony is something he had hoped to do since first helping coordinate the Silver Rose program in Tennessee in 2009.
“It was a visible sign of how international we are as Knights of Columbus,” Supreme Master McCusker said. “And to have these roses traveling from Canada and across the United States, culminating at the border between the United States and Mexico — where there is such a need at this time for healing and grace — it speaks to God’s plan in all our lives.”
The exchange at the border has been part of the Knights of Columbus Silver Rose program since it began in 1960, at which time Columbian Squires literally ran with the first rose — a real rose, not one made of silver — from the border to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Monterrey. The program has since grown to feature eight roses traveling along different routes through Canada, the United States and Mexico from March through mid-December. Councils hosting a Silver Rose hold prayer services promoting the dignity of life and honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Order. At each stop, prayer requests are collected to ask Our Lady’s intercession.
“These people have resounding faith in la Virgen de Guadalupe,” Luna said. “And I don’t want them to lose that, [because] she’s still here with us.”