TIA's Events
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Coming Pilgrimage - 2026
TIA’s 2026 Carmel Pilgrimage to
Our Lady of Bethlehem
Many Catholics are unaware that America has a Queen. Largely unknown and almost forgotten, she is nonetheless majestic, and from her throne in a far corner of our great land she waits for her children to come to her, promising them her goodness and graces.
This Queen is Our Lady of Bethlehem, America’s second oldest Marian Statue and the oldest in the West. The beautiful life-sized statue of Our Lady of Bethlehem accompanied Fray Junípero Serra on the first Expedition in 1769 to what was then Alta California, a land belonging to the Spanish Crown.
It is fitting that this Statue is in California, home to the largest number of Catholics in the United States, numbering over 11 million. And yet, the majority of them do not know about Our Lady of Bethlehem and do not reap the great benefits of her patronage. For this reason we invite our readers and friends to join us on TIA's 2026 Pilgrimage to beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, to know and honor Our Lady of Bethlehem and to ask her intercession for our land and the Church.
Brief history of Our Lady of Bethlehem
In 1769, the Spanish Franciscan monks in Mexico (then New Spain) planned a great expedition to establish Missions on the 700-mile coastal stretch extending from San Diego to the port of Monterey. These missions would bring the Faith to the many native peoples as well as establish a Catholic civilization. The great undertaking was considered impossible because the land was uncharted and soldiers were scarce, but the iron-willed Fray Junípero Serra prevailed. With only 25 soldiers on horseback, 3 muleteers and 42 Indians armed with bows and arrows, he set out
walking on the land expedition..
Our Lady of Bethlehem accompanied this mission: She was present when the first great cross was planted in San Diego on July 16, 1769, and whent the first Mass was said in Monterey on June 3, 1770. It was she to whom Fray Serra turned in his many difficulties in establishing the first nine of the 21 Spanish Missions in California.
And today this beautiful life-sized statue continues to reign from her side chapel in Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel-by-the-Sea. This was Fr. Serra’s most beloved Mission and where he died. In the great Basilica pilgrims can honor his mortal remains.
TIA’s pilgrimage
On a visit to Carmel some 20 years ago, Mr. Atila Guimarães pointed out the statue of Our Lady of Bethlehem hidden in the chapel to Dr. Marian Horvat. Since then, she has made it her mission to tell Californians about Our Lady of Bethlehem. Gathering the bits and pieces of history that had been practically lost to the general public over the years, she joined with co-author Dr. Judith Fife Mead to weave the beautiful tapestry that is the story of Our Lady of Bethlehem.
purchase
here
<
It is the adventure of how this statue is intricately linked to California’s founding; for Californians, it is our story. Her history can be read in the book,
Discovering Our Lady of Bethlehem: Her Journey with Fr. Junípero Serra, which can be purchased at TIA’s Bookstore
here. A video documentary on the topic can be watched
here on TIA’s YouTube channel, Tradition in Action Media.
For the last two years members and friends of Tradition in Action have made a pilgrimage to Carmel-by-the-Sea, to honor Our Lady of Bethlehem. You can view a picture summary of the 2025 pilgrimage here.
TIA organizes a sung procession, the Traditional Mass and a musical serenade to Our Lady of Bethlehem, and hosts talks in the afternoon on the history and significance of Our Lady of Bethlehem.
The next morning, there is a Rosary walk on the white sands of Carmel beach that ends at a hill where the Portola-Crespi cross rises over the horizon. This was the site of a miracle that helped to convert the natives, which you can read about here.
We hope our friends can join us for our 2026 pilgrimage, which will be on June 9-10. A flyer with the Invitation and more details can be accessed here.
This devotion’s significance
The devotion to Our Lady of Bethlehem is not a new one. This invocation hails from the times of the early Christians, and was popularized especially in Spain and Portugal in the 1400s during the Age of Discovery.
It was Our Lady of Bethlehem who was the patroness of the voyages to the Indies, and thus the patroness of the Americas. Prince Henry the Navigator, the driving force behind the Portuguese explorations of the 1400s, once said, “Just as the star of Bethlehem guided the Magi to the manger where the Child God lay, so too will Our Lady of Bethlehem help to find new lands and the route to India.”
What is the significance for our days? In our times, when California, the United States, the Americas, the world and the Church are engulfed in a terrible crisis of Revolution - so aptly described here by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira - it is Our Lady who will offer solace and solution to her children so burdened with troubles. She will provide the grace to begin the building of a new Catholic Civilization.
Thus, we can paraphrase the words of Henry the Navigator: Just as the star of Bethlehem guided the Magi to the manger where the Child God lay, so too can Our Lady of Bethlehem help to guide us to her long-awaited Reign, the Reign of Mary.
It is she who can find for us a new grace in a world entrenched in sin and open revolt against God; she will help us navigate the stormy waters of our revolutionary world and the murky waters of our beloved Church infiltrated by her enemies. She can find the solution to a seemingly impossible situation – in the Church, in the world, in our institutions and in our families – just as the Christ Child she bore in Bethlehem was the solution for a world in agony and engulfed by a similar crisis 2,000 years ago.
How fitting it is, then, to make a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Bethlehem, to implore her help and ask for her goodness, so that she may give the balsam for seemingly incurable wounds.
It behooves us to make her acquaintance and give her due honor as a Queen, so that she may present us to her beloved Christ Child, who was and continues to be the Light in a world engulfed in darkness.
Posted June 1, 2026
Our Lady of Bethlehem in the side Chapel of the Mission Basilica
It is fitting that this Statue is in California, home to the largest number of Catholics in the United States, numbering over 11 million. And yet, the majority of them do not know about Our Lady of Bethlehem and do not reap the great benefits of her patronage. For this reason we invite our readers and friends to join us on TIA's 2026 Pilgrimage to beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, to know and honor Our Lady of Bethlehem and to ask her intercession for our land and the Church.
Brief history of Our Lady of Bethlehem
Above, the first Mass in Monterey said by Fr. Junípero Serra: Our Lady of Bethlehem stood over the altar; below, Mission San Carlos Borromeo
Our Lady of Bethlehem accompanied this mission: She was present when the first great cross was planted in San Diego on July 16, 1769, and whent the first Mass was said in Monterey on June 3, 1770. It was she to whom Fray Serra turned in his many difficulties in establishing the first nine of the 21 Spanish Missions in California.
And today this beautiful life-sized statue continues to reign from her side chapel in Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel-by-the-Sea. This was Fr. Serra’s most beloved Mission and where he died. In the great Basilica pilgrims can honor his mortal remains.
TIA’s pilgrimage
On a visit to Carmel some 20 years ago, Mr. Atila Guimarães pointed out the statue of Our Lady of Bethlehem hidden in the chapel to Dr. Marian Horvat. Since then, she has made it her mission to tell Californians about Our Lady of Bethlehem. Gathering the bits and pieces of history that had been practically lost to the general public over the years, she joined with co-author Dr. Judith Fife Mead to weave the beautiful tapestry that is the story of Our Lady of Bethlehem.
purchase
here
<For the last two years members and friends of Tradition in Action have made a pilgrimage to Carmel-by-the-Sea, to honor Our Lady of Bethlehem. You can view a picture summary of the 2025 pilgrimage here.
TIA organizes a sung procession, the Traditional Mass and a musical serenade to Our Lady of Bethlehem, and hosts talks in the afternoon on the history and significance of Our Lady of Bethlehem.
The next morning, there is a Rosary walk on the white sands of Carmel beach that ends at a hill where the Portola-Crespi cross rises over the horizon. This was the site of a miracle that helped to convert the natives, which you can read about here.
Above, Prince Henry the Navigator; middle, Our Lady of Bethlehem in Lisbon; bottom, Tower of Bethlehem with statue of Our Lady of Good Success, the last thing sailors would see when departing Portugal
This devotion’s significance
The devotion to Our Lady of Bethlehem is not a new one. This invocation hails from the times of the early Christians, and was popularized especially in Spain and Portugal in the 1400s during the Age of Discovery.
It was Our Lady of Bethlehem who was the patroness of the voyages to the Indies, and thus the patroness of the Americas. Prince Henry the Navigator, the driving force behind the Portuguese explorations of the 1400s, once said, “Just as the star of Bethlehem guided the Magi to the manger where the Child God lay, so too will Our Lady of Bethlehem help to find new lands and the route to India.”
What is the significance for our days? In our times, when California, the United States, the Americas, the world and the Church are engulfed in a terrible crisis of Revolution - so aptly described here by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira - it is Our Lady who will offer solace and solution to her children so burdened with troubles. She will provide the grace to begin the building of a new Catholic Civilization.
Thus, we can paraphrase the words of Henry the Navigator: Just as the star of Bethlehem guided the Magi to the manger where the Child God lay, so too can Our Lady of Bethlehem help to guide us to her long-awaited Reign, the Reign of Mary.
It is she who can find for us a new grace in a world entrenched in sin and open revolt against God; she will help us navigate the stormy waters of our revolutionary world and the murky waters of our beloved Church infiltrated by her enemies. She can find the solution to a seemingly impossible situation – in the Church, in the world, in our institutions and in our families – just as the Christ Child she bore in Bethlehem was the solution for a world in agony and engulfed by a similar crisis 2,000 years ago.
How fitting it is, then, to make a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Bethlehem, to implore her help and ask for her goodness, so that she may give the balsam for seemingly incurable wounds.
It behooves us to make her acquaintance and give her due honor as a Queen, so that she may present us to her beloved Christ Child, who was and continues to be the Light in a world engulfed in darkness.
Scenes from the 2025 Carmel Pilgrimage, organized by Tradition in Action
Posted June 1, 2026
______________________
______________________
Click here to purchase the book & holy cards