ANGELENOS INVITED TO CONTRIBUTE CHINA TO VIRGIN MARY MOSAIC.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

A 17-foot-tall outdoor shrine to the Virgen de Guadalupe became a focal point for the city's diversity Friday as officials asked Angelenos of all races to donate a single piece of their best china to help expand the landmark.

They hope that using residents' most sentimental porcelain or ceramic pieces to enlarge the shrine will reflect the ``ethnicity that forms this city.''

``This is a happy day, a very happy day,'' said Lalo Garcia, the Mission Hills artist who created the mosaic and will oversee its expansion. ``We are inviting every family in Los Angeles to bring a piece of china - something that is closely related to them.''

Families were asked to bring one ceramic piece - a vase, a plate, anything with special meaning - to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels through Monday, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

``I am inviting people to be a part of history, the building and the completion of the project,'' Garcia said.

He plans to smash the keepsakes and use the pieces to create an 86-foot- long mosaic interspersed with a painted narrative of the apparition of the Lady of Guadalupe to an Aztec Indian in 1521.

Known to many as the Miracle of Guadalupe, she is said to have embraced the Mexican peasant, populated a barren landscape with flowers and left her imprint on his tilma, or cloth.

The Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary or El Virgen de Guadalupe, as she is alternately known, is revered by millions as a symbol of salvation and purity.

Every year, millions migrate to the place at which she is said to have appeared in Mexico. The pilgrimage is one of North America's largest.

Monday marks the day of her apparition, and Angelenos will pack Masses, singing early morning serenades or maanitas such as ``Buenos Dias, Paloma Blanca,'' or ``Good Morning, White Dove,'' in her honor.

Church officials hope the plea will bring thousands of the devout to the cathedral, where three wooden bins await their contributions to the shrine.

Already, thousands every year visit the simple shrine that runs along the Hollywood Freeway, lighting candles and praying to Our Lady of Guadalupe, a symbol that goes beyond religion for many of the 3 million Mexicans who live in Los Angeles.

It signifies an important cultural and religious moment for Mexicans. Many believe the virgin appeared as a dark virgin, or morena, shortly after Spain conquered the country. The apparition marks the blending of indigenous and European cultures.

It was the symbol used when revolutionaries declared independence in Mexico and years later, when activist Cesar Chavez marched for farmworker rights in California's Central Valley.

At the cathedral, couples stop to pray to the Virgin after taking their nuptial vows, with some of the most devoted kneeling on the concrete floor before the shrine. Church groups called Guadalupanas are organized around her.

But the simple, 17-foot-tall shrine completed in 2002 has always been too small - especially for the cathedral. It is the only place, outside Mexico, that has a piece of the tilma where the Virgin's apparition appeared.

Church officials have been quietly raising money to begin the $250,000 expansion project but are still short by half. But with the help of the downtown business community, they say they expect to raise the rest by the time the project is completed next year.

``This expansion project will give the people of our archdiocese the opportunity to honor our blessed mother by being a part of the shrine itself,'' said Monsignor Kevin Kostelnik, the cathedral's pastor.

``This is a great testament of our love for our Lady of Guadalupe,'' he said.

Maria Lamas, a septegenarian who runs a Guadalupana club at San Fernando's Santa Rosa de Lima Catholic Church, calls it a wonderful idea.

``Since I was a little girl, my mother always spoke about the Virgin Mary, the Virgin Mary,'' she said. ``I am very devoted to her.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com