July 4th is the celebration of Our Lady of Refuge or Nuestra Señora del Refugio. She is Patroness of California and parts of Mexico. A Franciscan missionary, Francisco Diego Garcia y Moreno, also known as the first Bishop of Baja, California proclaimed Nuestra Senora del Refugio as Patron in 1843 at the Mission in Santa Clara in Alta California. He proclaimed that they name the great Mother of God in her title of ‘del Refugio’, the principal patroness of their diocese.

In 1981, it was the California Catholic Conference of Bishops that petitioned the Vatican Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship to observe the Feast of Our Lady of Refuge on July 5th of each year. This was approved and signed by Archbishop Giuseppe Casoria in 1982 in an official document.