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December 21, 2008

Thousands brave cold to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe

By Joyce Duriga

EDITOR

They came wrapped up in scarves, hats and thick winter coats. They came pushing strollers with children bundled up inside and holding banners bearing Our Lady of Guadalupe’s image. They came bearing roses to lay at the feet of Mary at her shrine. And they came and came by the tens of thousands, late into the cold, December night and throughout the next day to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the shrine at Maryville in Des Plaines.

Each year, for the past 20 years, more and more Catholics — mostly of Latin American descent — make the pilgrimage to Des Plaines on Dec. 11 and 12 to celebrate the feast, which falls on the 12th. This year, organizers were expecting about 100,000 pilgrims, but no official estimate was available when the Catholic New World went to press.

Leading people to Jesus

Like she did at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry and has continued to do since her assumption in to heaven, Mary is leading people to her Son through this celebration.

The focus of the pilgrimage is the sacraments, where Catholics encounter Jesus intimately. Priests man the confessionals in Maryville’s gymnasium. And they celebrate Masses that begin with the vigil at 8 p.m. on Dec. 11 and continue at midnight, 3 a.m., and throughout the day on Dec. 12.

The feast is a commemoration of Mary’s appearance to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill near modern- day Mexico City.

Mary appeared to Diego for the first time at dawn Dec. 9, 1531 and said she wanted a church built in her honor on that hill. Diego went to the bishop to share this news, but was put off by the prelate. She appeared again, and Diego — who was called by name by the lady in the apparition — again approached the bishop. The bishop asked for a sign from this lady of Diego’s and Mary produced enough roses in December to fill Diego’s cloak, or tilma. When he emptied them in front of the bishop, he found that she had left her image on the tilma, which remains today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

Many pilgrims bring tributes of roses in recognition of the virgin’s miracle more than 400 years ago.

Local shrine

The local shrine in Des Plaines began in the mid-1980s. Devotion to Our Lady there grew and in 2005, the archdiocese officially assigned Father Miguel Martinez as its first rector and created this site as a canonical entity giving it the designation of “oratory” (a place set aside by the bishop for worship).

“This canonical recognition allows for sacramental celebrations in the place (baptisms, confirmations, weddings). Once the place had received canonical entity it was officially named Maryville- Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel,” according to the shrine’s Web site (www.madredeamerica.org).

During this year’s celebration Martinez read a letter from Msgr. Diego Monroy Ponce, congratulating the Des Plaines oratory for being given the official status of a shrine this year.

Pilgrims come from all over the Chicago area, Indiana, Wisconsin and beyond to commemorate the feast day. It’s a home away from home for many Mexican Americans. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel is also the only place, outside of Mexico, authorized by the Archdiocese of Mexico City where the faithful can satisfy the promises made to Our Lady.

Feels like celebration

Pilgrims to Maryville come for Mass and to visit the outdoor grotto and lay flowers before the large statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a copy of the image on Diego’s tilma. They light votive candles also bearing her image and have religious articles blessed. The night has the feel of celebration. There are fireworks, which Father Martinez told the crowd on the 11th symbolizes joy, mariachi bands, Mexican food and religious goods for sale.

Given how cold it usually is on this night, one observer noted how just getting to the shrine is an act of faith. Streets are blocked off around Maryville and pilgrims must walk or take buses to get to the site. But that, too, is part of the pilgrimage.

Many archdiocesan parishes hold “torch runs” where they walk from their parishes to the shrine, light torches and walk or run them back to their parishes. Members of some parishes, like Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Sylvester on the city’s North Side and St. Agnes of Bohemia in Little Village, cover miles and miles to the shrine and back on foot.

When they arrive at their own parishes in the early hours of the morning, the torches — symbolizing the light of Christ — are greeted by congregations who gather to sing “las mananitas” to the virgin before participating in special Masses.

Observances also often incorporate reenactments of the apparitions at Tepeyac.

While the feast seems to be observed most by Mexican Catholics, Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of all of the Americas.