After canceling the annual celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe last year because of COVID-19 restrictions, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines once again welcomed pilgrims Dec. 11-12.

More than 100,000 people from across the Midwest visited the shrine over the two days. The week before, over 1,000 riders on horseback and hundreds of truck drivers made pilgrimages to the shrine.

The shrine hosts what is believed to be the largest celebration of the Dec. 12 feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe outside Mexico City.

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

Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego for the first time at dawn Dec. 9, 1531, and said she wanted a church built in her honor on that hill. St. Juan Diego went to the bishop to share this news, but was put off by the prelate. She appeared again, and the saint — who was called by name by the apparition — again approached the bishop. The bishop asked for a sign, and Mary produced enough roses in December to fill the saint’s cloak, or “tilma.”

When he emptied the roses in front of the bishop, he found that Our Lady had left her image on the tilma, which remains today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

Given the large number of pilgrims who visit the shrine over the two days, shrine staff say they rely on more than 400 volunteers to make the celebration a success.

Among the tasks volunteers perform are working food stands, collecting trash, ushering at Mass and selling religious goods.

Leticia Zavala began volunteering at the shrine in 2018. She and her husband volunteer regularly, not just on the feast day.

They began volunteering after Zavala faced a serious illness.

“I just feel Our Lady interceded for me, especially in my sickness, throughout those years I was not participating and not doing anything. Once I started healing this was the first place I came and I just felt like this was my place,” Zavala said.

Like many who volunteer at the shrine, devotion to Mary draws them.

“It’s just a blessing everyday waking up and I’m alive. By the hand of her through Jesus, because I know he’s the one who makes the miracles. But through her she brought me there,” she said.

This year Zavala served as an usher and helped receive the flowers that pilgrims bring to the shrine, which are then stacked in front of the statues of Our Lady appearing to St. Juan Diego.

“Just to see the community gather, I’m thinking, ‘Madre, this is your pueblo coming together asking for their petitions.’ I saw so many faces, ones there were with gratitude and others they were asking,” she said of the experience of collecting the flowers. “It’s been a beautiful experience.”

Diana Colina has attended Masses at the shrine for several years and began volunteering over a year ago.

“To me, I play with the kids. I see the families,” Colina said. “It’s wonderful. It’s something spiritual.”

The shrine is a special place, she added.

“We feel like we’re home here. It’s a pretty place. We feel calm and can meditate,” Colina said.

Patty and Enrique Bravo dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Claus to welcome pilgrims. They have been volunteering at the shrine for seven years.

“She called us,” Patty Bravo said of Mary.

While the Bravos regularly attend Masses and devotions like the rosary, they visited the shrine daily leading up to the feast to help with preparations and to greet pilgrims.

Both Patty Bravo and her husband have physical issues that can make volunteering difficult, but she said God gave them the strength and good health to volunteer for the feast day.

“He has helped us serve his mother. We feel like he wants us here,” she said. “This is the first time in many, many years that we have come and actually spent so much time.”

Helping with the feast day celebrations also helps spread the devotion to Mary to young people who come with their families, Bravo said.

“This is for future generations what we’re building here, for the youth that they have a place to come and to see our Mother and remember their families and coming as children,” she said. “What a beautiful memory.”