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Many thousands travel to Des Plaines shrine for feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

By Karen Callaway | Photo editor
Thursday, December 19, 2019

Many thousands travel to Des Plaines shrine for feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

More than 200,000 pilgrims make their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines to observe her Dec. 12 feast day each year.
Riders tip their hats as they ride past the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and rand are blessed with holy water Dec. 7, 2019. More than 400 horses carrying members of Club Los Vaqueros Unidos (United Cowboys Club) from the Chicago area made their way to place roses at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines as part of a pre-celebration for the feast day on Dec. 12. The horseback pilgrimage is the unofficial start of festivities at the shrine, which welcomes more than 100,000 people at the event. The feast celebrates the appearance of Mary to indigenous peasant St. Juan Diego in 1531 near present-day Mexico City. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A young man carries a banner with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the Dec. 7, 2019, horseback pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Many of the horses “dance” as a tribute as they pass the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the Dec. 7, 2019, pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
More than horses carrying members of Club Los Vaqueros Unidos (United Cowboys Club) from the Chicago area make their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 7, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
More than horses carrying members of Club Los Vaqueros Unidos (United Cowboys Club) from the Chicago area make their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 7, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Dozens of semitrucks from the Chicago area make their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 7, 2019, as part of a pre-celebration for the feast day on Dec. 12. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Dozens of semitrucks from the Chicago area make their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 7, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Father Esequiel Sanchez, rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, puts his arm around a driver while he sprinkles holy water in his cab. Dozens of semitrucks from the Chicago area made their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 7, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Father Esequiel Sanchez, rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, puts his arm around a driver while he sprinkles holy water in his cab. Dozens of semitrucks from the Chicago area make their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 7, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Deacon Salvador Medina sprinkles holy Water on one of the trucks that made their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 7, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Pilgrims make their way to the the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 11, the eve of the Dec. 12 feast day. More than 200,000 people visit the shrine in a 24-hour period during the festivities. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Pilgrims make their way to the the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec.11, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Volunteers place thousands of flowers on the rocks near statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego during the feast day festivities Dec. 11-12, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Thousands of pilgrims brave frigid temperatures at the the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 11, 2019, to watch the arrival of torch bearers from Chicago-area parishes. The torch bearers light their torches at the shrine and then carry them back to their home churches for early morning services. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Thousands of candles surround the back of the grotto at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines as pilgrims stop to pray prior to the closing Mass of the Roses Dec. 12, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Father Giovanny Navarro Sanchez; vice rector pf the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, blesses the fire from which runners will light their torches Dec. 11. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Father Giovanny Navarro Sanchez, vice rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in des Plaines, greets torch runners Dec. 11, 2019. The runners light their torches at the shrine then carry them to their home parishes for early morning services Dec. 12. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Pilgrims make their way to the the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on the eve of her feast Day Dec. 11, 2019. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Floats made by different parishes and groups make their way to the the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 11, 2019, the eve of her feast day. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
More than 200,000 pilgrims make their way to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines to observe her Dec. 12 feast day each year.

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  • shrine of our lady of guadalupe
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