Peruvian Catholics gathered Oct. 15 at St. Gertrude Church, 1420 W. Granville Ave., to continue their devotion to el Señor de los Milagros, or the Lord of Miracles. The devotion started with a miracle in Peru more than 300 years ago, when an image of a crucified Christ, painted on an adobe wall, survived an earthquake that destroyed everything around it. It came to Chicago because of a vision in a dream in 1979, with a painting of the image commissioned for the area’s Peruvian community. It is always celebrated on the third Sunday of October, said Maria Luisa Ugarte. Ugarte, who came to Chicago with her parents at age 5 in 1960, is the niece of Teresa Mazzari, who had a dream in 1979 that the devotion should be brought to Chicago. So Mazzari, her husband, Ugarte’s parents, and friends of the family commissioned the image and started the Chicago brotherhood, or “hermandad,” of el Señor de Los Milagros. The back of the image is a painting of Nuestra Señora de la Nube, or Our Lady of the Cloud, a Marian devotion popular in Peru and Ecuador. They invited their Peruvian friends and relatives, creating a brotherhood of 19 at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, said Ugarte, who is making a documentary about the devotion to el Señor de los Milagros in Chicago. A couple of years later, the shrine and the devotion moved to St. Ignatius Church, 6559 N. Glenwood Ave., because it was easier to organize a procession on the residential streets that surround the church rather than on busy Ashland Avenue. The Mass and procession could not be held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then St. Ignatius Church closed. St. Gertrude pastor Father Richard Prendergast invited the Peruvian community to continue their devotion at St. Gertrude Church, he said. Ugarte and others are working with Luis Galvez Sr., one of the original six people who started the Chicago brotherhood. This year’s celebration did not include a procession because plans got started too late to organize one, Ugarte said, but the group plans to bring the procession back next year. In preparation, a carpenter modified the litter, or “anda,” that the image is carried on, making it lighter; it was originally 1,200 pounds and now it is 800 pounds. Because it is so heavy, the brotherhood asks 16 men to carry it each year there is a procession, Ugarte said, and being selected is an honor. “It’s carrying Christ,” she said. While Ugarte does not remember participating in the devotion in Peru, she has seen pictures of herself as a small child, wearing the purple habit that people in the procession wear. Galvez, who came to the United States as an adult, has clearer memories of the processions, which take place over three days in October. “It is very big in Lima,” said Galvez, 86. “With the inspiration of Our Lady, we talked about it and said, ‘Maybe we can do something like we did there.’ Today we have 43 years with the inspiration of Teresa Mazzari. We are really happy to have this chance again.” Galvez is the last surviving member of the group of six who started the devotion, and Ugarte is one of the new generation trying to keep the tradition alive. “It’s a big job,” Galvez said. “It’s not an easy job, to have people willing to participate and people who will do everything that has to be done and to do it the way it is done in Peru.” “People are praying, ‘Please grant us this miracle,’” Ugarte said. “It could be any life struggle.” But with their prayers comes acceptance of God’s will, she explained. “It doesn’t mean God will grant you a miracle because you ask for a miracle,” she said. “It means that God will do what he sees fit. Whatever it is that happened is because God made it so.”
Not your grandma’s religious gifts The religious gift market has seriously stepped up its game over the past few years. Gone are the days when an inspiring...
Three Virgins celebrated at St. Joseph Parish When Leonides Nieto was an infant she was gravely ill and near death. Her mother prayed to Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos (St. John of the Lakes) to intercede with Jesus on her daughter’s behalf, promising that if Leonides was healed, the family would leave a photo of the baby at the Virgin’s basilica in Jalisco, Mexico.