In Huandacareo, Michoacán, nearly half a million devotees process with the image of “El Señor del Amparo” (“The Lord of Protection”) through the streets on Holy Thursday night, from the end of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper until about 5 a.m.

The installation of a replica of the crucifix into its own chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo Parish in Mundelein on March 30 wasn’t quite as crowded, but it was standing room only, said Adam Campos, the parishioner who started the effort to bring the image to the parish four years ago.

The project has been a lesson in faith, said Campos, who was born in the United States but lived much of his childhood in Michoacán in central Mexico. He remembers seeing the Holy Thursday procession pass by, he said, but he wasn’t too interested.

As an adult, he knew many people at Santa Maria del Popolo hail from the same area, and in 2021, he suggested that many of those unable to travel to Mexico might like to see and pray in front of the image of the crucified Christ that they believe has granted many favors and miracles.

When Campos mentioned it to Father Miguel Martínez, pastor of Santa Maria del Popolo, Martínez told Campos to get to work.

Campos did, calling on friends and family, including nine brothers-in-law and two sisters-in-law. After securing permission and a cost estimate to have a replica made from the parish where the original image resides in Mexico, they started raising money. They organized a “kermes,” or summer festival, at the parish, and then a gala dance.

Once they had raised the money, Campos and Martínez traveled to Huandacareo, where Martínez signed an agreement on Jan. 8, 2022, with the pastor and bishop to care for the replica, crafted of alabaster and resins by artisans in Jalisco.

“It was harder than I expected” to get the replica, Martínez said. It was the first time since the 1500s that the parish had allowed a replica to be made.

The original image — the corpus, or body of Christ — was carved of cedar in Seville, Spain, and brought to Mexico, landing in Veracruz in 1550. It was brought to Michoacán, inn central Mexico, the following year. The cross to which the corpus is fixed was made of a wood called “ahuehuete” by Indigenous artisans.

The image, Campos said, “connects us directly to the beginnings of evangelization in Latin America,” as it was used to teach the Indigenous people of Latin America about Christ.

Now, he said, it is helping to evangelize the community around Santa Maria del Popolo.

His own devotion has grown, he said, and he has been struck by how the project has come together, with the help of his family and friends. A cousin who brings building materials from Mexico into Texas was able to transport the image to San Antonio, he said.

Then Campos had to travel to Texas, where his father had passed away from COVID-19. He drove the image and his father’s ashes back to Illinois together.

When it came to building a chapel, a parishioner who is also a carpenter was working on Campos’ kitchen and heard about the project. He helped, as did many other people, including a plumber who turned up just as workers were trying to locate part of the heating system under the floor. The man helped, then left.

“I’ve never seen him again,” he said.

The Knights of Columbus Council has contributed time and money, especially for the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that is the chapel, and a parish Filipino group has also contributed.

“This is really bringing people together,” Campos said.

It’s also drawn people from all over the Chicago area, neighboring states and even as far as California who want to visit and pray in front of the image, often to fulfill “mandas,” or promises they have made.

The original image gathered devotees because people heard of miracles happening and favors granted to people who prayed in front of it, Martínez noted. He has already heard of four such incidents involving the replica image, including help for a 2-year-old girl with lupus and the healing of a man with throat cancer.

“He was Catholic, but he didn’t come to Mass all the time,” Martínez said. “Friends told him to come and pray here.”

Many parishioners will pray with the image on Holy Thursday April 17, which, like its original, will be carried in procession after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

Unlike the procession in Huandacareo, the Mundelein procession will not last until 5 a.m. In the years that the parish has had the image, Martínez said, the procession usually ends at about 1:30 a.m.