Catholics express love for Mary through various devotions

Bishop Joseph Perry was the main celebrant for a Mass to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the Feast of the Madonna Incoranata at St Therese Chinese Mission in Chinatown on Sep.11, 2022. Every September, Italian Catholics of Santa Maria Incoronata assemble on Alexander Street in Chicago's Chinatown to pay homage to the Blessed Mother. (Chicago Catholic/Karen Callaway)

People carry a statue of Our Lady of Ludzmierz during a procession from St. Camillus Church to St. Bruno on Oct. 20, 2007. More than a thousand people of Polish descent participated in the event to celebrate the month of the rosary. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Adorers kneel before the monstrance of Our Lady of the Sign, Ark of Mercy, at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, 1351 W. Evergreen Ave., in 2008. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Ray Suarez places a rosary on the statue Mary, Mother of the Divine Providence, the patroness of Puerto Rico, before Mass on Nov. 14, 2025, at Sts. Genevieve and Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Parish. The feast day of Mary, Mother of the Divine Providence is Nov. 19 and originated in Europe in the 13th century. The original image was an oil painting in which the Virgin Mary is shown with the Divine Child sleeping peacefully in her arms. It was later made into a wood-carved statue, which people are most familiar with today. In 1969, Pope Paul VI declared Mary, Mother of the Divine Providence principal patroness of the island of Puerto Rico. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Michael Kordelewski carries a statue of the Blessed Mother as members of St. Theresa of Calcutta Parish and friends join Missionary of Charity Sisters in a rosary walk through Chinatown on April 7, 2025. Each Monday for the past four years, rain or shine, the group has walked through the neighborhood praying two decades of the rosary as a witness to their faith and an opportunity for evangelization. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Worshippers venerate the statue of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos at Good Shepherd Parish in Chicago in October 2013. The statue of Mary was visiting from the small town of San Juan de los Lagos located in the central Mexican state of Jalisco. The basilica where it normally resides is a popular pilgrimage site in Mexico. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Parishioners of San Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio Parish gathered before the statue of Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos from Jalisco, Mexico on Sept 12, 2019, at Humboldt Park with a prayer service. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A statue of Our Lady of La Vang, a significant figure for Vietnamese Catholics, holding the infant Jesus as seen in 2018 before a Mass for the Asian Catholic community with Cardinal Cupich at St. Celestine Church in Elmwood Park. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Members of the God Squad set up creche figures in Daley Plaza in 2005 for the official opening of the Nativity scene. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

The Lourdes grotto on the grounds of the Provincial House of the Felician Sisters, Mother of Good Counsel, 3800 W. Peterson Ave., Chicago, in this 2009 file photo. (Catholic New World/Karen Callaway)

Members of Notre Dame College Prep football team in Niles pray before the school’s new Our Lady of Notre Dame Grotto before a game in 2009 (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

This image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Pilsen in June 2008. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A father shows his son the icon of Our lady of Guadalupe during Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Des Plaines in 2005. The shrine draws thousands of worshippers from the Chicago-area and the Midwest to attend Mass every Sunday. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Over 300 horses carrying members of various cowboy clubs from the Chicago area make their way to place a rose at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Dec. 6 as part of a pre-celebration for the feast day on Dec 12, 2015. More than 100,000 people make a pilgrimage to the shrine each year for 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)

Priests carry a statue Our Lady of Fatima as the Polish Council Ministry of the Archdiocese of Chicago celebrated a Fatima Devotion Procession on Friday, May 13, 2022, during which they prayed for peace in the world and for the end of the war in Ukraine. The procession was held after Mass on the grounds of Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Willow Springs. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

The statue of Mary passes by a home of parishioners from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish-Shrine in Melrose Park during the 128th annual Feast Day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 18, 2021. The event started with a novena and events of devotion leading up to the feast day with special Masses in English and Spanish. It concluded with a mobile procession with the statue of Our Lady making her way through the surrounding neighborhood where families greeted her at their homes. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A woman approaches the statue Our Lady of Mount Carmel during the procession in this 2009 to celebrate the feast day of Mary at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and Shrine in Melrose Park. The shrine was granted special permission by Pope Benedict XVI to crown the statue that year. A papal coronation to the Blessed Mother is a rare privilege that only four other Marian images in the United States have been granted. Parishioners collected precious metals and coins that were then melted down to fabricate the new crowns. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Tina Gessler, assistant conservator at the Field Museum, unrolls a Chinese painting of the Madonna and Child from around 1600 in 2008. The painting was restored and put on display at the museum. It is believed to be the oldest surviving example of Chinese Christian art. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A woman kisses the veil of Mary after a procession to express condolences to Mary (Resando el pesame a la Virgen) after the Good Friday liturgy at Providence of God on in March 2008. Pesame is a devotion celebrated on Good Friday in Latina America. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

This image shows a gold-colored religious statue of Our Lady of Vailankanni adorned with a red crown. Our Lady of Vailankanni (also known as Our Lady of Good Health) is a revered Marian apparition based in Tamil Nadu, India. Rooted in the 16th and 17th centuries, the story consists of three miraculous events that led to the foundation of a famous minor basilica known as the “Lourdes of the East.” Cardinal Cupich joined hundreds of members of various Asian ethnic communities for a Mass Sept. 30, 2018, at St. Celestine Parish in Elmwood Park. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A man lights a candle near the statue of Mariam Dearit before Mass for the Mariam Dearit feast day with the Catholic Eritreans community at St. Thomas of Canterbury Church, 4827 N. Kenmore Ave., May 2, 2026. Catholics in Eritrea have a special connection to the Blessed Mother through the Mariam Dearit Shrine, which houses a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary inside the trunk of an ancient baobab tree. The Mariam Dearit feast day is a major holiday for Eritrean Catholics. Mary, Mother of God Parish is the only church in the Chicago area that hosts monthly Masses for this community. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Zofia Hosana and Anna Bobak, both members of St. Richard Parish, carry an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa during a procession from St. Richard's to St. Bruno Church on Aug. 25, 2007. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Youth dressed as Swiss Guards escort the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa into St. Hyacinth Basilica, 3636 W. Wolfram St., on Aug. 31, 2008, for a Mass and coronation of the icon. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Polish Catholic pilgrims arrive at the Carmelite Shrine in Munster, Ind., on Aug. 11, 2007, midway through a 33-mile procession from St. Michael Church in Chicago to the Salvatorian Shrine in Merrillville, Ind. More than 5,000 people participated in the 20th anniversary of the annual event, carrying images and signs proclaiming devotion to Christ and Mary. The U.S. pilgrimage traces its roots to a tradition in Poland that dates back to the 14th century. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Parishioners carry a statue of Our Lady of Talpa as three Marian images from Jalisco, Mexico, known as Las Reinas de Jalisco or the Queens of Jalisco‚ made their way towards an outdoor Mass during a peace walk with parishioners at St. Joseph Parish, 4821 S. Hermitage Ave. in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on Oct 7, 2017. These revered images include Our Lady of Zapopan, Our Lady of Talpa and Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Worshippers pray the rosary near statues representing the Virgin Mary of the Philippines before Mass with the Asian community and Cardinal Cupich on Sept. 11, 2022, at St. Julie Billiart Parish in Tinley Park. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Boy Scouts assist members of the Asian community for a Mass with Cardinal Cupich in August 2019 at St. Margaret Mary Church, 2324 W. Chase Ave. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Parishioners from Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Lemont pray following a blessing of their renovated grotto dedicated to the Blessed Mother at Saints Cyril and Methodius Parish in Lemont on May 4, 2008. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A shrine to Mary inside Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica, 3121 W. Jackson Blvd. Thousands of people visit the historic basilica each year. (Catholic New World/Karen Callaway)

Rob Baptista and Ray Mitchell secure the crown to the Our Lady of the New Millennium statue prior to her weekend stay at Holy Name Cathedral in May 2009. Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1998, the 33-foot-tall stainless-steel statue was transported from parish to parish throughout the Chicago area. It is now on permanent display at the Shrine of Christ’s Passion in St. John, Indiana. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A worker inspects the rosary as they crown the Our Lady of the New Millennium statue prior to her weekend stay at Holy Name Cathedral in May 2009. Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1998, the 33-foot-tall stainless-steel statue was transported from parish to parish throughout the Chicago area. It is now on permanent display at the Shrine of Christ’s Passion in St. John, Indiana. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

The Our Lady of the New Millennium statue as seen at the John Paul II Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2009. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)