A Major Shrine In Illinois

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From Catholic News Agency:Photo courtesy of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Ill.

Marian devotion is intense among the hundreds of thousands of people who visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe each year on her feast day.

Not just her shrine in Mexico City. The Virgin of Guadalupe has a major place of honor in Des Plaines, Ill., a Chicago suburb. “People make the journey to come, and they leave their flowers and their offerings. They light a candle,” said Father Esequiel Sanchez, rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. “They want to get here, they want to get to her. When you talk to the pilgrims, you see the genuineness of the people’s faith.” The shrine attracts over 1 million pilgrims each year, and can draw 250,000 people on the Dec. 12 feast day alone, Sanchez told CNA.