Catholics from the suburbs celebrate the statue’s visit to the church in Hanover Park

Catholics from the area traveled to Hanover Park on Tuesday to show their devotion and pray for miracles by visiting the statue of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos at St. Ansgar Roman Catholic Church in Hanover Park.

The statue, adorned with a golden crown and a blue robe decorated with gold, is about 50 centimeters tall and is framed in glass and metal. The visit, which lasts until Wednesday, is part of the statue’s five-week pilgrimage through 12 parishes in five dioceses.

The Basilica of the Blessed Mother in San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico, attracts countless pilgrims each year who come to affirm their faith and seek her intercession. Venerated by millions of Catholics in Mexico and Latin America, it is the second most visited religious site in Mexico after the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“Many people come here and ask them to pray for miracles,” said Esperanza Carreno, religious education coordinator at St. Ansgar.

Last year marked the 400th anniversary of the miraculous event that gave rise to this ongoing devotion.

According to tradition, in 1623 a family of circus performers stopped in San Juan de los Lagos on their way to Guadalajara. During a performance, their young daughter tragically fell from a trapeze and died. An indigenous woman, moved by the family’s grief, asked for a picture of “La Cihualpilli” (“The Great Lady”) to be brought to the girl. Miraculously, when the picture was placed on her chest, the girl came back to life.

It has become an annual tradition to hang a replica of the image of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos in the Diocese of Northern Illinois and Indiana.