Our Lady of Guadalupe

Marian Advocation of Des Plaines (Illinois)

La devoción a Our Lady of Guadalupe de Des Plaines It is linked to the great impulse of Guadalupana piety among the Hispanic Catholics in the Chicago area, especially in the second half of the 20th and early 21st century, when a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe was consolidated as a center of pilgrimage and prayer. The sanctuary of Des Plaines should not be confused with the original sanctuary of Mexico: it is a replica and devotional extension of that Marian tradition, in the pastoral context of the archdiocese of Chicago.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción a Our Lady of Guadalupe de Des Plaines It is linked to the great impulse of Guadalupana piety among the Hispanic Catholics in the Chicago area, especially in the second half of the 20th and early 21st century, when a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe was consolidated as a center of pilgrimage and prayer. The sanctuary of Des Plaines should not be confused with the original sanctuary of Mexico: it is a replica and devotional extension of that Marian tradition, in the pastoral context of the archdiocese of Chicago.

As for the tradition guadalupana, the remote origin refers to the apparitions of 1531 on the hill of Tepeyac, in Mexico, recognized by Catholic piety as the foundation of the advocation. The documented history of the shrine of Des Plaines belongs, on the other hand, to its local development in Illinois; the available results do not safely provide the exact date of foundation or a unique historical record of origin, so these data no constan here with enough verification.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image in Des Plaines is a replica de la tilma de San Juan Diego, that is, a reproduction of the guadalupana image of Mexican tradition, associated with the classical iconography of the Virgin of Guadalupe: Mary appears standing, with a starry mantle, pink robe and solar glow, on the growing moon. In this sanctuary the devotional reference is not a new different advocation, but the Virgin of Guadalupe herself received in a Hispanic pastoral context in the United States.

The place is known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, en Plains, Illinois, inside the Chicago area. The sources consulted do not allow to confirm here safely if it has the range of minor basilica, National sanctuary o diocesan sanctuary; that status should therefore be stated as no consta with certainty in this file.

Sponsorship and coronation

Because of its character and pastoral use, this sanctuary acts above all as a spiritual reference centre for the Hispanic community of the Chicago area; however, in the revised sources no consta a formal civil or ecclesiastical patronage of city, municipality, diocese or nation specifically attributed to this headquarters of Des Plaines.

It also does not contain a documented canonical coronation of the image of Des Plaines. This place should not be confused with the Virgin of Guadalupe of Mexico, who did receive pontifical coronation in 1895 and other subsequent recognitions; these data belong to the Mexican sanctuary, not to that of Illinois.

Party and devotion

La main party of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated the 12 December, a date universally associated with the Guadalupana advocation. In Des Plaines, this celebration often concentrates the devotional life of the sanctuary with masses, pilgrimages, prayers and popular expressions of faith, especially among the faithful of Latin origin.

The available sources highlight the sanctuary as a place of mass pilgrimages and strong community identity, although they do not provide verified official figures for assistance here. For documentary prudence, these numbers should be left as no consta if the exact data is not available in a first-line institutional or journalistic source.

Link to the Rosary

The link of this advocation with the Rosary It is very narrow in Catholic piety: Guadalupana devotion is often accompanied by the prayer of the Rosary, novenas and other Marian practices. Although in the sources consulted for Des Plaines there is no text of its own that makes the Virgin of Guadalupe of that sanctuary an "advocation of the Rosary" in a strict sense, it can be said that the Rosary is a classic way of accompanying this Marian devotion, because it places the look in Christ with Mary as mother and disciple.

If desired, a shorter and stylized version for web, o una with more catechetical and less historiographic language.