Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe presented with new, authentic mural on 10th anniversary
Saturday's celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines was in several ways a rebirth, as well.
Its status was renewed by the visiting archbishop of Mexico City as a place where Roman Catholic devotees not able to make the pilgrimage to the basilica there can fulfill their promises to the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe. Also, a new image of her made of authentic materials from the region was presented only a couple weeks after a destructive fire at the shrine.
Even before the afternoon Mass attended by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City, there were no lingering signs of damage at the site where a replacement image sat behind a pane of glass.
An Arlington Heights woman is facing an arson charge for the significant damage caused there late last month.
But the Mass ended with the official exchange of the new, authentic mural between the two Catholic leaders.
"I want to thank everyone for their participation today and to the cardinal again for traveling from Mexico City," Cupich told the large gathering at the Mass.
Cupich especially thanked the young people in attendance for the future their presence promised.
Commemorating reported visions of Jesus' mother, Mary, in Mexico City in 1531, the Des Plaines site is the most visited shrine in the U.S. dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, after the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico.
The celebration at the shrine itself was continued at an evening gala at Drury Lane Banquets in Oakbrook Terrace.
Though the shrine officially was founded on Jan. 1, 2013 by Cardinal Francis George, then archbishop of Chicago, Catholics have celebrated their devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe on the grounds since 1986.
The process to formalize a dedicated shrine there began in 1999.
On Sept. 4, 2001, Cardinal Rivera Carrera and Monsignor Luis Guerrero-Rosado - then rector of the Basilica of Mexico City - presented the first replica image and designated the sanctuary as a place of pilgrimage for devotees of the Virgin unable to visit the basilica in Mexico City. In Des Plaines, they could fulfill their "mandas," or promises, and receive the indulgences associated with that devotion.