Thousands Make Pilgrimage To Des Plaines For Our Lady Of Guadalupe

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Archbishop Blase Cupich joined thousands of Catholics in northwest suburban Des Plaines overnight, as they began an annual 36-hour celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to honor the patron saint of Mexico.

More than 120,000 Catholics, most of them Hispanic, make the annual visit to the Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Des Plaines.

Cupich delivered a sermon in Spanish at midnight mass.

It was the first time a sitting Chicago archbishop celebrated midnight mass at the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"He's really reaching out to the Hispanic community, which is beautiful, and the people are going to really appreciate it and remember it for the rest of their lives," said Thomas Boharic, associate pastor of St. Agnes of Bohemia parish in the South Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago.

The two-day event honors the day the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant in Mexico centuries ago.

After the midnight mass, some people walked miles back to their own churches, carrying torches blessed at the shrine.

Cupich called the act a "pilgrimage of faith."

Boharic took turns with other Catholics, carrying a blessed torch to St. Agnes, about 28 miles away from the shrine in Des Plaines.

"It's been a tradition from Mexico City to light a torch, and bring it to people's hometowns," he said. "That tradition from Mexico City was brought here to Chicago."

Many celebrants brought flowers that had been passed from person to person, eventually adorning the shrine.

Cupich delivered his own, and before the mass, he spoke about those making the pilgrimage on foot.

"I think it's important to look with admiration and respect," Cupich said.+

Masses will be celebrated every two to three hours, with the concluding mass scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.