Mexico City – Mexico (Tuesday, 01/20/2015, Gaudium Press) 2,200 was the total of pilgrimages for the year 2014 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. The information was given by the Guadalupano Bulletin of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. More than 8 million visitors were recorded only during the celebrations of the 483º anniversary of the Marian apparitions in the month of December.
| Among the largest pilgrimages is the one of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, with 20.000 pilgrims Photo: SIAME. |
According to the Guadalupano Bulletin among the most numerous pilgrimages came from the Mexican dioceses, in particular the Querétaro Diocese with about 80 thousand people and the Toluca and Atlacomulco with 40,000 pilgrims.
Also the Shrine received many visitors from other countries as the United States, Colombia and Brazil.
But the real figures are even higher since the Sanctuary received hundreds of unregistered pilgrimages who joined in to common liturgical activities of the Shrine.
The report also refers to the more flashy pilgrimages, including those who carried out the mariachis, the ballooner, motorcyclists, and the coming of Iztapalapa with the huge coverage of flowers, among others things.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the Marian Shrines most visited in the world, along with Lourdes and Fatima. And is situated on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico City, and each year welcomes around 14 million pilgrims. The enclosure is formed by a Basilica, Chapel of the Cerrito, the Chapel del Pocito, the Chapel of the Indians, the Parish of the Capuchinas and the Museum of the Basilica.
The story is that the Mother of God appeared on more than one occasion to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin -known as the Indian Juan Diego, canonized by the Catholic Church, on the hill of Tepeyac, which in pre-Hispanic period was a place of religious worship of the inhabitants of the valley of Mexico.
| In the month of December, more than 8 million pilgrims. Photo: SIAME. |
In her last appearance, the Blessed Virgin Mary asked Juan Diego to go and meet the Bishop of Mexico, Juan de Zumarraga, from whom he took roses (flowers that were not common in region) in his woven Ayate, that served as poncho,. When Juan Diego unfolded his Ayate before the Bishop, the picture of the Mother of God, was printed miraculously in his Ayate. It is today one of the most venerated Marian devotions in the world. (GPE / EPC)