Sights to See: The Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos, San Juan de los Lagos, Mexico

San Juan de los Lagos  In the state of Jalisco, 2 hours/76 km NE of Guadalajara. Founded in the 1600s, this city is one of the most important pilgrimage centers in Mexico. The Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos is the second most visited religious site in Mexico, only after the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. For more than 3 centuries, millions of pilgrims have visited the Virgin here. The story begins in 1542, when a Spanish priest brought a statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception to the village. In 1623, the sick daughter of a local Indians recovered after her parents prayed for her. Following this miracle, the statue began to be visited by pilgrims who walk on their knees to the Virgin's altar. I found the alcove to the right of the altar especially interesting--it is where pilgrims place letters and objects that thank the Virgin for their personal miracles.



image c2011 Carole Terwilliger Meyers