The Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos or Cihualpilli is a small image of the Virgin Mary in her invocation of the Immaculate Conception , venerated in the sanctuary located in the head of the municipality of San Juan de los Lagos , in the Mexican state of Jalisco . It is a tradition of more than 390 years old. 1 The image is visited by millions of pilgrims a year, 1 coming from all corners of Mexico , part of the United States , 2 Latin America and places in Europe . It is the second most visited in Mexico after the Virgin of Guadalupe on the Tepeyac Hill; 1 Currently, the attendance of between 8 and 9 million people a year is reported, while it is estimated that about 2 million pilgrims visit San Juan de los Lagos during the festival of “La Candelaria” on February 2 of each year.

 

History

The history of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos dates back to the year 1530, when Friar Antonio de Segovia, the first evangelizer of the place, left a small image of the Immaculate Conception of Mary made of corn stalk by the artisan hands of indigenous people from the state of Michoacán, but it was not until the year 1623 when the fame of the Virgin began to transcend with a series of miracles attributed to her intercession.

 

The first miracle

 

Fresco depicting the first miracle.

According to the story based on eyewitness accounts, in 1623 a family of circus performers who were heading to the city of Guadalajara stopped to rest in the town of San Juan Mezquititlán (today San Juan de los Lagos), bringing with them several shows, including one of a girl jumping on a trapeze over a bed with daggers. During one act, the girl did not balance properly and fell on the bed, causing her immediate death.

 

Shortly before the burial of the girl, an indigenous woman named Ana Lucía, wife of Pedro Andrés, who was in charge of taking care of the small chapel, seeing the pain of the girl’s parents, asked to bring a small image that she called “La Cihualpilli” (which means The Great Lady), saying that it was miraculous, since sometimes the image changed location, from the sacristy to the altar and during the course of the night it changed location repeatedly. According to the stories, she placed it on the girl’s chest who, upon doing so, came back to life.

It is also said that the owner, in gratitude, took the image with him to Guadalajara to be restored. When he wanted to pay for the repair work, those responsible for it had disappeared, so the restoration was awarded to an angelic intervention .