Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is strong and widespread. Twice as many pilgrims visit her shrine every year in Mexico City as St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. 

Around the world, churches, chapels and shrines have been dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, including one particular shrine set amid the rolling hills of the Coulee Region of Wisconsin, founded by Cardinal Raymond Burke in 2002. 

Having experienced “the loss of the devotional life among the laity” in the first years after his priestly ordination in 1975, Cardinal Raymond Burke explained to the Register that the “restoration of the devotional life” became one of his primary missions.

“Knowing that a pilgrimage to a holy place is the prime devotion,” Cardinal Burke said. “I decided to try to work toward establishing a place of devotion and [deduced that] dedicating it to Our Lady would draw pilgrims to Our Lord.”

While planning the construction of the shrine in 1999, Pope St. John Paul II published his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America, in which “he underlined very strongly that in America, Our Lady cares for her children, especially under her title Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

After years of planning and construction, the shrine was eventually completed in 2008 and dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the “Star of the New Evangelization.”

Surrounded by devotional areas dedicated to St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Joseph and St. Juan Diego, as well as a votive candle chapel, outdoor Stations of the Cross and a Rosary Walk, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe draws more than 100,000 visitors a year. 

“What truly makes the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe unique is her affiliation with the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City,” Cardinal Burke said. “Pilgrims who come on pilgrimage to the shrine receive the same graces and blessings as if they had gone to those two basilicas.”

Since its establishment, the shrine has served as a place of ceaseless prayer for the corporal and spiritual welfare of God’s children and those in most need, while remaining faithful to the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe through her appearances five centuries ago.

 

The Mother of All Nations

In December 1531, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Juan Diego at Tepeyac Hill near modern-day Mexico City. 

“She identifies herself very clearly as the Mother of God, the Virgin Mother of God,” Cardinal Burke said, “and also as the Compassionate Mother of all who are alive in her Son Jesus Christ.”

The Blessed Mother instructed Juan Diego to go to the house of Bishop Juan de Zumárraga to request that a chapel be built in her honor on Tepeyac Hill, but the skeptical bishop asked for a sign so that he might believe the Blessed Mother’s request.

St. Juan discovered Castilian roses on the frozen and barren hill — a miraculous sign in itself, as these do not grow in Mexico, let alone in the middle of December, but were from the bishop’s own hometown of Castile, Spain — gathered them and rushed to the bishop’s house.

When he opened his tilma (cloak) to show the flowers to the bishop, an image of Our Blessed Mother was emblazoned on his garment. The bishop immediately understood the truth of Juan Diego’s message from the Blessed Mother and hastened to have the chapel built on Tepeyac Hill.

Today, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe stands near the place where the Virgin Mary appeared, to honor her, just as many other chapels, churches and shrines around the world, including the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wisconsin, do. 

 

A Foretaste of the Beauty of God

Since August 2021, the Norbertine canons of St. Michael’s Abbey have been in charge of the shrine’s pastoral care. Norbertine Father Ignatius Harsha, who has been working there since the summer, emphasized the distinct qualities of the shrine.

“Unlike other places, you can’t drive up to the shrine church, but you have to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up,” Father Harsha told the Register. “You have to make this ascent, which truly gives one the sense of leaving the ordinary world behind to enter into this sacred space.” 

“There is definitely an emphasis on pilgrimage, as you really have to walk up the hill, but also an emphasis on the sacraments,” Father Harsha said, noting that the shrine has a special doorbell for confession for anyone who wishes to seek forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation.

Norbertine Father Gerard Juhasz, who likewise has been working at the shrine since the summer, also emphasized the importance of the beauty of the shrine and its surroundings.

“Nothing detracts from the beauty of the place,” Father Juhasz told the Register, “whether the natural beauty of the countryside here in the ‘Driftless Area’ of La Crosse, or the beauty of the church with its beautiful mosaics, music and liturgies.”

“This was a very intentional decision of the cardinal when he designed the shrine,” he added. “The idea was that everything should lead the hearts of the pilgrims to experience a small foretaste of the beauty of God, the beauty of heaven, the beauty that awaits us.”

 

Memorial of Life

At the top of the Pilgrim Way, along which visitors can visit the Mother of Good Counsel votive candle chapel, the devotional area dedicated to St. Kateri and St. Joseph’s garden, pilgrims next enter the Memorial to the Unborn.

Dedicated to the memory of children who have died in the womb or childbirth, or who have been victims of procured abortion and experimentation upon embryonic human life, the memorial serves as a place to honor and remember God’s tiniest children.

“Very often we have entombments of unborn children in small, but very meaningful, private ceremonies,” Father Harsha shared.

“I have heard from a lot of families that miscarriages, which can be very traumatic, are not talked about much,” he added. “So, to have this place where you can breathe, honor the unborn children, a place to remember them is a powerful experience for many.”

Describing the large seated statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe holding three babies in her arms and the statue of a guardian angel rescuing children, Father Juhasz added, “In a particular way, the shrine is a silent witness of the dignity of human life.” 

“In our culture, there are very few places of closure for parents who have lost their unborn children,” Father Juhasz noted, “and it’s a beautiful thing that the shrine is able to bring grace upon the real mourning that these parents and families face and to entrust them to the mercy of God, through the hands of Our Lady.”

“Many, many more names of babies lost through miscarriage are inscribed on the walls,” Cardinal Burke added. “Some dates inscribed under the names can go back 40 years, dedicated by mothers who still mourn the loss of their unborn child, long before the shrine was founded.”

The memorial is not only a place of healing but also a site of witness and teaching. In fact, the walls of the memorial’s arcade feature four bronze plaques that present the Church’s teachings on contraception, abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, and the sanctity of human life, quoting directly Evangelium Vitae by Pope St. John Paul II, who in 1999 declared Our Lady of Guadalupe not only “Patroness of the Americas” but also “Patroness of the Unborn.”

“The plaques are intended not only to display the teachings on the culture of life,” Cardinal Burke added, “but also intended to inspire and motivate pilgrims to pray for a deeper respect for human life.”

 

Our Lady’s Life-Giving Message

Reflecting on why Our Lady of Guadalupe is venerated as the Patroness of the Unborn, Father Juhasz pointed out the importance of the cultural context in which Our Lady appeared. 

“In the Aztec culture, they were cruelly sacrificing hundreds of thousands of human life, men, women and children, to the Aztec gods each year,” the priest said. “Through the power of Our Lady of Guadalupe, those ungodly sacrifices almost instantly stopped, and millions of conversions followed.”

Father Harsha also noted that “the black ribbon Our Lady is wearing in the miraculous image above her womb is an indication of pregnancy in the native culture.”

“We can’t forget that her message is about being a mother and a mother to all people,” he said, “and that she wants more than anything to show her maternal love and concern.”

“She did not appear with fire and brimstone, nor with a dramatic call to repentance and conversions but first and foremost like a loving mother,” Father Juhasz added. “She appeared with words of comfort — ‘I am the merciful mother’ — and first wins over our hearts with that tenderly motherly message.”

“The whole message of Our Lady of Guadalupe is that God loves us with an immeasurable and unceasing love,” Cardinal Burke, who has created a special nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe culminating on her feast on Dec. 12, also emphasized. “He loves every human being, every being created in his own image and likeness with this love. He wants to safeguard and foster human life so that it may reach its destiny of eternal life with him.” 

“Because of her unique cooperation in Christ’s saving work,” he added, “she inspires all to transform a culture of violence and death into a culture of life and of love for one’s neighbor.”

At the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the feast is celebrated annually with great reverence and joy through a full day of traditions and devotions, attracting over 2.500 pilgrims. Following the traditional Mañanitas with Mariachi music and a Mantle Wrapping prayer, bilingual Rosaries and Masses are celebrated throughout the day, concluding with a consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe led by Cardinal Burke and Solemn Vespers.

Reflecting on the spreading of the devotion and love for Our Lady of Guadalupe across the United States, Cardinal Burke emphasized, “All those who cultivate a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, especially in the Americas, understand her maternal care for us, which is a great consolation and cause for hope in a culture of death.” 

“People find, especially in the love of Our Lady Guadalupe, the cause to keep fighting, keep engaging in the battle for life, the battle of Christ, for human life, and for pure and selfless love.”