Located in central Mexico, northeast of the city of Guadalajara, the small town of San Juan de los Lagos is the second most visited pilgrimage shrine in Mexico. Founded by Fray Miguel of Bologna, the town was first called San Juan Mezquititlán Baptist but its name was changed to the present San Juan de los Lagos in 1623. The miraculous image of the Virgin of San Juan was crafted in the year 1521 by Tarascos Indians of Michoacan and represents the Virgin Santisima. A grand pilgrimage festival at the shrine occurs each year on February 2 when several hundred thousand pilgrims walk to shrine from all over central Mexico. During a week of festivities there are hundreds of temporary stalls selling pilgrimage icons, multiple bands of musicians playing around the great basilica, fire-works demonstrations in the evenings, and a palpable feeling of spiritual joy throughout the town. Truly a density of holiness saturates and surrounds this shrine during the February festival.

Photo: Pilgrimage church of San Juan de los Lagos

San Juan de los Lagos on Sacred Sites.

Written by  Martin Gray.

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