A life-sized statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe — a Catholic icon — is making an international tour to celebrate the upcoming 500th anniversary of the apparition. She has already had an estimated 200,000 visitors in the United States, including an estimated 7,000 people during a single Mass in Des Plaines, Illinois.
And now the patron saint of Mexico and the Americas is making seven stops in Wisconsin.
The 100-pound statue made its first stop in Wisconsin on Friday Feb. 20 at the Basilica of Saint Josaphat on Milwaukee’s south side, in a predominantly Latino neighborhood. The historic Basilica was completed in 1901, with a large dome that rivals the U.S. Capitol’s.
Rev. Tim Oudenhoven, a priest of the Diocese of La Crosse and the Wisconsin coordinator for the statue’s tour, said around 900 people registered to attend before Mass started on Friday. He estimates the number of visitors to the statue in Wisconsin is already up to 10,000…