Ms. MARIA AGUILAR: This was very, very unique and very special because we had so many people praying to our blessed mother in their own language. It was beautiful.

MARTINEZ: Among the many rituals of the feast day is a pilgrimage to a place of worship. In Los Angeles, they come from all over the city. In the wee hours at La Placita, faithful sing the "Mananitas," a traditional Latin American birthday song.

Ms. MARTHA SANCHEZ (Through Translator): Wherever we are in the world, wherever there are Latinos, the virgin is there for us.

Mr. ERNESTO REYES: We know that we have hope in life when we think about her and everything.

Ms. LEONARDA SOTOMAYOR (Through Translator): The faith is strong in Mexico, the love people have for the virgin, but you feel it more here because we are far from our homeland.

Mr. LEON: The immigrant experience, whenever a person is coming, is one of tremendous disorientation and loneliness and fear. It's a very frightening experience, entering into an unknown land. Guadalupe adds solace and comfort, just like she did in the beginning to the Indian Juan Diego. She protected him. She was going to comfort him. She does the same to immigrants.

MARTINEZ: Much of the mystical experience of Guadalupe takes place in public. She is represented in hundreds of murals on the streets of cities throughout the Southwest and increasingly in parts of the Midwest.

Ms. AGUILAR: As you walk in East L.A., what do you see on the streets, on the murals, on the cars? It's our Lady of Guadalupe. And sometimes, you know, you say, "My gosh, what is it about this blessed mother? We don't see any pictures of Jesus anywhere. We don't see any crosses; maybe one or two crosses along the way. But you see her everywhere."

MARTINEZ: Eva Rivera owns a furniture store in South Central Los Angeles. She commissioned a mural of the virgin for her business.

Ms. EVA RIVERA (Through Translator): I got the idea because people would constantly graffiti my walls, and I don't know, thank God, ever since I had the mural made, everything has changed.

MARTINEZ: Even religious symbols are vulnerable. Vandals recently defaced Rivera's mural and dozens of others in Los Angeles, prompting an outcry from virgin devotees.

Ms. RIVERA (Through Translator): It made me very mad to see that, and I said, "What kind of people would do such a thing?" Then I looked for someone to restore it.

MARTINEZ: For many devotees, whether one, two, or more generations removed from the old country, the virgin seems to offer hope, no matter where they are on their journey from country to country or language to language. With the numbers of Latino Catholics steadily increasing in the U.S., the virgin's feast and other Old World traditions will likely be more and more visible in the American religious landscape in years to come. Indeed, the virgin's hold on her flock appears to be even more powerful on this side of the border, where the immigrants, it seems, need her more than ever. For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, this is Ruben Martinez in Los Angeles.

* * * * * * * * * * *

*CORRECTION: Several viewers pointed out that in this story we said Catholics "worship" Mary. The word should have been "venerate," and we thank you for reminding us of that.