PEORIA ( 25News Now ) - Hundreds of Central Illinois residents gathered before sunrise Friday to celebrate the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, marking nearly 500 years since the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego in Tepeyac, Mexico.

At St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Bloomington, parishioners filled the sanctuary by 5 a.m. for the traditional celebration. Families arrived carrying flowers and wearing scarves bearing the image of the Virgin Mary.

“She is our mother, she is the Virgin Mary, and all my life we have honored her on her birthday,” said Maria Horta Silva, a Bloomington resident, speaking in Spanish.

Horta Silva wore a scarf depicting the Virgin Mary and Juan Diego that she said came from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, one of the world’s mo

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