1,000 Pay Homage to Mexican Icon : Religion: Procession accompanies Nuestra Senora de Zapopan’s installation at St. Joseph the Worker.

More than 1,000 Catholics turned out at St. Joseph the Worker Church Monday evening to pay homage to a replica of the statue of Nuestra Senora de Zapopan, a Mexican icon that believers say has miraculous powers.

The small wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, one of only two replicas of the 454-year-old original from Guadalajara, Mexico, was carried from the home of parishioner Michelle Vallejo--where it has been kept since arriving Sunday night--by two friars, who act as its guardians when it is visiting other churches.

A mariachi band, Mexican indigenous dancers and families followed in the four-block procession, some carrying U.S. and Mexican flags while others hoisted their children to their shoulders or held on to older relatives as the priest recited the rosary in Spanish.

“It was a great honor and privilege to have her at my house,” Vallejo said, her voice cracking with emotion as the icon was carried away. “These things are real to me.”

As the procession neared the church, some were moved to reach out and touch the icon, encased in plexiglass, and make the sign of the cross.

“It is important to us, especially since we are Catholic,” said Suzanna Martinez, 24, of Northridge. “I have faith that it has healing powers, even if it is not the original.”

La Virgen de Zapopan, as it is also known, is believed to look after expectant mothers and protect people from epidemics. Priests from its home parish say the sick claim to have been healed by the statue.

Since 1734, the statue has been carried on a four-month annual journey from the basilica in Zapopan to a chain of Jalisco churches. The trek ends each Oct. 12, when the statue is transported from Guadalajara back to Zapopan, as more than 2 million people look on, including Pope John Paul II on one occasion, according to Friar Raphael Alvarez.

The replica is said to have the same powers as the original icon, which has not been removed from the basilica for eight years, Alvarez said.

“People believe that it is the image that is powerful,” he said. “The images are one and the same--the Blessed Virgin.”

The statue, which had just completed a five-day visit in Oxnard, is expected to remain at St. Joseph’s, on a pedestal covered with flowers, until Wednesday.