Photos: Paying tribute to the saint of migrants

Parishioners gather at St. Marcellinus Catholic Church in the City of Commerce to honor Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez. They took turns touching the most sacred part of the 4-foot-tall statue, his chest, which contains a bone from the saint’s left ankle.   (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

A mass at St. Marcellinus Catholic Church in the City of Commerce honors Santo Toribio Romo Gonazalez.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Alicia Hernandez, 32, of Whittier joins other celebrants gathered for a mass at St. Marcellinus Catholic Church in the City of Commerce to honor Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

A mass at St. Marcellinus Catholic Church in the City of Commerce honors Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez. The Catholic saint came from a tiny town in the Mexican state of Jalisco in the form of a fragile wooden statue that will tour churches across three counties.   (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

A 4-foot-tall statue that serves as a reliquary for a bone of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez is carried into St. Marcellinus Catholic Church in the City of Commerce.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Ruben Mojica lifts his daughter Margarita, 3, to touch the chest of a statue of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez at Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church in Lake Forest.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Jose Ochoa holds a small, laminated photo of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez that he has carried since he illegally crossed the border with his 4-year-old son in 2005.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

A statue that serves as a reliquary for a bone of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez begins its procession from a private home to St. Marcellinus Catholic Church in the City of Commerce.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Sister Bertha Rafael prays at Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church in Lake Forest during a veneration as people come to see the statue of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Crowds line up to touch the statue of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez after a mass at Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church in Lake Forest.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Antonio Mendez prays to the statue of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez at Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church in Lake Forest.   (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Members of the congregation at Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church in Lake Forest look at the statue of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez during a Mass in his honor.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Jairo Moran listens during a mass at Santiago de Compostela Church in Lake Forest. The statue of Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez is at left.   (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)