My Pilgrimage to Pittsburgh

When I travel I love to visit Catholic Churches and Shrines. I have been so blessed to encounter so many hidden jewels of the faith in places like Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. I attended the annual G. K. Chesterton conference that was held at Slippery Rock University, which is near Pittsburgh, PA. I decided to drive to the conference and make a pilgrimage out of the journey.

One of the promotional sources for the conference gave me a final destination for my pilgrimage beyond attending the conference. St. Anthony'sChapel in Pittsburgh, PA is the home to over 5, 000 relics. I had recently seen another collection of relics in St. Marys, KS and had told my guide there “This is a glimpse of what the communion of saints must look like.” The idea of encountering such a gathering of saints pulled at me and I decided to make St. Anthony of Padua the patron of my pilgrimage.

I actually did not know much about St. Anthony of Padua except that you could ask for him to intercede for you in regards to finding things. I picked up a little statue of St. Anthony and had my priest bless him and then we headed out on our journey east. “I wonder what you are going to help me find, St. Anthony.” I mused. I made up some rules for my pilgrimage.

1. If I stopped, I would have to look up a Catholic church and visit it.
2. At the Catholic church, I would place a rose at the statue of Mary
3. and I would pray a decade of the rosary in front of the statue.
4. I would take a picture of where I visited.

With these stipulations in mind, I headed off on my adventure.

My first stop was for a late lunch/early dinner in Effingham, IL. Effingham has a huge cross that can be seen from Highway 70. I did not visit the Cross at the Crossroads, but I did ask my GPS where the Catholic Churches were in Effingham, IL. Effingham is blessed with several Catholic Churches, but one caught my eye...St. Anthony's. “This is your trip too, St. Anthony, it only makes sense that my first stop is at your church.” I parked in the parking lot and walked up to the entrance door. Most Catholic churches in the middle of the day on Wednesday are locked, but this one was open.

A gentleman, who had been working somewhere else in the church walked in and caught

me walking around admiring the artwork and the architecture. I explained my pilgrimage and he said “You think this place is pretty you should go down this highway to St. Fransis of Assisi in Teaotopolis.” I thanked him and headed toward Teaotopolis, IL. I believe he was correct, but I will let you make that judgement call yourself.

I headed eastward and did not stop again until I was in Indiana. Indianapolis, IN has several Catholic Churches, but one caught my eye...St. Anthony of Padua. The sun was starting to set as I parked across the church and noticed that people were going into the church! What were the odds that the church would be open on a Wednesday evening? I walked into the church and saw that Confession was being made available at this time.

I made it to Columbus, OH without taking another stop. The next morning I had to head lickety split to Split Rock to meet up with my Chestertonian friends.

Sunday, I headed into Pittsburgh to visit my journey's point.

Pictures are not allowed in the chapel, since they use money from donations and the purchases of items bought at the gift shop to maintain the chapel. I respect that wish. The book I bought shows the relics in display. The almost life size and definitely life like Stations of the Cross (if you go take a look at Our Blessed Mother's face for you will see the tracks of her tears). The gorgeous stained glass, which features each of the apostles with the attribute of how they died. I have a book to remind me of these beautiful encounters, but there is one item that I wish that I could have taken just one picture or had it pictured in the book. Somewhere near a collection of relics from each of the saints in the Old Testament, there was a statue of the Blessed Mother. What brought tears to my eyes was the fact that she looked just like the statue that I had been searching for almost 5 years! (link) No crown on her head. She truly looked like the image from my dream. St. Anthony, what did you find for me? Then I looked down at the statue's feet at the base read “Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima”. I had found out her name!!! Her name was that of pilgrim. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I stepped out into the sunlight and just thanked God for all that I had seen, but He had more in store for me.

I had been encouraged by a tour guide of the Chapel to go to the Cathedral and pay a visit. It was breath taking!

I then turned west and headed home. I decided to try a church in Ohio, since I had missed visiting one on the way up. In London, OH I stopped and found St. Patrick's.

 

 The door was locked and that was a signal to me to head home.

St. Anthony of Padua, pray for us!!!

Divine Mercy Sunday in the Year of Mercy

I became fascinated with Divine Mercy in 2014 when Pope John Paul II was canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday. I learned that he had died on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday and that it was a poetic end for the Pope since he had a great devotion to Divine Mercy.

It was then that I began to read the Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska, who was a Polish nun who had many dialogues with Our Lord and who was entrusted with having an image made of Divine Mercy with the words Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus asked Faustina to have the image made and that it should be venerated on the Sunday after Easter. Jesus also asked Faustina to encourage priests to declare the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in honor of God's merciful love.

Pope John Paul II was from Poland and had a devotion to Divine Mercy. When he canonized St. Faustina in 2002 on Divine Mercy Sunday he also established Divine Mercy Sunday as a feast day for the entire Church to celebrate.

Pope Francis has declared a Year of Mercy which began on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and will end on November 20, 2016 (the Sunday dedicated to Christ the King). 

 

This year of Mercy started off filled with surprises and consolations for me. In honor of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, I drove down to Perryville, MO with a couple of my friends. We decided to make a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal that is located at St. Mary of the Barrens Catholic Church.

Our first consolation was to discover that a designated Holy Door would be opened that very day! One of the members of our party was renewing her consecration to Jesus through Mary this day and was thrilled to have this extra consolation. “I thought that I would have to wait for the Holy Door to be opened at the Basilica in St. Louis this Saturday before I could celebrate this Jubiliee year of Mercy with an indulgence, but one is here that will open today!”

 Photo courtesy of Nancy Hollenstein

We entered the gift shop to find out more details about the events of the day and to arrange a tour of the church. That was when I saw Mary. I have been looking for a statue of Mary for 5 years trying to find one all in white with maybe some gold trim, but no blue ribbon or blue mantle. This may sound strange to you since Mary is usually depicted with one of these items or both. I have had one dream about Our Lady and that took place on New Year's Eve 2010 that heralded New Year's Day 2011. She was all in white-a dazzling white and she was beautiful. She did not say a word to me but just encouraged me to hand a particular red rosary to a friend of mine. That dream made a lasting impression on me and I decided that I would not get a statue of Mary unless the statue looked like her image in my dream. There she was sitting among a few Christmas items blending in, but yet not really a part of the display. I walked around the store and looked to see if there were any other copies of that statue. None. I picked her up and saw the price tag on the bottom of the statue. I took the statue up to the register. “I would like to buy this statue.” “Let me see if I have one in stock.” the clerk said. She checked her register. She checked the tag. She checked the register. “Hmmm. I am not showing that we have these in our inventory.” I smiled. “That must mean that she is to come home with me. I will pay the price that is listed on the tag.” The clerk went to find the statue's box. She came back. “I hope this box will do. I can't find the box that she came in.” The statue of Mary did fit perfectly in the box. She now sits on my shelf of honor in my office looking over my shoulder.  The statue of Mary was my consolation.

We toured the church. Two of us in our party had visited the National Shrine of the Miraculous Medal, but we both enjoyed hearing about the beginning of the church and how it became a shrine. The friend in our party, who was visiting the Shrine for the first time found great consolation in the whole trip especially being able to pray in the beautiful chapel dedicated to the Miraculous Medal and then to tour the grounds on a spring like day in December.

  Photo courtesy of Nancy Hollenstein

Photo courtesy of Nancy Hollenstein

 Photo courtesy of Nancy Hollenstein

We attended the ceremony for the opening of the Holy Door to begin the Year of Mercy. I enjoyed the fact that the Holy Door led into the Votive Chapel where all the candle lights are lit for prayer requests. We walked through the Holy Door and attended the Mass that happened right after the ceremony. What a way to begin the Year of Mercy!!!

 Photo courtesy of Nancy Hollenstein

 

I have been following Fr. Michael Gaitley's book 33 Days to Merciful Love in preparation for Consecration to Divine Mercy. I thought why not consecrate myself to Divine Mercy in the Year of Mercy? It has already started out as a year of great consolation and joy. I look forward to this new adventure and how it will draw me closer in my relationship with God, who is Merciful and who is Mercy.

For the sake of his sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.

St. Faustina, pray for us! St. John Paul II, pray for us!