February 5, 2025 at 10:50 a.m.
‘HOLIEST PLACE FOR CATHOLICS’
AURIESVILLE — On Jan. 27, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville has been designated as a national shrine for pilgrims.
Father Dustin P. Dought, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship, informed Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of the Diocese of Albany, who is chairman of the Board of the Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs, which runs the shrine, of the new official status.
In August 2024, the Board of the Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs had formally requested to use the “national” designation.
Traditionally known as the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs is located a short distance from the Empire State’s Capital District and about three hours by car from Manhattan, Boston and Buffalo. It encompasses the former Ossernenon village where Jesuit priests Saints Isaac Jogues, René Goupil and Jean de Lalande were martyred in the 1640s. It is also where convert St. Kateri Tekakwitha, known as “The Lily of the Mohawks,” was born in 1656.
Opened in 1885, the shrine has been administered for most of its history by a succession of Jesuit provinces in the northeastern United States, and was formally owned by a non-profit corporation named the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs, Inc.
In 2017, that foundation transferred the ownership of the shrine to the Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs, a nonprofit corporation composed mainly of lay people, diocesan clergy and other supporters of the shrine, and chaired in a personal capacity by Bishop Scharfenberger.
“We are delighted that the bishops have confirmed what the faithful have long instinctually known: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs is our home for the cultivation of holiness here in the U.S., Canada and Mexico,” Bishop Scharfenberger said.
“The inspiration of the martyrs in my upstate New York backyard was foundational to my own early calling to the priesthood,” he added. “To this day, I go to the shrine as a pilgrim to refuel in prayer for God’s outpouring of graces in my daily decisions and the lives of the faithful people the Church has entrusted to me.”
In 1930, a year before Pope Pius XI canonized the eight North American Martyrs — the three who died in Auriesville and the five who died in Ontario, Canada — a church dubbed the “Coliseum” was built on the grounds of the shrine.
Constructed according to the tradition of a Roman amphitheater where early Christian martyrs had yet been killed, the round, roofed Coliseum has 70 doors, symbolizing the 70 disciples whom Jesus sent out to proclaim the Gospel in every direction (see Lk 10:1). Built to seat over 8,000 people, it has one of the largest capacities of any church building in the Western Hemisphere.
In October 2023, it was filled for the New York State Eucharistic Congress, which featured popular Catholic speakers Peter Kreeft, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus Patrick Kelley, Bishop Joseph Espaillat of New York and Catholic Channel Sirius host Katie McGrady, among others. Bishop Scharfenberger also celebrated Mass during the event.
Julie Baaki, executive director of Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine, described the ongoing relevance of the shrine.
“Pope Francis has said that there are more Christian martyrs in the world today than in the early Church,” Baaki said. “Our national shrine is a haven where pilgrims come to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world as well as for growth in courage for any trials we face as we try to live lives of virtue, grow in faith and try to pass it along.”
“As a wife and mother,” added Baaki, “I see the fruits of my prayers to the martyrs in everyday family life, and a superabundance of graces in the testimonies of the faithful who visit. Even before this new designation, our shrine has drawn multitudes from across the country to upstate New York to learn from the faith of the martyrs and Saint Kateri.”
Monsignor Roger Landry, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States and a board member of the Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs, said that the shrine is a place where all Catholics are confirmed in the missionary dimension of the Christian life.
“As Pope Francis repeatedly teaches us, we Catholics do not just have a mission but are a mission. We have been entrusted by Jesus Christ with the completion of his saving mission on earth,” he said. “It’s therefore impossible not to be impressed by the witness of the great missionary Saints Isaac, Rene and Jean, who left their native France to bring the saving Gospel of Jesus and his real presence in the Eucharist to the native peoples of eastern Canada and New York.
“What they suffered out of love for Christ and for others inspires me and the team at the Pontifical Mission Societies to try to support all those who are making similar sacrifices to share Christ and his word across the globe today.”
Landry, who has also served as a chaplain at the shrine during its summer season, said that the new national shrine, “because of its association with four great saints and heroes of our faith, probably is, after the tabernacles that adorn our churches and the souls of newly baptized babies, the holiest place for Catholics in the country.”
He urged everyone to visit the shrine to “experience its enormous spiritual riches” for themselves.
The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs will begin its 2025 season on May 3 and will remain open through the feast day of the North American martyrs on Oct. 19. This is the centenary year of the North American Martyrs’ beatification. There is a novena to St. Kateri from July 6-14 leading up to her feast and another to the martyrs from Oct. 11-19.
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