Marian Shrines

A Marian Shrine marks a location where a church approved apparition of the Virgin Mary took place or where miracles attributed to prayers answered through the intercession of Mary occurred. These holy sites, located throughout the world, are centered around Marian devotions and have been visited by millions of pilgrims over the centuries.

A Marian apparition is a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary within a seer’s environment that is sometimes accompanied by a message of hope, peace or personal call to penance. Many of Our Lady’s appearances occurred during times of local or international hardships and strife. The messages of hope and calls to conversion during the troubled times often positively impact the local culture and help pave the way for Catholic evangelization and drawing non-believers to the family of God. There have been many alleged apparitions of Mary throughout the centuries, though not all are deemed authentic or approved by the Catholic Church.

A Cathedral is the home church for the bishop or archbishop within his diocese, and a Basilica is the highest title given to a church by the pope. The word “cathedral” comes from the Latin “cathedra” meaning “seat” and refers to the official seat of the bishop within his diocese. There are two types of basilicas, major and minor. There are only 4 major basilicas in the world, all located in Rome: St. John Lateran, St. Peter’s, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major. All other basilicas are considered minor, and often receive this designation due to their historical or architectural significance. Being named a basilica gives a church special privileges, namely international recognition and the ability to designate its high altar for service of the pope or cardinals.

The apparition known as Our Lady of Fatima came to three shepherd children six times between May and October 1917. During these apparitions, Mary asked the children to keep 3 secrets from the world, and to pray for peace and repentance. She told them of a heavenly sign that would be seen by many, and on October 13, 1917 (her final apparition) the sun danced in the sky above over 70,000 witnesses. This spectacular solar event - unexplainable by natural means - fulfilled her earlier prediction proving the prior apparitions were authentic.

Millions of pilgrims’ flock to Lourdes every year in hopes of finding cures for their illnesses and ailments. They bathe in the water from the spring that Mary revealed to St. Bernadette on March 25, 1858. The water’s healing properties have been associated with at least 70 unexplained cures, the latest cure being in 2018, to a wheelchair-bound French nun named Sr. Bernadette Moriau.