Marian shrine endures

The national shrine is in St. Augustine

October 2021 brings renewed attention to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche at Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine. 

The shrine was founded earlier than what's covered in the scope of this blog. But it was a fixture of Florida Catholic life in the time period I cover. It was so beforehand, and still is today.

Early Spanish settlers established this first shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in what is now the United States in the early 1600s. They did so at Mission Nombre de Dios, also a "first" site. It's where the first Mass in what is now the United States was celebrated in 1565.

In those early days, the sanctuary in the small chapel at Mission Nombre de Dios had a statue of Mary breastfeeding the baby Jesus. According to the Early History of the Catholic Parishes and Missions of  Florida, pregnant and nursing Spanish and native women started to make pilgrimages to the chapel in the 1620s. They prayed for safe deliveries and for the health of their children and themselves.

The Marian devotion continues at the chapel to this day. Pilgrims from around the world come to pray at Our Lady of La Leche and Buen Parto (Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery). But the chapel that visitors pray in today isn't the same one those early women gathered in. A combined force of English and Native Americans burned down the church and stole the statue in 1728. 

The chapel was rebuilt of stone and another statue of Mary was brought from Spain and installed. But Early History points out that the chapel had to be rebuilt several more times after being destroyed by storms or other forces through the years. One of those destructive episodes took place in the 1870s. Another was in 1914, when anti-Catholicism was at high pitch in Florida. 

Each time, the chapel rose again and the Marian devotion continued unabated. Our Lady of La Leche is stronger than any evil force. Now, 400 years after small numbers of immigrant and native women first joined hands in prayer in St. Augustine, a larger group will gather Oct. 10 for a canonical coronation. It's a Catholic honor granted only by the Pope, in which a crown or halo is bestowed on a statue that is widely venerated. 

The coronation ceremony will take place at the cathedral in St. Augustine. It was to have occurred in October 2020, but COVID put a halt to that. A little earlier, in 2019, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops granted national shrine status to Our Lady of La Leche.

Let's pray that the shrine remains holy and venerated for another 400 years, or more.

Secret sanctuary a holy place

Segment from a colorized postcard from 1938
shows the Shrine of Ste. Anne des Lacs
 in Lake Wales, Florida.
Photo credit: Florida Memory

Tucked away in Lake Wales is a small, serene Catholic shrine. It once drew hundreds - maybe thousands - of people on pilgrimages in the early 20th century. The shrine even has an entry in the 1939 Federal Writers Project's Florida, A Guide to the Southernmost State.

Today, only handfuls of the faithful and the curious make their way to the lakefront Shrine of Ste. Anne des Lacs. Stonework crumbles in places and chipped inlaid tiles tell of past glory. An ornately decorated church once on the property is long gone.

But the essence and spirituality of the shrine remain.  Many visitors describe feeling a sense of peace when they stop -  and perhaps pray - before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a grotto built to resemble the one at Lourdes. In a 2015 article, the Lakeland Ledger dubbed the shrine a secret sanctuary.

Secret, indeed. I've lived in Florida a long time and love to explore historic sites and Catholic-related places. How can I have been ignorant of the very existence of the Ste. Anne des Lacs shrine? The site is apparently overseen by the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Lake Wales. The parish history page makes only a brief mention of the shrine, under the year 1921. The site says Easter Mass is celebrated there.

I cobbled together the place's history from the WPA guide, the Ledger article, YouTube videos, Wikipedia, and Florida Memory, which is where I located the colorized postcard pictured with this post. 

Among things I learned is that the local neighborhood has a protective attitude toward the shrine. Local residents look after the property, tend the grounds, and share information with tourists who find their way there.

Thanks for the shrine's very existence are due to a long-ago resident named Napoleon Pelletier. He was among a group of Canadian Catholics who wintered in Lake Wales to escape harsh weather in the early 20th century.

Different sources diverge on why the shrine was built. One says the devout Pelletier was the driving force behind creation of a shrine in the group's winter retreat. Another source says either Pelletier's son - or French artist Francois Morsollier's son - recovered from a serious illness while in Florida. The recovery was attributed in part to the healing waters of Saint Anne Lake. The shine was then built in gratitude for the child's recovery.

Either way, we do know the date of the shrine's construction: 1920. By the time of the WPA guidebook's write-up in 1939, the property contained stone grottoes, statuary, and a little church in which Morsollier had painted scenes from the Holy Land. Even relics were kept at the shrine.

Here's how the guidebook describes shrine activity:

"Pilgrimages are made here annually as to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France and the shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupre in Canada. High dignitaries and priests of the Roman Catholic church in the United States and Canada assist the local priest in conducting the ceremonies." (page 466)

Those days are long gone. The place's faded grandeur - but also its current dignity - are evident in the YouTube video I linked below and in photos on Facebook. 

The Shrine of Ste. Anne des Lacs continues to nurture all who find their way to her doorstep. You can find the wooded retreat at 1207 St. Anne Shrine Road, a circular road that winds around the lake a few miles east of town center. Say a prayer for me if you get there before I do. I'll return the favor.

Below is the link to a video about the shrine. You can also click on the photo to go to YouTube.

Watch a video about the shrine at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyGxa0vRHos&t=1s