Fantastic Pilgrimage Sites in the Mid-Atlantic States

Over the past decade, my wife and I have been privileged to go on far-from-home pilgrimages, including Montreal/Quebec, EWTN (Alabama), Italy/Vatican City, the Holy Land, and Ireland.  It can be easy to forget that there are also great pilgrimage sites close to home – for me, that’s the Mid-Atlantic.

For our group pilgrimages to Italy/Vatican City, the Holy Land, and Ireland, there was a general guide on the tour bus who knew the right places to bring us and provided otherwise unknown details.  Once at a holy site, the general guide would defer to a specialist with deep familiarity of that site.

For the purposes of this article, I am envisioning myself as the general guide who will defer to the individual web sites of wonderful places.  My intent is to point readers in the right directions and provide some background trivia while “on the bus.”

New York

Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs / Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site

Two magnificent shrines are in the Mohawk Valley of New York State.  In addition to recalling the enormous sacrifice of the North American Martyrs, Jesuit St. Isaac Jogues and his companion martyrs, the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville is the birthplace of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. And just a short drive away is a shrine dedicated exclusively to Saint Kateri.

Kateri made her own pilgrimage when she traveled from her Mohawk home in New York to the Christian settlement in Quebec where, as we know, she completed her brief life growing in love of and service to her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and His Church. She did not leave her Native identity, culture, or heritage behind her when on that journey; rather, she grew into her new Native Catholic identity, fully blossoming as the Lily of the Mohawks. (Cardinal Dolan, 7/26/2012)

(Note: While in this section of New York State, baseball fans may want to take a side trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.)

National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini / The Cloisters / St Patrick’s Cathedral / St Peter’s Church – Our Lady of the Rosary

We now travel down the Hudson River Valley to New York City.

Building schools and hospitals, Italian born Frances Cabrini (1850 – 1917) became the first American citizen to be declared a saint. Her shrine, which features her incorrupt remains, is in the northernmost part of Manhattan and overlooks the Hudson River.  It is an idyllic spot which will leave you wondering if you are really in Manhattan!

The Cabrini shrine is adjacent to the Cloisters, the annex of the Metropolitan Museum of Art specializing in Medieval art and architecture. Though it’s a secular museum, it was once a monastery, and we certainly cannot escape the fact that the vast amount of Medieval art was religious art!

St Patrick’s Cathedral is located in Midtown Manhattan, extremely close to Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, and Trump Tower. When I was growing up, Irish American parents would proudly share with us how this magnificent Gothic cathedral was largely built with the sacrificial pennies of Irish immigrants.

Many native New Yorkers may be unaware that this is not the only St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan!  Still active is the original cathedral on the Lower East Side.  Famously or infamously, the inside of the original cathedral was used for the baptism scene in Godfather I (If you are unfamiliar with the movie, be forewarned that this is an extremely violent clip.).

Diagonally across from the World Trade Center site sits St Peter’s Church, which is the oldest Catholic parish in New York State.  Among its past parishioners were Blessed Pierre Toussaint, Servant of God Dorothy Day, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (first native-born American saint)  It is now a combined parish with Our Lady of the Rosary, which is actually the converted home of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton herself.

St Joseph’s Co-Cathedral / OLPH / Regina Pacis / St Bernadette

Time to cross the East River to what moderns call the “outer boroughs”! Though it’s called “the borough of churches,” I will just point out four holy places in Brooklyn.

St Joseph’s was elevated to a Co-Cathedral in 2014 and merged with St Teresa of Avila in 2018.

I grew up in a parish bordered by the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Basilica of Regina Pacis, and the Shrine Church of St Bernadette.  Outside Italy, is it possible to find any other parish bordered by two basilicas and a shrine?  And this neighborhood offers Italian cuisine which I firmly believe surpasses what can be found in Italy!

(Note: At Christmas, there are amazing light displays within the boundaries of St Bernadette that have evolved incredibly since my youth.)

New Jersey

Sacred Heart Cathedral / Blue Army Shrine

The “Garden State” is across the Hudson River from Manhattan and features many towns which are barely distinguishable from the outer boroughs.  Only true natives can distinguish accents from Jersey, Brooklyn, and the Bronx!

With a structural beauty untarnished by past association with Theodore McCarrick, the French Gothic Sacred Heart is the cathedral for the Archdiocese of Newark in the city of Newark itself.  When I visited for the first time about four years ago, I was stunned to find it every bit as architecturally magnificent as Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.

Further south, in Washington, New Jersey, you’ll find the headquarters for the World Apostolate of Fatima, USA, the Blue Army Shrine.  While the Shrine features architecture typical of the late 1960s to 1990s (see this article about the trend in new traditional Catholic churches of the US), it is an unmistakably holy place.

(Note: Take extra care with your directions to the Shrine, as there are several places in New Jersey called “Washington.”)

Pennsylvania

National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa / Miraculous Medal Shrine / National Shrine of Saint John Neumann

Going West, we cross the Delaware River to the Northern Philadelphia suburbs.  There, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa and its Black Madonna is a source of comfort and virtuous pride to all people.

Traveling south to residential Philly, we find the Miraculous Medal Shrine and the National Shrine of Saint John Neumann.  At the latter are found the incorrupt remains of the first American male to be canonized. You will also learn of an episode of Robert Stack’s Unsolved Mysteries which highlighted a miraculous intervention attributed to the saint born in Bohemia (Czech Republic).

Washington, DC

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception / Saint John Paul II National Shrine / Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America

We now venture a bit further, heading down I-95 to our nation’s capital.  The trip is a couple of hours, so we have time for a good nap on our tour bus!

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Saint John Paul II National Shrine are literally a block apart in Northeastern Washington DC, with both straddling the campus of the Catholic University of America.

[The basilica] comprises the largest Catholic church building in North America….Its construction of Byzantine Revival and Romanesque Revival architecture began on September 23, 1920….The Basilica is the national and patronal Catholic church of the United States….(Wikipedia)

While the Saint John Paul II National Shrine does not feature timeless architecture, it is a fascinating place for learning about and meditating on the life of the great John Paul II.

The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America was originally intended for people who were unlikely to ever get to visit the Holy Land, it is well worth a pilgrim’s visit on its own.

Enjoy your visits!