It was an unforeseen trip to a most lovely place – a beautiful mountain sanctuary in Maryland, U.S.A. – with the most unexpected of people. The sanctuary could have been the site of a high-end, luxurious mountain resort, complete with log cabins and world-class amenities for moneyed tourists. It was, however, the site of the oldest grotto of Our Lady in the United States, located in perhaps the heart of Catholicism in Maryland.
I visited the United States last October for a weeklong business trip that took me to Virginia, Maryland, Boston, and finally Los Angeles. The most important part of my trip was to go to Maryland to meet for the first time our client in our outsourcing business – a highly-successful, yet warm and down-to-earth Catholic American couple based in Westminster, Maryland. Rob and Cathy Bishoff, who had an 18-year-old-son in first year college, owned a highly-successful outsourcing business in the field of medical transcription.
In my many years in business, I have rarely had the opportunity to discuss religion with customers or business associates and partners – mostly for fear of touching off some sensibilities. My original partner in the business was a Jehovah’s witness, thus making it practically impossible for me to discuss anything related to religion with him. It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, to find myself warmly discussing religion and our Catholic faith with Rob and Cathy. The highlight of the trip was a visit to the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes, located in Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland, the second-oldest Catholic university in the United States.
A Marian Campus
The compound of the Catholic University of Mount Saint Mary’s is located on a beautiful mountainside filled with towering trees, beautiful flowers, small brooks, and a fresh, cool mountain breeze. The grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes is located inside the mountainside campus. It is the oldest-known replica of the original grotto of Lourdes in France, and draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and tourists annually from all around the globe.
It wasn’t difficult to miss the deeply Marian soul of the campus grounds. Located at the entrance to the winding, uphill path leading to the grotto is an imposing statue of Our Lady, sitting atop the Pangborn Memorial “Campanile”, or Italian bell tower. The bell tower marks the site of St. Mary’s Church, “the Old Church on the Hill”, built by Father John DuBois way back 1805. The Church is perhaps one of the few parishes in the United States which has enjoyed uninterrupted priestly service for the past 235 years. Father DuBois would later become the third Bishop of New York, and went on to establish Mount Saint Mary’s University, as well as Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary, presently the second oldest seminary in the United States. More importantly, he was the spiritual guide of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born United States citizen to be canonized.
I was struck by the deeply-Catholic atmosphere of the college grounds. In some highly-prominent Catholic universities in the Philippines, the only signs of its Catholic heritage is a small chapel or a medium-sized church in campus grounds barely seen by most of the students. In Mount Saint Mary’s University, Our Lady’s statue towers over the entire campus, for everyone to see.
Marian Mountain Sanctuary
The grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes is located at the top-end of a long, winding uphill paved path right at the heart of the mountain. The narrow path is lined with tall, towering trees, many of which were probably as tall as a low-rise, 15-20-story office building in the Philippines. The cool mountain breeze gently rustled the leaves of the trees and bushes. Nothing could be heard but the rustling of leaves and the occasional chirping of birds.
Along the path are stone and copper Stations of the Cross, as well as exquisitely-designed mosaic murals which depicted the mysteries of the rosary. Small benches conducive for prayer and meditation are generously scattered in small clearings along the wooded path, located near the Stations or Mysteries of the Rosary. A small, clear pond is located in a much larger clearing, with a statue of Our Lady right in the middle of the lake – Our Lady of the Lake, as she is called.
We silently strolled up the path, soaking in the silence and the beauty of the place. The path eventually led to the Corpus Christi Chapel – a small chapel that can probably hold around 5-7 people. We stayed in the chapel for a while and said our own silent prayers.
Strolling further up the path, we entered a large clearing. The grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was located at the foot of a large, ampitheater-like set-up. Rows and rows of benches lined the “ampitheater”. A priest was seated in one of the benches, reading the Bible. Rob and Cathy told me that during exam weeks, students filled the benches in the mini-ampitheater, silently studying in the presence of Our Lady’s grotto.
The grotto itself consisted of a small altar, together with the statue of Our Lady which elevated and housed in a small carving in a massive rock structure. Large, beautiful trees surrounded the grotto. We sat in some of the benches, took some pictures, and silently said our prayers. It was a wonderful moment of silence and peace. For me, an ardent nature lover, the trip to Our Lady’s grotto was among the most peaceful and most beautiful experiences I have ever had.
Pioneer of American Catholicism
Among the grotto’s first pilgrims were St. Elizabeth Ann Seton who, in 1809, arrived in the grotto via a covered wagon, together with her 14-year-old daughter, her two sisters-in-law, and Sister Maria Murphy. It was Father Dubios who offered them a temporary place of shelter, since their place of lodging in the valley was not yet ready. St. Elizabeth and her small community were given a small log cabin as temporary shelter, near St. Mary’s Church.
It is important to note that St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is a towering figure in the history of Catholicism in America. Canonized on September 14, 1975, she is America’s first native-born saint. Shortly after her arrival in the mountain sanctuary of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, she founded the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph, the first religious community of apostolic women in the United States. She likewise founded St. Joseph’s Academy, a school dedicated to the education of Catholic girls. St. Elizabeth is widely credited as the one who started the Catholic parochial school system in the United States. A “parochial school” is a school attached to a religious body, such as the Catholic Church, and was largely a response to the public school system in the United States which was then dominated by Protestantism.
The grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was St. Elizabeth’s sanctuary, and was the site of some of her sweetest moments of contemplation. Even after they had settled in the valley, she kept on going back to the mountain sanctuary for prayer and contemplation. In the mountain sanctuary, St. Elizabeth connected with God amid the silence and serenity of nature:
“We walked to the Mountain church every Sunday to sing at High Mass and assist at the sermon; there was no bridge over the creek in our way; therefore, when the water was high, we had to cross one by one on horseback; and when low, we passed over on the stones; as there was no clear road to the Mountain, we often lost our way in the woods. We carried our dinner in a basket and frequently cooked our meat at the mountain; taking it from the frying-pan to place it on a piece of bread without a knife or fork, and ate it standing, as the Israelites of old at the Pascal Lamb. We would then quench our thirst at a neighboring spring and ramble for a time around the Grotto, a wild and picturesque spot some distance from the Church, furnished with seats, covered with fines, wild flowers in luxuriance around it and a gentle rivulete flowing from the rock above. We thus amused ourselves until time for Vespers and Benediction after which we returned to our home in the valley.”
Our Inner Sanctuary of Silence
Father Simon Gabriele Brute, who was to become first Bishop of Vincennes, Indiana, and who gave the last rites to St. Elizabeth Seton, said that we should “let every river be the Jordan of His baptism, every lake the waters of Tiberiade and Genesareth, every mountain His solitude, every vale the place of His prayer for us; every field, every road may show Him to us. The night itself is full of His presence since all these visible heavens once encompassed their Lord as they do now His poor servants called His members, made one Body with Him, now even, but oh, for an eternity.”
The rush of city life and the progress of urbanization has muted much of our generation’s attraction to the beauty of nature and the soothing silence and solace it offers to our tired souls. Our thoughts are often drowned by the daily noise of television, rush hour traffic, the iPod, and oftentimes useless conversations with friends or officemates.
Just like Jesus, who went up to the mountains to pray, particularly during important moments of His ministry, we ought to calm our thoughts once in a while and take refuge in the consoling caress of silence. For those of us who live in the busy streets of the city, we may not have the privilege of soaking in the natural silence and beauty of Our Lady’s Grotto in Maryland, as St. Elizabeth Seton and other pilgrims did. However, there is always for all of us the sanctuary of a private room, or better yet, the silence of the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel, to soothe our souls and reconnect with our God.
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