September 1980 Print

Mary E. Gentges

"Behold I am with you all days ..."

Our Lord is here at Saint Mary's. The visitor is most conscious of His Eucharistic Presence. Our Lady enriches those who come here with a deeper love for her Son. Each year you grow, as each year Saint Mary's itself grows.

The growth of the past year is immediately noticeable. First you visit Assumption Chapel, the heart of Saint Mary's. And as you thank Our Lord for being here truly present on the altar, you notice the growth that has taken place in the chapel itself. Last year's chairs have been replaced with pews to seat five hundred people. A beautiful set of Stations lines the walls. A confessional, additional statues, and a side altar of Our Lady of Mount Carmel have been added.

Everywhere growth is apparent. An army of volunteer workers have been here, opening more floors in the dormitories, cleaning and painting, putting in new electrical conduit, adding more facilities since last year. Bellarmine Hall boasts a well-equipped cafeteria where pilgrims were served tasty meals, including produce from the college gardens.

There is much yet to be done, but the amount that has been accomplished on this neglected property in two years is truly amazing. This success can only be attributed to the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and the intercession of Our Lady.

The blistering heat broke at the beginning of the Pilgrimage with refreshing rains, yet the rain never interfered with any scheduled outdoor services, always stopping in time! As Father Bolduc remarked, "Every year is a miracle. God intervenes and gives us just what we need!"

Saint Mary's is a country place—pilgrims housed in Loyola Hall heard a lullaby of frogs, and owls calling in the woods; and in the morning awakened to birdsong and the bell calling them to Holy Mass.

On Thursday, the first official day of the Pilgrimage, teacher Mr. Dean Gray led visitors on a tour of the grounds. We strolled along a lovely wooded path at the bottom of the fifty-odd steps leading down from Loyola Hall. Last year this was still a jungle of undergrowth; now almost the entire area has been cleared. The path passes a stone grotto of Our Lady that has been restored, and leads on to the gazebo, newly roofed and restored.

This shrine commemorates the local legend that Our Lady appeared here to an Indian girl and boy and foretold the coming of the black-robed priests. According to the story, she told the Indians to give this property to the priests (Jesuits), and promised her protection upon the place. Certainly it must be Our Lady who has preserved Saint Mary's for this present use.

The tour ended at Bellarmine Hall, one of the newest (1925) and most attractive buildings on the campus. Built in such a way that the southern light enters the halls, it provides an uplifting atmosphere for study. Here we see a Catholic grade and high school like those we attended in our childhood, where good discipline and proven academic methods are applied in a Catholic atmosphere. Each room is named for a saint—St. John Bosco, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Philomena.

A great deal of talent and thought goes into Saint Mary's Academy. One project is to help in any way possible other struggling traditionalist Catholic schools. Books are being accumulated in order that they may be loaned to other schools, or exchanged for needed materials. Each week the faculty will meet to pray, and will pray for others around the country who are engaged in the same effort.

What a training ground Saint Mary's is for children! Some of the servers at Mass are so small that the altar book is almost as big as they are, yet they perform the rubrics perfectly and you can hear them enunciate the Latin responses. In the pews you will see small children following the Mass in the missal!

Thursday evening was concluded with a memorable candlelight procession and Rosary. It was well-organized with lanterns to light the way, and ushers to help pilgrims along. For the first decade we went in procession to Our Lady's garden in the circular driveway, on to the grotto for the second, then to the gazebo, and back to the grotto and garden. Between decades the congregation sang the Marian hymns, Salve Regina, Immaculate Mary, and others. As the procession of candles wound along the wooded paths and the voices carried through the trees, one was reminded of Lourdes.

It is fitting that the film Song of Bernadette should be shown during the Pilgrimage, for here one feels a kinship with her; here one finds Our Lady. In reading her life we find that after each vision of The Lady Bernadette experienced a shock as she gradually came out of her ecstasy and returned to the world. Returning to the modern world after several days at Saint Mary's, we know—in some small measure—how Saint Bernadette must have felt! The difference is like night and day.

At Saint Mary's the spiritual activities give you a glimpse of the vestibule of heaven before returning to the world, a dose of spirituality for the year to come. The people you meet give you a lift—and you never meet a stranger. Everyone glances at name tags to see where everyone else is from. Conversations are struck up, new friends made, old friendships renewed, all encouraging for those who are normally isolated from other traditionalists. This year pilgrims came from many states plus Canada, Mexico, England and Norway.

ON FRIDAY, the Feast of the Assumption, a solemn High Mass was celebrated. Another main event was the ceremony of Total Consecration to Our Lady according to the method of St. Louis de Montfort. Sister M. Lillian, O.L.P., came from Powers Lake to give an address explaining the consecration.

Total Consecration is the least known and least understood of Our Lady's Fatima requests. Our Lord told Lucia that the Pope's consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was not complete until each person was consecrated to her heart. St. Louis de Montfort's method is recognized as the most perfect.

After making the recommended preparation, we give ourselves and everything we possess—spiritual and material—to Our Lady in a special way. Henceforth everything through, with, in, and for Mary; and she leads us to Jesus. After making the consecration one feels a greater peace of soul and trust in Our Lady.

The sermon for the ceremony was delivered by Redemptorist Father Kathrein. He brought out that as Mary was "Virgin Most Faithful," so also must we be faithful to our Catholic Church and the Mass.

Though the clouds threatened, the rain held off and we went in procession to Our Lady's garden for the crowning of Our Lady and outdoor Rosary.

A word here about the priests one meets at Saint Mary's. What a joy to see them—from Father Kathrein, fifty years a priest, to newly-ordained Fathers Collins and Laudenschlager. One thinks of the words of the Mass, "I will go in unto the Altar of God, unto God, who giveth joy to my youth." The priest is forever young when he ascends the altar to offer the Holy Sacrifice, "a priest forever." With several priests on the grounds pilgrims were privileged to attend Holy Mass two and three times a day—for the Mass is the center of everything here —and to go to Confession.

Several devotional and instructional movies were shown in the McCabe Theatre, also improved this year with a new acoustical ceiling, and a popcorn machine! It is a fine place to gather for an evening of Catholic entertainment.

One film, The Silent Witness, is a well-prepared documentary on the Holy Shroud of Turin, the burial shroud of Christ that bears the imprint of His Body. The secrets of the Shroud have been locked up these twenty centuries, seemingly reserved to be unlocked by scientific investigation in answer to our skeptical modern world. The last image we saw on this film was that of Our Lord's face from the Shroud.

Immediately it was time for Benediction, and the next image on our minds was that of the Sacred Host in a magnificent monstrance. From a picture of the image of Christ we were brought to the sacramental Presence of His Real Body—a striking comparison.

Always at Benediction I noted the unction with which the congregation—several hundred filling the chapel—sang the beloved Eucharistic hymns. Did we have such fervor a few years ago when we all took Benediction for granted?

On the evening of the Assumption we were served with a catered banquet with over four hundred present. Featured speaker was Mr. Michael Davies, whose latest book, Pope Paul's New Mass, third in his trilogy Liturgical Revolution, is to be published by the Angelus Press this fall.

Saturday there were seminars on various states of life, and religious vocations. During free time one could while away many an hour in the Immaculata Bookstore where an excellent selection of religious goods and books are attractively displayed.

Many activities at Saint Mary's remind one of the methods of St. Louis de Montfort. As he went about France preaching Jesus Crucified and love for Our Lady, he knew that the people in that Jansenistic age needed outward ceremony to enkindle their religious fervor. So it is today in our desacralized world. Here, as St. Louis would have done, portable Stations have been erected on three sides of the quadrangle, and Saturday afternoon a large crowd followed the Way of the Cross.

A slide show and lecture described the Marian Hills subdivision project, still on the drawing board. If present plans go forward families can buy lots and build their homes here adjoining the college property. Plans also include a college and a retirement home, both needed here in the heart of the country. A minor seminary has already been opened on the campus.

At dinner Saturday evening Father Bolduc gave a stirring and encouraging talk on the subject of "why you are here—because of the Mass."

After a final movie, about the election of Saint Pius X (and the actor who played the part of the sainted Pope looked so much like him that one felt he had actually seen St. Pius X), we went to Our Lady's garden for the "living Rosary."

Pilgrims representing the beads stood in formation about Our Lady's statue, and at each bead the vigil lights they held were lighted—blue for Hail Marys, red for Our Fathers, white for the Crucifix. At the conclusion the lights were left on the ground, a circlet of glowing jewels—and a memorable sight.

Sunday High Mass concluded the Pilgrimage. How many years since some of us had attended Mass that began with the Asperges me? For anyone who has been the route of temporary Mass locations, it is uplifting to attend a regular parish Mass; to hear the mellow tones of the choir; to see families at Mass together—modestly dressed women with heads covered; to experience once again the fullness of Catholic parish life. It is like turning the clock back twenty years—or, God willing, ahead some years when this scene will be repeated once again all over the country.

There is something special here—something catching. You go away changed; you take Our Lady's gift home with you, and the miracle of St. Mary's sustains you through another year.

"I am with you always . . ." and He is, for those who are willing to make the sacrifice. Our Lady leads you to Him here at Saint Mary's.