(Andrew Fowler/National Catholic Register) — Julie Baaki cried tears of joy and gratitude when she heard the news.
On Jan. 27, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) designated Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, New York, as a national shrine. The moment fulfilled years of service to promoting the Christian witness of eight 17th-century Jesuit missionaries, including Sts. René Goupil, Isaac Jogues and Jean de Lalande, who were killed by the Mohawk tribe. Once a Mohawk village of Ossernenon, the location is also the birthplace of St. Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680), a Mohawk who became the first canonized North American Indigenous woman.
“The formal national shrine recognition is important and significant because it highlights the task of the North American Martyrs — those first courageous Jesuit missionaries,” Baaki, who since the end of 2015 has served as the shrine’s executive director, told the Register. “To bring the Gospel, the love of Jesus, to America is an ongoing mission, perhaps more needed now than ever.”
Traditionally known as the National Shrine of North American Martyrs after the Jesuit missionaries’ canonization in 1930, the site had been considered a national shrine. Year after year, thousands of pilgrims have journeyed to Auriesville to soak in the rich history and devote themselves to prayer, seeking the saints’ intercession.
Read more at the National Catholic Register…
You can read more about the North American Martyrs on this site:
- The North American Martyrs (1642, 1646, 1648, 1649) — short “saints of the day” writeup
- The Eight North American Martyrs — feature article
