Touring Marian Shrines Across Europe

By Author: Gordan Zovko
Total Articles: 21
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The Aachen Cathedral in Aachen, Germany, is one of the oldest European cathedrals, consecrated in 805 in honor of Mary. It is home to the golden Shrine of the Virgin Mary. Constructed in the thirteenth century, the shrine contains four incredible relics.

A Marian Shrines tour centers around visiting sites where the Virgin Mary has appeared or is strongly venerated. Some of these are austere historical cathedrals, while others are places of worship created in the open. There are many sites to choose from in countries all over the world.

One of the most famous is in Fátima, Portugal, where the Virgin Mary appeared to three children repeatedly over the course of six months in 1917, sharing prophecies and messages with them. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima is a monumental basilica that was constructed over the site where the apparitions occurred. It is one of the largest Marian Shrines in the world. The precise site of Mary's appearances is marked by a statue of her, as described and approved by the child Lúcia, which stands in a glass case upon a marble pedestal. Pilgrimages are made here all through the year ...
... but the most popular times to visit are on the thirteenth days of May and October, the dates of the first and last of Mary's apparitions.

Lourdes, France, attracts more than five million pilgrims each year. Mary was said to have appeared there on eighteen different occasions, the most well-known of these visits with Saint Bernadette in 1858, then fourteen years old, who saw and spoke with Mary in a grotto. She was lead to discover a spring there, where the sick or injured visited and were reportedly healed by the water miraculously. People still collect this water in hopes of being healed or blessed today. A statue of the Virgin Mary as described by Saint Bernadette stands in the grotto marking where she appeared. Surrounding the grotto is a large sanctuary of worship set up for pilgrims which holds many places of devotion, several churches, including the stunning Rosary Basilica, hospital accommodations for sick pilgrims and taps where people can collect water that flows from the spring.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe was built in Tepeyac, Mexico, where Mary appeared to Juan Diego in 1531 and instructed him to build a church in her honor. When he told his Archbishop of his encounter, he was instructed to return and ask for proof that the apparition was indeed Mary. He was told to gather flowers on a hilltop that was usually barren and found roses which he gathered in his cloak. Upon emptying the cloak of flowers, an image of the Virgin was found imprinted where they had lain. The cloak is now on display at a second basilica built nearby, used while reparations were being made to the original building.

The Aachen Cathedral in Aachen, Germany, is one of the oldest European cathedrals, consecrated in 805 in honor of Mary. It's home to the golden Shrine of the Virgin Mary. Constructed in the thirteenth century, the shrine contains four incredible relics; Mary's cloak, the swaddling clothes of baby Jesus, Jesus' loincloth worn on the cross and the cloth where the head of John the Baptist lay following his beheading. These relics are removed from the shrine and put on special display for pilgrims every seven years, the next occasion falling in July of 2014.

A Holyland catholic pilgrimage will include several places that are conventionally regarded important by religious tourists.

Author of this article is associated with Blue Heart Travel that organizes tour holyland across Europe.