Marian Helper • Summer 2026 • Marian.org 29 me. It changed me. I pray it might do the same for you. There is a reason that so many of the shrines in America are dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Since our nation’s founding, Mary has been a very popular lady in this country. Popular Lady Devotion to Mary in America, specifically under the title of the Immaculate Conception, reaches back to 1492, when Christopher Columbus dedicated the New World he had discovered to Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception. The Mississippi River was originally given the same title by Fr. Jacques Marquette, SJ, in gratitude to the Blessed Mother for a successful mission in which her intercession had been invoked. In 1792, John Carroll, a Jesuit and the first Catholic bishop in America, consecrated the new young nation to the Blessed Mother under the title of the Immaculate Conception. In 1846, the bishops of America made Our Lady’s patronage official, and it was certified by Blessed Pope Pius IX the following year. During the pandemic, the American and Canadian Catholic Bishops reconsecrated America and Canada to the Blessed Mother on May 1, 2020. So, in an informal way, can we say that the Mother of God is, in a sense, the Mother of America? Holy sites I recall driving on a backwater road in Ireland and coming across a tiny shrine to Our Lady who was presented in a pink plastic statue; definitely not Our Lady of Knock! A sign claimed, however, that it was a place of healing. My husband was suffering at the time from severe back pain and was not even sure he could continue the journey. We prayed for a healing, and when we left the shrine, the pain was gone and never returned the remainder of the trip. Viva humble, holy, unknown sites! Our Lady doesn’t need a cathedral to intercede for us. She needs our attention. And that’s precisely what we intend to give her on our “Armchair Pilgrimage” across our Mother’s land. The United “Saints” of America (Product code: B70BMOA) is available now on ShopMercy.org. In search of the “saints” who helped make America the beautiful country we celebrate on her 250th birthday. This Land is Mary’s Land
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