About the Sorrowful Mother Shrine:
The Sorrowful Mother Shrine is the oldest place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Blessed Mother in the Midwest and east of the Mississippi River in the U.S.A. The Priests and Brothers here are members of the (Society of the Precious Blood) Missionaries of the Precious Blood, which was founded by St. Gaspar del Bufalo in the city of Rome in 1815. They are dedicated to promote devotion to the Blood of the Savior, and to engage in evangelization, missions and reconciliation, helping the sick, the poor, the outcast, and those in need of religious education
In 1850 Fr. Francis de Sales Brunner, a missionary priest of the Most Precious Blood, built on this site a small red brick chapel in honor of the Sorrowful Mother. The shrine soon became the centerpiece of the many missions and parishes Fr. Brunner founded to minister to the newly arrived German Catholic settlers in northwest Ohio.
In 1870, a second and larger chapel was constructed replacing the original. On August 15th, 1912, the feast of the Assumption, the shrine chapel burned and with it the original wood carved statue of the Sorrowful Mother that Fr. Brunner had brought from Germany. Within two years, the recent shrine chapel was built. A new image of the Sorrowful Mother, beautiful stained glass windows, large ceiling paintings of the seven Sorrows by Fr. Trost, C.PP.S and a bell tower adorned the new – and still existing – chapel.
To accommodate the increasing pilgrims – especially from the Catholic Ethnic communities of Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, Youngstown, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Windsor, Canada and many other places – the outdoor Pieta Chapel was constructed and dedicated in 1968.
Paved walkways winding among tall colorful trees lead to the Stations of the Cross and replicas of Lourdes and the Sepulcher Grotto – favorite places of prayer and meditation – and the other grottos. One can see various wildlife as well – turkeys, deer, squirrels and birds.
Their apostolate depends solely upon free-will offerings. Please consider including the Sorrowful Mother Shrine in your Last Will and Testament. “We take with us only what we give to God” (Mother Teresa of Calcutta).
You can attend daily Mass Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m. There is only one Saturday morning Mass each month , and that is on First Saturday (also at 11:00 a.m.) There is a anticipatory Mass Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday Masses at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
There is also an excellent gift shop here at the Shrine.
Traveling to the Sorrowful Mother Shrine:
Address: 4106 State Route 269, Bellevue, Ohio 44811-9793
Tel: +1-419-483-3435 Fax: +1-419.483.6400
email: sorrowfulmother@yahoo.com
Click here for the official website of the Sorrowful Mother Shrine in Bellevue