Libertyville, Illinois: Marytown (National Shrine of Saint Maximillian Kolbe)
About Marytown in Libertyville, Illinois:
A modern-day saint is revered here at Marytown: Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Pilgrims are welcome to venerate the relics of this Polish Conventual Franciscan priest, publisher, theologian and evangelist. His life of charity and heroic death in the Auschwitz death camp, where he gave up his life to save another prisoner, is commemorated in the Kolbe/Holocaust Exhibit.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe is considered the patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement, those afflicted with chemical dependency and eating disorders, and the media communications.We celebrate his Feast Day on August 14.
Be sure to read more about him on the Auschwitz page on our site.
At its heart is Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, a magnificent church modeled after the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. In the 1920s, Cardinal George Mundelein envisioned a permanent sanctuary where the Blessed Sacrament would be adored day and night, with special prayers for priests and vocations to the priesthood.
The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration brought that vision to life. Perpetual adoration began on the grounds in 1928, and the beautiful chapel standing today was dedicated on October 2, 1932.
The church has Thirty-eight marble columns, each dedicated to a saint. An altar constructed from nine varieties of imported marble. A magnificent gold-leafed canopy over the sanctuary. Stained-glass windows depicting the mysteries of the Holy Eucharist. Fourteen mosaics portraying the joys and glories of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The monstrance is more than five feet tall, fashioned entirely from jewelry sacrificially donated by the faithful. Its central stem depicts the Immaculate Virgin crushing the head of the serpent.
Eucharistic adoration takes place here 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It has been going on at Marytown since June 7, 1928. For nearly a century, generations of Catholics have come through these doors, at every imaginable hour, to kneel before the same Eucharistic Lord.
There is a retreat center located on 18 acres that makes for an excellent break from our fast-paced, media-saturated world.
Traveling to Marytown in Libertyville, Illinois:
The Shrine is located 40 miles north of Chicago, Illinois, and 50 miles south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is easily reached from either of these cities.
Address: 1600 West Park Avenue, Libertyville, Illinois 60048
GPS coordinates: 42° 16′ 44.6448” N, 87° 58′ 48.9216” W
Tel: +1 (847) 367-7800 Fax: +1 (847) 367-7831
e-mail: mail@marytown.com
Visit the official website of the National Shrine of Saint Maximilian Kolbe in Marytown.