Our Lady of Consolation Basilica and National Shrine

The story of the Shrine begins with Luxembourgish immigration to Northwest Ohio in the mid-19th century. Construction of the first Catholic church in Carey was begun in 1868 under the direction of Fr. Edward Vattmann, pastor of St. Michael's in Findlay; at its dedication the small frame church received the name of St. Edward. In 1873, Fr. Joseph Peter Gloden, a native of Luxembourg and then-pastor of St. Nicholas in Frenchtown, was assigned to care for the Carey mission. Frail and chronically ill, Gloden had vowed during his own seminary years that the first parish he built would be dedicated to Mary under her Luxembourg title, Our Lady of Consolation, Consoler of the Afflicted. He petitioned the Bishop of Cleveland to rename the mission, and a replica of the revered statue venerated in Luxembourg's Cathedral was commissioned. On May 24, 1875, the 36-inch wooden statue – Mary holding the Christ Child, both dressed in ornate garments – was carried in solemn procession from Frenchtown to Carey, a seven-mile march. Tradition holds that during this procession a fierce storm raged on every side, yet not a drop of rain touched the statue or any of the faithful; this is celebrated as the first miraculous favor of the Carey shrine. The shrine grew rapidly, and the title of the church was formally changed from St. Edward to Our Lady of Consolation. By the early 20th century, pilgrims were coming in such numbers that Bishop Joseph A. Schrembs of the newly formed Diocese of Toledo asked the Conventual Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception Province (Syracuse, NY) to investigate. In June 1912 Fr. Aloys M. Fish, OFM Conv., arrived as the first Franciscan pastor and described the experience to the bishop as 'overwhelming.' The Order took canonical charge of the Shrine, and by the 1920s a separate Province of Our Lady of Consolation was created, headquartered at Mount St. Francis in southern Indiana; friars of the province have served parishes across the Midwest and Southwest ever since. (The Province of Our Lady of Consolation is celebrating its centennial in 2026.) The 1920s also saw growth in pilgrimage tensions: in 1923, Ku Klux Klan members held a counter-demonstration on the eve of the Assumption procession, ultimately gathering only on the outskirts of town. In 1924 the present large red-brick Romanesque church was completed to accommodate the crowds; the congregation later expanded it into the Byzantine-style Upper Basilica that stands today at the corner of Clay and West Streets. The building's main floor contains a narthex, a sanctuary with its pre-Vatican II configuration (including an altar rail and side votive alcoves), a choir loft with pipe organ above the narthex, a side altar dedicated to the statue of Our Lady of Consolation, and an opposite side altar to Our Lady of Sorrows. The basement sanctuary (Lower Basilica) houses confessionals and display cases containing crutches, canes, and artificial limbs reportedly left behind by those healed through Mary's intercession. Across the street still stands the original 1875 wooden parish church – the Original Shrine Church (OSC) – now used for early morning daily Mass and special devotions. On 21 October 1971, Pope Paul VI elevated the Marian shrine to the status of Minor Basilica through the Pontifical decree Quam Prope Assit, signed by Cardinal Luigi Traglia. The designation was a recognition of its longstanding national reach: the shrine complex now includes the Upper and Lower Basilica, the Original Shrine Church, a parish school, a rectory, a provincial house for the friars, a convent, a retreat center for pilgrims, a gift shop, and a cafeteria. Just outside, Shrine Park contains a nearly mile-long outdoor Way of the Cross and an outdoor altar under a large gilded dome topped by a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary visible for miles around. Today the Conventual Franciscan Friars of the Province of Our Lady of Consolation continue to shepherd the Shrine, ministering to pilgrims – including the large annual Chaldean Catholic pilgrimage on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) – in the same tradition begun in 1875.