3 comments on The Top 25 Catholic Sites In America

1. Kim says:

   June 10, 2024 at 3:59 pm

   A thing to add about Our Lady of Champion Shrine: besides having the only approved Marian apparition in the United States, there is also a miracle attributed to it. The most devasting fire in US history happened in that area (started in nearby Peshtigo, WI), on the same night as the great Chicago fire. 1200 people lost their lives and 2 million acres were burned in Northern Wisconsin. All the land surrounding the Shrine was incinerated. The shrine and the shrine’s land that was consecrated to the Virgin Mary, and all who took refuge there were spared.

   Also, I wanted to mention the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Libertyville, IL. Beautiful Shrine on the grounds of the Mundelein Seminary, it has one of the longest running Perpetual Adorations in the United States.

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   1. Terry says:

      June 11, 2024 at 12:17 pm

      The east side of WI and the northeast side of Northern IL is a great place to view great Holy sites. You mentioned Our Lady of Champion and the National Shrine of St. Maximillian Kolbe at Mundelein University. Located between those two sites just north of Milwaukee you have Holy Hill surrounded by hundreds of acres of natural forest, Holy Hill is a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church and National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians that towers more than 289 feet over the forest floor on one of the highest peaks in Southeastern Wisconsin. It got its name from early Irish settlers, but has since also come to be known as Miracle Hill, or the Church of Miracles. An earlier structure that once stood on the site was littered with crutches left behind by visitors who found healing on its mysterious summit. A reclusive Catholic order from Bavaria called the Discalced Carmelites are the current stewards of the hill, and have been since 1906. But the first Catholics there were 17th century Jesuit missionaries from the north.
      According to tradition, the hill was first discovered in 1673 by a French Canadian priest named Jacques Marquette, along with adventurer and fur trader Louis Jolliet. Local Potawatomie and Menominee folklore tell of a “black-robed chief” who wore a crucifix and rosary at his belt while he prayed on the “Big Hill.” Then just a little south in Milwaukee is the St. Joan of Arc chapel which was mentioned on the video. St Joan of Arc Chapel and Stone which Sits on the campus of Marquette University. The St. Joan of Arc Chapel was built in France in the 15th century, then brought to America by the daughter of a superrich railroad tycoon. She had it as a private plaything on her estate; it was moved to Milwaukee after she died. The stone was kissed by Joan of Arc before she went into one of her many battles, and has supposedly been colder than the surrounding stones ever since.
      Touch the cold stone at the back of the St. Joan of Arc Chapel, believe that it’s infinitesimally cooler than the stones that surround it, and buy into the lore.
      Lastly in Milwaukee is Basilica of St. Josephat Read history of it at: History of the Basilica – The Basilica of St. Josaphat – Milwaukee, WI

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2. Brian T. says:

   June 14, 2024 at 3:04 pm

   Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame!

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