By Richard Szczepanowski, OSV News
WASHINGTON (OSV News) — As part of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception’s continuing celebration marking 100 years of worship at “Mary’s House,” as it’s often called, Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory offered a Mass of thanksgiving for all the priests who were ordained or otherwise connected to the church.
“You have come to the location where you launched your ritual journey to become Christ’s priest,” Cardinal Gregory told the several dozen priests who participated in the late afternoon liturgy Aug. 22. “This is the place where a life-giving grace was bestowed upon you for the sanctification of God’s people. This is the place where you received ordination and where you handed over your life to the church’s ministry.”
The cardinal added that “for 100 years, this shrine has been the place where youthful dreams have come true, where the mission of the Lord has gained new collaborators, where the church has been strengthened by the promises that you and countless others have made to continue the ministry of Christ.”
More than 100 people attended the Mass at the Crypt Church, which Cardinal Gregory referred to as a “subterranean chapel … in this hallowed basilica.”
Noting that the priests entering the national shrine must be recalling memories of their ordinations, the cardinal said, “your hearts have many memories that were born herein at Our Lady’s Shrine. I pray that just entering this building, those memories will fill you with much happiness and deep gratitude.”
Cardinal Gregory, who as archbishop of Washington serves as chairman of the shrine’s board of trustees, was the principal celebrant of the Mass.
Among those concelebrating the Mass were Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop emeritus of Washington and chairman of the newly established Basilica of the National Shrine Trust; Washington Auxiliary Bishops Roy E. Campbell Jr., Evelio Menjivar and Juan Esposito; Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia; and Bishop Alfred A. Schlert of Allentown, Pennsylvania, both of whom are members of the shrine’s board of trustees; and Benedictine Abbott James Wiseman from St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington.
The Mass was offered on the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Pius XII established this feast in 1954 “so that all may recognize more clearly and venerate more devoutly the merciful and maternal sway of the Mother of God.” It is celebrated exactly one week after the Solemnity of the Assumption.
This year marks the centennial of the first public Mass offered at the national shrine. On Easter Sunday in 1924 at the shrine’s still unfinished Crypt Church, Mass was offered publicly there for the first time.
That first Mass, said Msgr. Walter Rossi, the shrine’s rector, was “celebrated in the midst of a construction zone, with a wooden altar made by Father John Carroll,” who in 1789 became the first bishop of the new United States, leading the new Diocese of Baltimore, which then included all 13 original states.
Three months after that Mass at the national shrine in 1924, the first priestly ordinations took place in the Crypt Church. Msgr. Rossi said the centennial Mass was being offered “to honor all the priests of the United States, especially those who were ordained here at Mary’s Shrine or simply have joined us for a pilgrimage or a simple, private visit.”
In his homily, Cardinal Gregory told the priests that it is “a blessing we all share today in this sacred place of prayer. We have returned to a place with memories of dates that forever changed our lives.”
“For 100 years families, friends, and colleagues have rejoiced at the ordination events that have taken place in this sacred shrine — among those are your own cherished memories of that moment when God’s Holy Spirit shared with you Christ’s priestly office,” Cardinal Gregory said.
The cardinal also said that all priests are connected to the national shrine because at their ordinations, “wherever you were on whatever date it was, you were here with Mary.”
He also said that for those ordained at the shrine, the specific dates may vary, but “the location is the same for all of you and for me as I rejoice with you in this place where my own life was joined to the Archdiocese of Washington.”
It was on May 21, 2019, at the national shrine that then-Archbishop Gregory was installed as the seventh archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis Nov. 28, 2020.
Although the first public Mass at the national shrine was celebrated 100 years ago, the shrine’s history dates back even earlier.
In 1913, Bishop Thomas Shahan, rector of The Catholic University of America, proposed building a national shrine dedicated to Our Lady under her title of the Immaculate Conception. It is under that title that Mary is honored as the patroness of the United States.
He presented his proposal to Pope Pius X (canonized in 1954), who supported the construction of such a church and made a donation to help build it.
In 1920, Baltimore Cardinal James Gibbons blessed the foundation stone and construction began. Masses were offered in the Crypt Church as it was being built. In 1932, the Great Depression halted the construction on the Great Upper Church, and the onset of World War II further delayed construction. In 1954, construction resumed to complete the church. It was designated a basilica in 1990.
Today, the national shrine includes more than 80 ethnically and culturally diverse chapels and oratories dedicated to Our Lady and representing the different titles under which she is venerated and honored by people around the world.
Since that first Mass, National Shrine officials say that more than 800,000 Masses have been celebrated there along with nearly 7,000 ordinations.
The Aug. 22 Mass continues the yearlong celebration of 100 years of worship at the National Shrine. This past March on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Gregory celebrated Mass using special liturgical items, including the same chalice that was used in the first Mass 100 years ago, the crosier of Bishop Shahan, and the Marian year cruets of Pope Pius XII.
Richard Szczepanowski is managing editor of the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington.
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