During the closing Mass of the centennial year commemorating the 100th anniversary of the placing of the foundation stone of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory encouraged the faithful to mark the occasion by reflecting on Mary as the Mother of God and the entire Church.
“This great basilica is a brick and mortar tribute to that mother who is perfect in every fashion. For a century, American Catholics have helped to build and then traveled as pilgrim children to this place to honor the mother of the Church, God’s own mother, and the mother of countless children who all claim that she is uniquely their own,” said Cardinal Gregory.
On Sunday, Sept. 12, hundreds of local Catholics gathered in the basilica’s upper church for the noontime liturgy with Cardinal Gregory as the principal celebrant. The cardinal was joined in concelebrating the Mass by Msgr. Walter R. Rossi, the rector of the basilica; Msgr. Vito Buonanno, the basilica’s director of pilgrimages, and several other priests.
The processional hymn’s soaring strains began with the words, “Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ the head and cornerstone...”
One year ago, Cardinal Gregory was the principal celebrant of a Mass to inaugurate the jubilee year celebrating 100 years since the placing of the shrine’s foundation stone, upon which the largest Roman Catholic church in North America was built and dedicated to the patroness of the United States, the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of the Immaculate Conception.
In Sunday’s homily, Cardinal Gregory said throughout the past century the shrine, which has been fashioned over time into a magnificent sanctuary, has drawn countless people from all over the country and the world to show their love for and pay tribute to the Blessed Mother.
“A hundred years is such a brief period of time when we consider the treasure of the mother for whom this church has been dedicated and consecrated,” said the cardinal. “Today, we pause to recognize this past century of praise and honor for God’s mother and our own.”
While there are many churches and holy sites in the United States devoted to the Blessed Mother, Cardinal Gregory noted the basilica’s uniqueness in America. “It embodies both our national identity and the various tributes that people offered to Mary from the rich cultural, ethnic and racial classes that belong to us,” he said.
The basilica’s many chapels, statues and shrines, all “remind us of the rich legacy of faith that we share when we honor the one who is mother to all of her children and God’s very own mother as well,” said the cardinal.
In welcoming attendees to the Mass, Msgr. Rossi said other than a few virtual lectures, Lenten reflections and choir concerts, many of the planned events for the centennial year were thwarted as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. However, there were blessings to be found in the difficult year, he said.
“For us here at Mary’s Shrine, the pandemic lead us into a new virtual ministry by livestreaming our noon Mass each Sunday,” he said. “This ministry has helped us spiritually nourish more than three and one-half million individuals and households since March 2020 and has also extended the reach of Mary’s Shrine to nearly every corner of the world.”
Msgr. Rossi said 2024 marks the next centennial occasion for Mary’s Shrine, when it will be the 100th anniversary of the first Mass being celebrated there. “Hopefully by then, the world will be back to normal, we won’t have to wear face masks and this great upper church will be filled with our friends,” he said.
He also noted the closing Mass took place on the day after the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, as the nation paused over the weekend to remember the horrific events of that day. He urged the faithful to pray for those who died and those who continue to mourn their loss. In tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who died on 9/11, the American Flag flies from the shrine’s Knights Tower, “Beckoning all who pass Mary’s Shrine to ‘Never forget,’ ” said the priest.
As he did at last year’s opening Mass, Cardinal Gregory again carried the pastoral staff of Bishop Thomas Shahan, the first rector of the National Shrine, a crosier which was also used by Baltimore Cardinal James Gibbons as he blessed and placed the foundation stone in place on Sept. 23, 1920. A chalice used during both the opening and closing jubilee year Mass was the first chalice of the National Shrine, also used 101 years ago at the foundation stone placing Mass and created from jewelry donated to the shrine from the faithful throughout the United States in 1917.
The National Shrine is home to more than 80 chapels and oratories that honor the Blessed Virgin Mary and represent the peoples, cultures and traditions that are the fabric and mosaic of the Catholic faith in the United States. Among those represented are African, Austrian, Chinese, Cuban, Czech, Filipino, French, German, Guamanian, Hungarian, Indian, Irish, Italian, Korean, Latin American, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Slovak, Slovenian and Vietnamese chapels or oratories honoring Mary.
Among those attending the Mass to conclude the jubilee year were faithful of all ages and backgrounds, including families, students from the nearby Catholic University of America and several women religious, all reflecting the diversity of Catholics in the United States.
Josephine Ntchanleu and Marian Mua, both originally from Cameroon, are friends who attended the anniversary Mass together. They are weekly Mass-goers at the National Shrine and consider it to be like a parish home. Ntchanleu credits the shrine’s Masses and hearing homilies about the Blessed Mother for her conversion to Catholicism. “Mother Mary is everything to me. That’s what made me Catholic,” she said. “I’m so happy to be here.”
Mua said, “The Shrine has done so much for me in my life. I love it so much, and it has made me grow spiritually.”
Pope Francis, who visited the Shrine on Sept. 23, 2015, the 95th anniversary of the placing of the foundation stone, granted a plenary indulgence – with the customary conditions of sacramental Confession, Eucharistic communion, and prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father – for the centennial jubilee that began on Sept. 20, 2020 and runs through Sept. 23, 2021.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is among the 10 largest churches in the world. The basilica is the nation’s preeminent Marian shrine and patronal church and has been designated a national sanctuary of prayer and pilgrimage. Among those who have visited the National Shrine during its 101-year history are Pope Francis in 2015, Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, St. Pope John Paul II in 1979 and St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta on several occasions.
