Upstate NY sanctuary honoring St. Kateri, Jesuit martyrs confirmed as a national shrine

(OSV News) -- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has confirmed the national shrine status of Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, New York.

The shrine announced the confirmation Jan. 30. The site, also long known as the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, encompasses the former Ossernenon village where Jesuit priests Sts. Isaac Jogues, René Goupil and Jean de Lalande were martyred in the 1640s. It is also where convert St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656.

It opened in 1885 and was administered for most of its history by a succession of Jesuit U.S. provinces, it said in the announcement. In 2017, the nonprofit Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs Inc. transferred ownership of the shrine to Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs, a nonprofit corporation chaired by Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of Albany, New York. On Jan. 27, the USCCB notified the shrine that it may use the designation "national." Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs had requested formal permission to use the title in August 2024.

"We are delighted that the bishops have confirmed what the faithful have long instinctually known: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs is our home for the cultivation of holiness here in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico," Bishop Scharfenberger said in a statement.

"The inspiration of the martyrs in my upstate New York backyard was foundational to my own early calling to the priesthood," he added. "To this day, I go to the Shrine as a pilgrim to refuel in prayer for God's outpouring of graces in my daily decisions and the lives of the faithful people the Church has entrusted to me."

Julie Baaki, executive director of Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine, said, "Pope Francis has said that there are more Christian martyrs in the world today than in the early Church.

"Our National Shrine is a haven where pilgrims come to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world as well as for growth in courage for any trials we face as we try to live lives of virtue, grow in faith and try to pass it along," Baaki said.

"As a wife and mother," she added, "I see the fruits of my prayers to the Martyrs in everyday family life, and a superabundance of graces in the testimonies of faithful who visit. Even before this new designation, our Shrine has drawn multitudes from across the country to upstate New York to learn from the faith of the martyrs and Saint Kateri."

Msgr. Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies USA and a board member of Friends of Our Lady of the Martyrs, underscored the shrine's emphasis on mission and encouraged people to visit the shrine to "experience its enormous spiritual riches."

The shrine is, he said, "because of its association with four great saints and heroes of our faith, probably is, after the tabernacles that adorn our Churches and the souls of newly baptized babies, the holiest place for Catholics in the country."

The USCCB makes shrine-related determinations according to its "Norms for the Designation of National Shrines," first approved in 1992 and informed by the 1983 Code of Canon Law. According to the "Norms," "Shrines which have used the title 'national' prior to the First Sunday in Advent 1983 may continue to do so, but are to submit their statutes to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops for approval." Since 2007, the USCCB's Committee on Divine Worship has overseen the designation of national shrines in the U.S.

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs will begin its 2025 season May 3 and remain open until the feast day of the North American martyrs Oct. 19, the shrine's announcement said. 2025 is the centenary of the North American martyrs' beatification.