Welcome to Assumption Grotto
Click images to enlarge
The entrance sign welcomes you.
To your left is Our Lady.
To the right, the church from the north driveway.
One hundred and eighty three years old and still going!
Traditional three front doors to represent the Holy Trinity.
The iron hinges polished and shining to welcome the new pope.
Church Interior
Enter the church. The doors close behind you. Beside the doors are the holy water fonts carved from Italian marble.
Above the doors is the choir loft.
The wooden loft rail is finely carved and the ceiling beams are painted with a meandering grape leaf motif.
The magnificent organ pipes flank the stained glass window.
Between the organ pipes is a splendid stained glass window.
The main scene in the choir loft window depicts the Angel Gabriel hailing Mary and paying homage to the Christ Child within her womb.
Other saints meet your gaze as you walk down the nave towards the sanctuary. Here is St. John Chrysostum, the golden tongued, so named for his incredible oration skills
Six other saints, including St. Thomas Aquinas, accompany St. John Chrysostum in the clerestory windows.
You turn your gaze from the windows to the sanctuary.
You can't help but notice the details in the painted ceiling above the sanctuary.
Hand carved from Italian marble, the communion rail is decorated with Angels, grapevines, and wheat heads.
You also notice the intricately carved Communion Rail. It's made of marble from Italy.
Like the Angels that were carved over the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament, there are angels on either side of the crucifix just above the altar and tabernacle.
Above the crucifix is the Holy Spirit. God again reminds us, "This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased. Hear Him."
Your eyes move down from the Cross to the Altar and settle on the Retable.
Above the Tabernacle, Our Lady holds the Baby Jesus in her arms.
The intimacy and quiet reflection of their pose invites us to seek the same union.
Cemetary, Shrine, & Statues
The Stations of the Cross are housed along the 900 foot tree lined walk to the Grotto Shrine.
A pelican, symbol of self-sacrifice and charity marks the grave of Grotto's first permanent pastor, Fr. Vandendriessche.
Not far from Fr. Van's pelican is a beautiful statue of St. Therese of Lisieux.
On the way to the shrine, you'll pass several old grave markers where immigrants from France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, and England are buried.
After a visit to Lourdes in 1876, Fr. Van was inspired to build a replica. The Grotto Shrine has been pilgrimage site ever since parishioners completed building it in 1881.
Some of the oldest grave markers date from the late 1840s and early 1850s.
In front of the Shrine are two statues. One is of St. Bernadette Soubirous who was visited by the Blessed Virgin at Lourdes in 1858. The other is an Angel holding a bowl with water, reminding us of the miraculous waters at Lourdes.
