The Archdiocesan Marian Shrine, formerly known as the Milwaukee Fatima Shrine and the National Shrine to Our Lady of Fatima, is of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and a shrine to the Virgin Mary. It is operated by the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee The Archdiocese of Milwaukee ( la, Archidiœcesis Milvauchiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. It encompasses the City of Milwaukee, a ...

, which acquired the property from the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary. It is located in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The shrine was dedicated on April 26, 1948. The shrine also has a small indoor chapel and stone representations of the 15 mysteries of the

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

History

The shrine began as a prayer for peace by the cloistered Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary. It is a Carrera marble statue of the Virgin Mary and statues of the three children and sheep. In May 1945, it was thought to be the first and only shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in the United States. The Dominican Sisters hoped it would be made a national shrine.

Additions to the shrine

A marble figure of Christ erected on a cross was added in 1952. It was donated by a woman who wished to remain anonymous. In 1967, a brewery worker, contributed a marble statue of St. Joseph and his son. The brewery worker felt the shrine was incomplete without a statue of the father of Christ. It is also in memory of the accidental death of Frederick C. Miller and his 20-year-old son, Fred Jr. The statue bears a part of Miller's favorite prayer.

References

{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee Statues of the Virgin Mary Titles of Mary Catholic devotions Shrines to the Virgin Mary Marian apparitions Roman Catholic churches in Milwaukee Tourist attractions in Milwaukee Roman Catholic national shrines in the United States Roman Catholic shrines Catholic pilgrimage sites