Grotto at St. Mary's of the Barrens in Perryville celebrates 100 years

In 1920, a grotto in honor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was dedicated in Perryville, Missouri, after two years of construction amid a World War and worldwide illness. Next month, the 100th anniversary celebration will take place on the grounds.

“It’s a special time here on campus,” said Don Fulford, president and CEO of the Association of the Miraculous Medal, a not-for-profit group that operates on site at St. Mary’s of the Barrens in Perryville, home to the grotto. “When we renovated in 2018, we did a lot of new planting, and all of that is coming into full focus now.”

The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal draws thousands of visitors from all over the country, and honors Mary, mother of Jesus. Founded by Catholic priests of the Vincentian order in 1827, the seminary was the first institute of higher education west of the Mississippi River, Fulford said.

In 1830, St. Catherine Laboure had a vision of Mary and vowed to share the Miraculous Medal with the world, according to a brochure.

The medal depicts Mary and a crown of stars, and is worn as a Catholic devotional.

This artist's rendering shows the rosary walk's layout at St. Mary's of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri.Southeast Missourian file

An order of nuns, the Daughters of Charity, also served the Perryville community for 95 years, and they lived on the grounds as well, according to previous reporting.

They and the Vincentian priests founded the Association of the Miraculous Medal in 1918.

Although the seminary ceased holding classes and the church has not had a parish since 1965, Fulford noted the existing museum and chapel are beautiful spaces for reflection and prayer.

In the early 1900s, Vincentian Superior Father William Musson first spoke of the need for shrines in Mary’s honor in the United States.

“Our church was here 30 years before the Civil War,” Fulford said.

The nearly 200-year-old church and 100-year-old grotto share the 56-acre grounds with a rosary walk, which Fulford said is the largest rosary in North America. It was completed in 2018.

This undated photograph shows the grotto and surrounding area at St. Mary's of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri.Submitted

“We designed it for those folks of all faiths who want a nice, healthy walk,” Fulford said, adding that in its entirety, the rosary is a half-mile loop, fully ADA accessible. A concrete pad represents each bead of the rosary, and the walkway includes benches for seating.

As for the grotto itself, according to a diary of the construction, courtesy of the Special Collections and Archives at DePaul University in Chicago, work on the grotto began in June 1917 and continued throughout 1918. In July 1918, the center section of the grotto was completed, and later that year, Vincentian priest Father P.V. Byrne planted the first tree.

Byrne also donated $100 toward the grotto’s construction, in hopes his gesture would inspire others to donate to the project, the document states.

Some mention of students being sick was made, and again in early 1919, though the specific illness wasn’t named. A worldwide epidemic of the Spanish Flu was ongoing at the time.

The grotto’s altar was completed in September 1919, and the lawns were completed shortly thereafter.

A June 19, 1920, entry reads, “Work was done [completed] at the grotto today.”

Work continued on the grounds at the grotto until November, with an entry dated Nov. 11, 1920, stating, “Confirmation was administered today.”

The Bishop delivered the confirmation, and, the entry states, “finally he offered a holiday to the men who had built the grotto, whose work, he said, was a testimony of the living faith which faith is in nothing more apparent than in devotion to the Blessed Mother.”

All are invited to visit the grotto for prayerful reflection during the week of Nov. 9 through 15 to celebrate the anniversary, at 1811 W. St. Joseph St. in Perryville.

More information is available online at www.amm.org or by calling (800) 264-6279.