A shrine for the ages

In America’s “first city,” St. Augustine, Florida, many Catholics today will celebrate the feast of Our Lady of La Leche, dedicated to a Marian apparition first recognized during the time of the Spanish colonial empire. The devotion, depicting Mary nursing the infant child Jesus, traveled with settlers to Florida in the 16th century, and a shrine to her was built at Mission Nombre de Dios in the new colony of St. Augustine. The shrine is the oldest in the United States, having received canonical coronation in 2021, and is a popular pilgrimage site for those seeking intercession related to a pregnancy. Maybe today is the day for you to offer a special prayer for someone in your own life.