National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- Dallas, Texas

Destination: The Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, located in the heart of downtown Dallas, has long been known as a landmark in the Diocese of Dallas for its enduring cultural and faith-filled significance, drawing pilgrims from across north Texas and beyond. 

Now, the long beloved diocesan landmark is also a national shrine. 

Bishop Edward J. Burns of Dallas announced Oct. 3 that the cathedral had been granted the significant designation of a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. On Dec. 12, the parish community welcomed tens of thousands for a special Mass that day to honor the cathedral’s new status. 

On the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, all hours celebrate the cathedral's patron. Activities include mañanitas in the early morning, the Spanish colonial traditional matachines dance, and an evening blessing of flowers. 

Any day of the year, the cathedral is well worth a visit. 

Photos: Top — The National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, shown in an undated photo, was designated as a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Dallas Bishop Edward J. Burns announced the new status Oct. 3 (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz).

Bottom — National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe (OSV News photo/Santos Martinez, courtesy The Texas Catholic)

Why to go: “This cathedral has been a sanctuary for countless souls, a place of worship and a center for spiritual growth,” says Father Belmontes, the cathedral’s rector. 

“Its architecture and history serve as an architectural analog of God’s grace as it continues the mission to serve the needs of its parishioners, the diocese, and the community at large.”

Admission: Parking fees may apply, and the parish has a gift shop open on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays; see times at https://www.cathedralguadalupe.org/giftshop/giftshop.html

Accessibility: An elevator is available for easy access to the floors, and although there are many stairs, a wheelchair ramp gives the campus full accessibility. 

The most convenient parking is located right next to the cathedral at Hall Arts Garage, with entrances on Pearl St. and Crockett St. Parking is validated if you visit the gift shop or attend a parish-sponsored Mass. Free street parking is available on Flora St. 

(Grand) Kid friendly: Of course! 

Info: Address — National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 2215 Ross Ave, Dallas, TX 75201
Phone — 214-871-1362
Website — https://www.cathedralguadalupe.org/index.html

—By Michael Gresham, OSV News. Send Destination ideas to seasonedobserver@rockforddiocese.org

'Catacombs by Candlelight' -- Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, New York, N.Y.

Destination: “Catacombs by Candlelight” perhaps conjures images of a subterranean tour in Rome led by a guide wearing a headlamp. In New York, it’s the name of a history lesson told while exploring the cemetery and burial vaults of one of the city’s oldest Catholic churches. At the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, the tour’s tone is respectful and the candles are battery-operated LED models. 

Frank Alfieri, the basilica’s director of cemetery and columbaria, said the tours were established in 2017 to communicate the basilica’s historical significance; it has been an active mainstay of the lower Manhattan area for more than 200 years. 

The tours also are a form of evangelization. “Any time you can get somebody into a church, there is a possibility you can evangelize, even nonverbally. A church gives you a small glimpse of heaven,” Alfieri says.

Eight 80-minute tours are conducted five days a week for groups as large as 40. 

Photos: Top — Members of a tour group explore the catacombs of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York City Oct. 15 (OSV News photos/Gregory A. Shemitz).

Bottom — A tour enters the undercroft of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral. 

Why to go: The candlelight tours “shine” for history buffs and visitors of faith alike. A highlight of the tour is the original grave of Haitian-born sainthood candidate Pierre Toussaint, declared venerable in 1996. He came to New York as an enslaved man. As a freeman, he was a successful hairdresser and devoted himself to helping the poor and sick. 

Historic headstones in the cemetery date back to 1803. In the catacombs, vaults contain the mortal remains of New York Catholics of Irish, German, French and Spanish heritage. A single ornate mausoleum was built for Gen. Thomas Eckert, a confidant of Abraham Lincoln and later an executive at Western Union.

Admission: Tickets range from $30-37. Check in at the TNY Kiosk in the courtyard of 32 Prince St.

Accessibility: The tour is wheelchair-accessible. Children must be accompanied by an adult. 

(Grand) Kid friendly: Of course — perfect for an adventurous child! They might enjoy seeing the three sheep who seasonally control the grass in the cemetery. 

Info: Address — Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, 263 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012
Phone — 212-300-7682
Email — info@takeawalk.com
Website — https://takeawalk.com/old-cathedral-tours/

—By Beth Griffin, OSV News. Send Destination ideas to seasonedobserver@rockforddiocese.org

National Shrine of St. Thérèse — Darien, Ill.

Destination: The Observer is no stranger to the National Shrine of St. Thérèse in Darien, a pleasant day trip away from the Rockford Diocese. Years ago, when we featured this shrine, it held the largest collection of relics and memorabilia of St. Thérèse of Lisieux outside of France — and it still does! Now the shrine is also home to a “family reunion” of the relics of St. Thérèse’s parents, SS. Louis and Zélie Martin. 

The shrine is hosting the traveling relics from Sept. 17 through St. Thérèse’s feast day Oct. 1. Daily hours  during this time are 9 a.m.-8 p.m. (Typically, these are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.). The Society of the Little Flower, who sponsors both the shrine and the visit, encourages guests to visit before Oct. 1, when large crowds are expected. 

Daily Mass is offered Monday through Friday at 11:30 a.m.

Photos: Top — Visitors view the Centennial Reliquary of St. Thérèse and the reliquary of her parents, SS. Louis and Zélie Martin. The national shrine in Darien is hosting the relics for two weeks through Oct. 1 (Photo provided/https://www.littleflower.org/national-shrine-and-museum-of-st-therese/).

Bottom — The entrance of the National Shrine of St. Thérèse (Photo/Wikimedia Commons).

Why to go: SS. Louis and Zélie (Guerin) Martin married in 1858 after individually attempting to enter religious vocations. They had nine children, and all five who survived infancy entered religious life. Together the couple strove to raise their children with love and virtue and taught them to seek holiness through the devotions of the Church. They were beatified in 2009. 

The shrine and museum include highlights like photographs and paintings of scenes from St. Thérèse’s life, a prayer gazebo, and a full-sized exact replica of her convent cell which includes several second-class relics. 

Admission: Unless visiting in a tour program, admission is always free and no reservation is needed. 

Accessibility: The shrine and the retreat center are wheelchair-accessible. Ample parking is available.  

(Grand) Kid friendly: Of course! They might enjoy finding the map of North America that St. Thérèse made when she was 12. Just like them, the “Little Flower” was once small too.

Info: Address — National Shrine of St. Therese, 8501 Bailey Road, Darien, IL 60561 
Phone — 800-621-2806
Website — https://www.littleflower.org/national-shrine-and-museum-of-st-therese/

—By Megan Peterson, features/multimedia editor, with some information provided by Sharon Boehlefeld. Send Destination ideas to seasonedobserver@rockforddiocese.org

Terra Sancta Museum -- Jerusalem, Israel

Destination: Objects cared for by the Franciscans in the Holy Land, including a collection of 13 church bells discovered hidden in Bethlehem and dating back to the Middle Ages, have traveled to some of the great museums of the world.  

But now they will have a permanent home in Jerusalem as the Custody of the Holy Land moves forward toward creating a new “Historical Section” of its popular Terra Sancta Museum, which opened to the public in 2017.

Photos: Top — Franciscans in the Holy Land are advancing the next phase of the Terra Sancta Museum, which will add many more religious art objects and artifacts to the museum's collections (OSV News photos/ Tom Tracy).

Bottom — The museum includes a collection of some 450 earthenware pharmaceutical pots from the 17th and 18th centuries. The first “friar-doctor” sent to the Holy Land by Pope Pius II arrived in 1460. 

Why to go: The museum is situated at the Church of the Flagellation, the first station of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. Until now, that area has been limited to archeological artifacts from the first millennium.

The new section will be at the heart of the Franciscan headquarters in St. Saviour’s Monastery. Its rare collections of paintings, sculptures, archival documents, gifts from European courts — even a 13th-century gilded copper crosier of the bishop of Bethlehem — will help pilgrims to deepen their knowledge of the sanctuaries and discover the beauty of the liturgy in the Holy Land.

A multimedia section offers a 15-minute tour in English, Spanish, Italian, Polish and other languages. 

Admission: The museum is open daily; hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. in the summer (April-Sept.) and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the winter (Oct.-March). Prices are given in Israeli New Shekels (NIS). One NIS is roughly $0.28. Regular prices are 15 NIS ($4.20) per person, and reduced prices are listed at https://www.terrasanctamuseum.org/en/visit-us/

Accessibility: Barrier-free access to the Flagellation Monastery is available from the Via Dolorosa street, and the multimedia section is handicap-accessible. However, there are no restrooms available. Animals are not allowed.

(Grand) Kid friendly: The museum calls for a quiet, respectful atmosphere, but holds educational camps for local children — so kids are welcome. If you have a history buff in the making, they may enjoy some activities you bring to fit the exhibits, like a coloring page for drawing the pattern on a piece of pottery, for example.  

Info: Address — Terra Sancta Museum, Via Dolorosa St. 1, Jerusalem, Israel  

Phone — +972 2-627-0467 

Website — https://www.terrasanctamuseum.org/en/

—By Tom Tracy. Tracy writes for OSV News from Florida. He was on location in Jerusalem visiting Christian holy sites.

Send Destination ideas to seasonedobserver@rockforddiocese.org

Papal Palace - Avignon, France

(Observer photos by Sharon Boehlefeld)

Destination: Avignon, on the Rhone River in the south of France, today is a city of about 90,000 people, about 12,000  of whom live in the ancient town center enclosed by its old walls. The old city is a popular stop on cruise ship tours, both for its medieval charm and for its historic significance as the home of the popes of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1300s. Today it is listed as a United Nations’ World Heritage site.
Masses are not offered at the Papal Palace (Palais de Papes), which is a tourist site and no longer a Catholic facility. If you tour there, check with your guide for local Mass times.
Photos: Top - The Papal Palace at Avignon, France, was the home of the Roman Catholic Church, 1309–77. 
Bottom - The Pont d’Avignon — the remains of a bridge at Avignon — stretches into the Rhone River in France. The small structure toward the right side of the bridge is a chapel and toll collection booth.
Why to go: The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org) explains, “Avignon, which at the beginning of the 14th century was a town of no great importance, underwent a wonderful development during the residence there of nine popes, Clement V to Benedict XIII, inclusively. To the north and south of the rock of the Doms, partly on the site of the Bishop’s Palace, which had been enlarged by John XXII, rose the Palace of the Popes, in the form of an imposing fortress made up of towers, linked one to another.”
Today, most of the rooms are empty. When the papacy returned to Rome, most of the contents went back to the Vatican. Damage from both the French Revolution and later use as a barracks in WWII is evident in the building. But walking through still lends a sense of the grandeur once part of the palace. The chapel, currently in use as a gallery for an exhibit about the palace’s restoration, has amazing accoustics. When our guide demonstrated by quietly singing “Ave Maria,” all the other tourists in the large room stopped talking to listen to her delicate soprano.
Hours: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. Self-guided, pre-recorded tours are available in English for 11 euros. One advantage of booking a tour with a local guide is there are several spots in the palace with large screens and available seating that are reserved for the guides and their groups to use.
Accessibility: This is a difficult site to maneuver, with hundreds of uneven stone stairways to reach the open areas of the palace. An alternative is to take a ride on a small tourist train from outside the palace. It costs only a few euros and has recorded information in several languages, including English.
(Grand) Kid friendly: Of course.
Info: Address — Papal Palace (Palais de Papes), Place du Palais, 84000 Avignon, France    Phone — +33( 0)4 32 74 32 74  Web — www.palais-des-papes.com/en 

— Compiled by Sharon Boehlefeld
Send Destination ideas to SeasonedObserver@rockforddiocese.org