Above the lovely valley of Emmitsburg, situated high on the Mountainside, where nature displays itself in all its wild and picturesque glory, sits the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes, a shrine which traces its linage to the very beginnings of the spread of Catholicism in America.  

Indelibly linked with Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the Shrine is one of the oldest American replicas of the revered French shrine, dating to about two decades after the apparitions at Lourdes (1875), although the site had already been in use for more than seventy years as a place of prayer and devotion.

This holy mountain sanctuary of historic importance has been devoutly tended thought the years and attracts thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the world for prayer and meditation.  It has been a place of religious sanctuary for years and years, and like its French originator, it has attracted not only the spiritual but scholars from Universities and accredited online colleges alike. It is places like these that we should always cherish and protect.

We apologize, but this website is no longer actively maintained - it has been replaced by the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes website
 maintained by Mt. St. Mary's University.
  

Please visit it at www.msmary.edu/grotto