Elizabeth Ann Seton and Katherine Mary Drexel Shrines

One of the joys of travelling is stumbling upon attractions that are relatively unknown outside of a select audience. I was fortunate enough to find two of those sites during this trip: the shrines of Elizabeth Ann Seton and Katherine Mary Drexel. One of these sites I found while planning the trip. The other I found accidentally while on a whimsical trip into Maryland.

I was departing Gettysburg after my second day at the battlesite, when I noticed a sign that said “Emmitsburg Maryland – 12 miles”. I decided to make the small detour south just so I could claim I had been in another state. After about 10 minutes of driving, I had crossed the state line and had entered Emmitsburg. My drive around the town had just commenced when I saw a roadsign that said “Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine – 1 Mile.” I was pretty surprised to see the sign, because I had thought that Seton was buried in Baltimore. Since I had no other plans, I decided to investigate.

I pulled up to the shrine at about 4 p.m. The shrine’s main building was a large, Mediterranean style church with just hints of Byzantine elements in the decorations. The grounds were landscaped in a way that made the shrine feel like a park. It was clear from the parking spaces for buses and the signs pointing to the various buildings on the grounds that the shrine is geared toward tour groups. I decided to bypass the tourist trappings and head straight for the church.

The church’s entrance leads to a small museum. I was greeted by a sister of the order that runs the shrine. She told me that the shrine was closing in a half-hour, so it might be better if I briefly went through the museum and headed straight to the church. I took her advice. The museum appeared to be a comprehensive, but not terribly inspired, collection of Seton’s personal effects. The museum ended in a gift shop, which only confirmed my suspicions that the shrine was geared toward tourists. I briefly lingered in the gift shop, and then went up a staircase to the basilica.

The stairs led to a small porch. Another sister of the order was standing outside the front door. She gave me a curious look as I went into the basilica, but did nothing to prevent me from entering. Once inside, I took measure of the church’s ornamentation. The church was decorated in a manner that I hadn’t seen at other shrines. A blue-green tone dominated the interior. The color lent a peaceful atmosphere to the sanctuary. Contrasting the color was a magnificent mosaic mural over the altar. I took a moment to absorb the sight. I then noticed a sign pointing to a side altar where St. Seton’s relics are interned. I walked over to the altar. It was a rather ornate structure made of marble and gold. My initial reaction was that I was more taken aback by the altar’s small size than its ornate nature. I realized that I had been use to seeing tomb-sized altars for the saints, and not small boxes holding a few bones. Once I got use to the size, I again noticed the elaborate decorations on the altar. It appeared that the basilica’s designers had decided to build a structure that was befitting the FIRST SAINT FROM THE UNITED STATES, as opposed to a person who turned aside a material lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty. I think I would’ve felt that same old feeling of disappointment that I usually find at similar shrines if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was the only one in the basilica. The quiet of the structure helped generate a feeling of reverence that most likely wouldn’t have existed if there had been throngs of people there. Instead, the only sound I heard was that of the sister who had been guarding the church’s front door. She told me that the shrine was about to close. I said a quick prayer of thanksgiving at St. Seton’s tomb and then departed.

It was pretty clear to me even in my abbreviated visit that the Seton shrine is geared toward (and caters to) large groups of pilgrims. Unfortunately, it has been my experience (as long time readers know) that the shrines that take this approach usually lose the spiritual character that the person inspiring the shrine practiced in their life. I can’t say for certainty that was the case with the Seton shrine, but it had all of the signs of suffering from this situation. I would like to go back to either confirm or refute my impressions. While those seeking spiritual solace may find it wanting, I think the visitor interested in American history would find it worth their time to visit this shrine. Such a visitor would find an interesting examination of a non-mainstream subject, as well as some of the most stunning interior art of any church in the United States. The shrine is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There is no admission charge.

Katherine Mary Drexel Shrine

The Katherine Mary Drexel Shrine. Bensalem, Pennsylvania

One of the news items that I noticed while I was planning the trip was the canonization of Katherine Mary Drexel. The story noted that she was from Philadelphia. Given that I was going to be in Philadelphia, I decided to make a stop at her shrine. It turned out that my visit there occurred the day after my stop at the Seton Shrine, thus giving me a wonderful opportunity to contrast the shrines of these two saints.

The Drexel Shrine wasn’t too hard to find. I just headed north out of Philadelphia on Highway 95. About 20 minutes after I left downtown Philadelphia, I reached the suburb of Bensalem. The shrine was easy to find once I left the freeway. I immediately noticed the difference in the atmosphere between this shrine and the Seton Shrine. There was a life and vitality here that I hadn’t found at any other shrine I had visited. Those feelings seemed to be the product of children playing soccer in one part of the shrine complex. It turned out that there is an elementary school on the shrine’s grounds. I was amazed at how refreshing it was to see such life at a shrine, as opposed to the somber faced pilgrims that usually populate these holy places.

I made my way from the parking lot to the Shrine’s church. There were signs and arrows painted into the blacktop pointing to the saint’s grave in the crypt. I walked over to the crypt and stopped in amazement. There in front of me was a plain screen door. The fancy glass and metal doors of other shrines were nowhere to be found. It was just a screen door that one would find on the porch of anyone’s house. While it might have seemed inadequate, I thought it was a wonderfully unpretentious touch to add to the shrine. But, the surprises didn’t end at the door. A shrine volunteer opened the screen door for me. I walked into the crypt. About 15 feet from the door was the tomb of the saint. There was no museum to walk through or gift shop to endure. There was just the tomb and some kneelers for anyone wishing to pray. I immediately felt a sense of gratitude. I had arrived at this shrine before it would become another trap for pilgrims.

There were other shrine volunteers near the tomb. They handed out small card with a picture of the saint on them. The volunteer who handed me one of the cards said that I should focus on an intercession and then place the card in one of two baskets on either side of the saint’s tomb. These baskets were made by the same Southwestern American Indian tribes that were served by the missions which St. Drexel established. The fact that they were nearly full spoke volumes about the faith that pilgrims had in the saint’s ability to intercede on their behalf.

I moved away from the tomb and into other areas of the crypt. It was in these other areas that I found a couple of rooms that contained some relics of the saint. There was nothing in them that was morbidly interesting, like the heart or skull relics that exist in other shrines. Instead, there were items like a chair in which she sat and a desk that she used. The relics that were displayed conveyed the feeling that she was a real person and not some demigod.

I walked up a staircase from the crypt to the church itself. There were three nuns in there praying the rosary aloud. With their monotonous repetition in the background, I wandered around the church. It didn’t take long for me to feel at home in the church. The chapel was built in a style that was very reminiscent of the California missions. The same type of Southwestern American Indian decorations that were around the tomb were very evident in the church. It seemed a little out of place when one considered that the building was in Southeast Pennsylvania. But, it did serve to reinforce the impression that St. Drexel’s interest was with the Indians of the Southwest.

I went out to the gift shop, which was across a driveway from the church. The same sense of “being there before it became popular” was prevalent in the gift shop. The shop didn’t accept credit cards and had a very limited selection. It was a pleasant discovery after having spent too much time in shrine gift shops that could rival a department store in terms of product availability. The most interesting part of the gift shop visit occurred when I went to the cash register. There was a sign next to the register listing all the sites where the order’s nuns had a convent or mission. One of those turned out to be a few miles from my home in California. What was even more remarkable was that my family had donated the house for that convent. Yet I didn’t know that nuns from that order had occupied it. Discovering that fact provided a connection to the saint that I hadn’t expected to find.

I left the shrine with a great sense of gratitude. Someday, the crypt will have a fancy door and the gift shop will take credit cards. But, I got to see it before the crowds arrived to make it a tourist destination. That gift alone made the trip to the shrine worthwhile.

As longtime readers know, I’m always looking for faith at these shrines. Did I find faith at either the Seton shrine or the Drexel shrine? I wasn’t at the Seton shrine long enough to get an answer, but I don’t think I would have. There was just too much (for lack of a better term) glitz there to make me comfortable. I was impressed by the focus of the shrine on Seton’s life. But, it’s hard to believe that St. Seton would’ve wanted an ornate tomb and church to honor her. That’s why I doubt that faith, as I define it, would’ve existed at the Seton shrine. I do think it existed at the Drexel shrine. It was evident in the prayers of the people who were praying at the tomb. Again, the simplicity of the site went a long way to focusing the pilgrim’s attention on the shrine’s purpose. But, I fear that this sense will disappear when the crowds start materializing at the door. So, I left the Drexel shine struck more with a sense of apprehension than a sense of faith.

It was a wonderful bookend that I was able to enjoy over those two days. I was able to enjoy the historical perspective by seeing the shrines of the first (native born)American saint and the most recent American saint. Both shines were graced with artistically impressive churches. But, most of all, both gave the visitor a picture as to why these woman were important not only to their orders, but also to the development of religion in the United States. For those reasons, both shrines are worth visiting (although I’d go to the Drexel shrine before I’d go to the Seton shrine).

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