This article by Amy Thomas appeared in the Gettysburg Connection on June 6.
Over 1,000 devout Christians from local Catholic Churches gathered on the grounds of The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg this week to celebrate the arrival of the first-ever National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
Worshippers filled the basilica this morning to participate in the standing-room only mass.The Most Reverend Archbishop William E. Lori was the celebrant. In addition to administering the mass, Lori provided history about Saint Elizabeth Seton and how she formed the Daughters of Charity in 1809.
The national pilgrimage began on May 17 in Connecticut and will end on July 16 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The stop at the Emmitsburg shrine was only one of many stops on one of the four pilgrimages being held across the U.S.
The local pilgrimage began on June 4 with a mass and breakfast at Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in New Oxford. At Sacred Heart of Jesus in Conewago Township, people stopped for lunch and held mid-day prayers. The group then traveled to Delone Catholic High School and then to Saint Vincent de Paul in Hanover.
“The pilgrimage was created to promote awareness in the True Presence (Holy Eucharist in a gilded monstrance) rather than just a symbol (host in a fancy container),” said Saint Francis Xavier Church member Suzanne Landis.
A procession through Emmitsburg followed the morning’s service.
After a lunch in Emmitsburg, the pilgrims participated in a “Walk in the Footsteps of Mother Seton,” traveling 3.5 miles from the Seton Shrine to the Lourdes Grotto.
The new Seton Shrine Museum was free and open to the public.
Tommorow, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will go to the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore, MD.
The pilgrimage will travel through 27 states and 65 dioceses, culminating in the National Eucharistic Congress July 17 through July 21.
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