The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Martyrs will be featured in EWTN’s ‘Hidden Gems: Catholic Shrines in America’ series, airing July 14.
Precious gems often come in small packages. But one such precious gem — in this case, a shrine — is “hidden” in plain sight on many picturesque acres in upstate New York: the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Martyrs, which will be featured in EWTN’s Hidden Gems: Catholic Shrines in America series, airing this Tuesday, July 14.
The date happens to be the feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the “Lily of the Mohawks,” who was born in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon that once stood on the shrine’s grounds. While she was not a martyr, those who died on these grounds, located 40 miles northwest of Albany in what is now Auriesville, are the martyrs Sts. Isaac Jogues, René Goupil and Jean de Lalande. The only canonized martyrs in the United States, they gave their lives while trying to bring the faith to the tribes living on this land.
The heroic stories of these Jesuits — Father Jogues being the only ordained priest — began nearly 400 years ago. It was the
