A Little Pilgrimage to a Little Known Saint

"Beaverville?? Where's that?!"

They had never heard of it before.  ("They" refers to the hypothetical group of people I made up for the sake of this post..) That's because it's out in the middle of Illinois somewhere.  Not in the middle of "nowhere."  I was there so I know Beaverville is "somewhere."  It's just that most people have probably not heard of this somewhere.

But I have!  It's the place where the "Cathedral in the Country" is located which sports the cemetary where a little known mystic-Saint (yet to be canonized) is buried. (see above picture.)  

"Hey! That looks like a picture of a statue of Christ with a gargantuan Church in the background!" Right on, faithful blog reader right on.  This Church is literally the size of a Cathedral and it's in a tiny "blink and you'll miss it" town called Beaverville. "Why'd they name it 'Beaverville'?"  That I don't know...

But the Church is beautiful! Amazing stained glass windows with rich imagery, ornate baldachino with the latin phrase "Venite ad me" above the tabernacle in the sanctuary, a gigantic, deep blue starry night dome, a lovely life-like statue of Our Lady to kneel before (when you look up into her eyes it seems so real!) and most importantly...

An open door on a Sunday afternoon!  Look at what I saw below:

This was my favorite image in the Church.  It was such a realistic looking statue.  It made me feeling I was really looking up at Our Lady.

(In the backright of this glass case is a zachetto -white cap - which Pope Paul VI wore.  I felt a lot of peace asking for his prayers here.)

Co-Founder of the Sister Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, the community which Sr. Mary Mediatrix - more on her later - belonged to.

Co-Foundress of the same community.  Mother Marie of the Blessed Sacrament.

After the visit inside the Church and spending time with Our Lord we (me and my friend) went to the cemetary to spend time with our little known Saint - Sr. Mary Mediatrix! (her tomb is the first picture at the top of this post.)

During the summer I read a short little book on this mystic and prophet called "Sister Mary Mediatrix" by Jeff Moniyhan.  Because of that I decided I had to go pay her tomb a visit.  She had a Priest-friend in her life for a period of time (Fr. Aloysius Ellacuria, a Claertian) who could read souls, was also prophetic, and had the gift of having the presence of the Blessed Sacrament always in him as it only digested when he would receive Holy Communion in him the next day.)

It was a beautiful visit to Sr. Mary Mediatrix.  Who knew? A Saint in my backyard in Beaverville!  She died in 1959.  I hope to post a little about her life some time in the future  The same author also wrote a short book on Fr. Aloysius.

Sr. Mary Mediatrix and Fr. Aloysius, pray for us!

-MM