Pilgrimages
Sacred sites, shrines, and pilgrimage routes across the United States.
Catholic pilgrimage is one of the oldest acts of faith — leaving home, traveling with intention, and arriving somewhere holy with a heart open to grace. In America, that tradition runs deeper than most Catholics realize.
From the missions of California, founded when the country was not yet a country, to the great national basilicas of the East Coast, to Marian shrines tucked into the midwest that draw hundreds of thousands every year — the United States is rich with pilgrimage destinations. They were built by immigrants who carried their faith across oceans, by missionaries who walked into wilderness, by religious communities who poured everything they had into building something for God in a new land.
These are not lesser pilgrimages because they aren't in Rome or Lourdes. They are pilgrimages for us — for American Catholics, made by people who prayed in our language, labored in our soil, and often suffered for the same faith we now inherit.
Where to go
National shrines and basilicas anchoring the Catholic landscape of America.
Washington, DC
The largest Catholic church in North America and the patronal church of the United States, dedicated to Our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception.
Visitor guide →La Crosse, Wisconsin
Built by Cardinal Raymond Burke, this hilltop shrine honors Our Lady of Guadalupe with a full-scale replica of the tilma of Juan Diego.
Chicago, Illinois
The resting place of the first American citizen to be canonized, patron saint of immigrants.
Emmitsburg, Maryland
Where the first US-born saint lived, founded the Sisters of Charity, and established the roots of American Catholic education.
Bensalem, Pennsylvania
The shrine of the heiress who gave her entire fortune to serve Native American and African American communities.
Fonda, New York
The birthplace of the first Native American saint, set along the Mohawk River where Kateri grew up before her conversion.
Visitor guide →Champion, Wisconsin
In 1859, Our Lady appeared to a Belgian immigrant named Adele Brise in northeastern Wisconsin. In 2010, the Diocese of Green Bay formally approved the apparition — the only Church-approved Marian apparition site on US soil.
On the road
Multi-site itineraries connecting America's holiest places.
Washington DC → Emmitsburg, MD → Bensalem, PA → Philadelphia → Fonda, NY
Five national shrines, four canonized American saints.
La Crosse → Champion → Holy Hill
Three extraordinary Marian destinations, including the only approved apparition site in the US.
San Diego to Sonoma
All 21 missions founded by St. Junipero Serra and the Franciscans, following El Camino Real.
St. Patrick's Cathedral → Kateri Shrine at Fonda → Auriesville Martyrs Shrine
From midtown Manhattan to the Mohawk Valley.
Prepare
Everything you need to know before you go.
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Reflection
You can visit any of these shrines as a tourist. You'll see beautiful architecture, learn American Catholic history, and maybe pick up a medal or a prayer card. That's not nothing.
But a pilgrimage is something more. It's going to a holy place on purpose — with a prayer in your heart, a petition you've been carrying, a gratitude you want to express, or simply the desire to be somewhere that has been saturated with the faith of those who came before you.
The shrines in this section were built by people who believed. They carried their faith here from Ireland and Italy, from Poland and Mexico, from Germany and the Philippines. They prayed on this ground, suffered on it, and died near it. When you visit, you join a long chain of pilgrims stretching back through American Catholic history.
Go with intention. Come back changed.
