Indianapolis is a fun city to visit. It boasts a spectacular downtown park, a landmark memorial to the soldiers and sailors who fought in defense of this great land, and the largest children’s museum in the world. It is the home of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. It is also a fantastic sports town, from the annual Indianapolis 500 race to the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL.
A few notable parishes in the downtown include Holy Rosary Church, which is an ornate downtown Italian parish offering Latin Mass; the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, which is especially notable for its Blessed Sacrament Chapel which is decorated in Venetian mosaics and the walls are lined with paintings of angels that replicate those painted by Blessed Fra Angelico in his native Florence church. While downtown, it is also recommended to visit the church of St. John the Evangelist, which was the first parish in Indianapolis.
While Indianapolis can serve as the base for exploring Catholic Indiana, there are many short day trips that can be undertaken.
Vincennes – the first church in Indiana
Vincennes is the first city established in Indiana, located right alongside the Wabash River which forms the state line with Illinois. Vincennes is home to the largest national monument outside of Washington, DC, commemorating the conquest of the Old Northwest Territory. It is also home to an impressive Indiana Military Museum and the President William Henry Harrison mansion.
As Indiana’s first capital city, it is no surprise that the state’s first cathedral was also located here: the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier. The Diocese of Vincenne was carved out of the Diocese of Bardstown (Kentucky) in 1834 and covered all of Indiana and eastern Illinois.
The first bishop of Vincennes, Simon Brute, Servant of God, is buried at the Basilica and is now being considered for canonization. Bishop Brute is an interesting figure. Born and ordained in France, he declined an offer to become an assistant chaplain to Napoleon, choosing instead to enter the Society of St. Sulpice and teach at their seminary. He came to the US in 1810, initially to teach at the Sulpician College in Baltimore and then on to Mount St. Mary College in Emmitsburg, where he met St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and became her spiritual director. He eventually undertook missionary activity to the rapidly expanding Indiana Territory and accepted appointment as the first bishop of Vincennes. Under his leadership, the Basilica, a library, a seminary and parish schools were created and he was ultimately successful in recruiting a French religious order – the Sisters of Providence led by Theodora Guerin – to come to Indiana to teach and care for the sick.
St Mary of the Woods – home of Indiana’s only saint
About 90 minutes west of Indianapolis is the Township of St. Mary of the Woods, where St. Theodora Guerin established the operations of the Sisters of Providence in America.
St. Theodora Guerin arrived here with her Sisters in 1840, opening a female academy that would eventually become St. Mary of the Woods College. The Sisters were asked to come from France to minister to educate the pioneer children in Indiana. When they arrived, they were shocked to find that they were literally in the middle of the backwoods, without any home or school. Nonetheless, they persevered, building a center of missionary activity from scratch and going on to have a broad ranging ministry across Indiana and parts of Illinois. She went on to establish an additional eleven schools across nine Indiana towns over the following 15 years, all while enduring the harsh anti-Catholic persecution that was prevalent at the time. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2016.
This surprising campus is often described as a slice of Europe in the midst of the Indiana backwoods, and for good reason. Visitors can tour the Mother Guerin shrine, which consists of both a museum and a chapel where her tomb is located. On the campus grounds, there is also a lovely limestone Church of the Immaculate Conception. In its vestibule is the National Shrine of Our Lady of Providence. The devotion, which originated in Renaissance Rome, is centered on inviting the faithful to make Mary Queen of their Homes. The grounds also have a separate Blessed Sacrament Chapel, which is open 24/7 for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle. There is also a small Shell Chapel to St. Anne, the interior walls are made out of shells from the local river as are the mosaics; it is a site to behold. And to keep the kids interested, there is an alpaca farm on-site to tour too.
South Bend – the University of Notre Dame
The college most closely associated with the Catholic Church in America – Notre Dame – is located two hours north of Indianapolis. The university, founded by French Holy Cross Father Edward Sorin, is one of the most famous schools in all of America. When he proposed establishing a college that “could not fail to succeed and become one of the most powerful means for good in the country,” in 1842 from a remote missionary outpost in northern Indiana, it is only by the grace of God that this vision succeeded.
For sports fans, one of the biggest thrills is experiencing the Fighting Irish football team at one of their home games over the course of the college football season.
Equally invigorating is a walk through the University’s remarkable campus, lined with statues rich in Catholic imagery – from the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus greeting visitors to the campus quad to life size biblical scenes such as the Visitation, the Woman at the Well, and the Prodigal Son. In the woods just off of St. Joseph lake is a life size depiction of Calvary. The campus also has a 1/7th size replica of the Lourdes Grotto.
The ornate Basilica of the Sacred Heart is the primary attraction within the campus. It is a splendid neo gothic church in the French style, with its white columns and golden accents. The stained glass windows all came from France and it also has an eye catching 8 tonne Pieta statue, significantly larger than the original in the Vatican. It also has a life size statue of St. Brother Andre, the only canonized member of the Holy Cross Congregation. In the Basilica crypt is a side altar with relics of St. Brother Andre and Blessed Basil Moreau.
Also of significance is the Log Chapel on the campus lakefront. This is a replica of the first missionary headquarters built in Indiana by the great missionary Fr. Stephen Badin in 1831 (the first Catholic priest ordained in the US), who was asked to come by the Potawatomi tribe who were seeking a permanent priest (they were eventually forcibly relocated from northern Indiana in 1838). The original log chapel was transferred to Fr. Sorin and the Holy Cross Brothers when they arrived in northern Indiana to establish Notre Dame in 1842, but was lost to fire.
South Central Indiana – Santa Claus, Holiday World and a Benedictine monastery
About three hours from Indianapolis in south central Indiana is the town of Ferdinand, where the splendid Benedictine Monastery of the Immaculate Conception is located. A visit to the monastery can easily be combined with a trip the kids will never forget to Santa Claus, Indiana, located just 15 minutes away. True to its name, the town is full of Christmas themed attractions and bills itself as “America’s Christmas hometown.” It is also where the first theme park in the world, Holiday World, is located. A full day could easily be spent at the amusement park and its accompanying Splashin’ Safari.
The monastery was founded in 1867, with the arrival of the Sisters of St. Benedict. They had come over to America from Germany in the 1850s and a small group from Kentucky moved to Ferdinand to meet the need of the local Catholic settlement for German-speaking teachers. The teaching ministry that these Benedictines started in Ferdinand spread rapidly across the country, reaching 75 schools in 12 states.
The monastery grounds are open to visitors, and consist of three shrines and an outdoor stations of the cross. Guided tours of the monastery itself are also available, as is the opportunity to join the Sisters for daily mass and prayers. A growing attraction is the on-site brewery that the Sisters opened and the various baked goods available at the monastery.
Maria Stein, Ohio
About two hours from Indianapolis and across the state line into Ohio is the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics. This lovely shrine houses the largest collection of relics in the United States, with over 1,200 relics. The centerpiece of the main altar is a relic of the True Cross that is prominently displayed. Most of the 1,200 relics came from the private collection of Fr. Francis de Sales Brunner, who brought the priests and religious communities of the Precious Blood to America in the nineteenth century.
Also within the center is the Adoration Chapel – as Eucharistic Adoration has been prominent here for over 150 years – and the Heritage Museum, which tells the story of the early German Catholic communities who settled this part of Ohio.
CATHOLIC CONCIERGE 
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