Boston is one of America’s most charming and historic cities to visit. With its proximity to the beaches of the Atlantic and Cape Cod, a trip to Boston can easily be combined with a few extra days soaking in the sun and waves.
Boston’s Catholic heritage has been shaped by decades of immigration, with many historic churches and shrines that are a testament to the powerful integration of faith and civic life in the heart of Protestant New England. In between walking the Freedom Trail, visiting the New England Aquarium and reliving the Boston Tea Party, here are five Catholic sites not to be missed:
- The Boston Basilica – experience what the New York Times once called “Lourdes in the Land of America”
- St. Clement’s Eucharistic Shrine in Back Bay
- The towering Madonna Queen of the Universe Shrine with its expansive views over east Boston
- The Museum of Family Prayer and grave of Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton in nearby North Easton
- The expansive Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro and its nationally renowned Christmas light display.
Catholic Heritage along the Freedom Trail
One of the city’s most popular attractions is to walk the 2.5 mile long Freedom Trail; its red brick path connecting sixteen historic sites associated with the American Revolution from Faneuil Hall (the “cradle of liberty” where patriots would gather to whip up opposition to British rule) to the Paul Revere House, and the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was first proclaimed to the people of Boston. For Catholics, walking the trail is a time to reflect on the improbable journey of New England’s Catholics from the most oppressed and persecuted group in the Thirteen Colonies to becoming a driving force in the life of the city.
Boston Commons, where the Freedom Trail begins, was once the site of the popular “Pope’s Night,” where a mob would gather annually in colonial Boston to burn an effigy of the pope. At Faneuil Hall, some of the most prominent Patriots – like Sam Adams – would regular denounce the subversive Catholic threat while stirring up the crowds against colonial rule. At the King’s Chapel (the first Anglican Church built in New England in 1688), during the Revolutionary War, a French naval officer was clandestinely provided Catholic burial in the church’s crypt; something unthinkable just a few years earlier in what was at the time the most esteemed and prestigious Protestant Church in New England.
At the North End of the Trail is Old North Church. It was from this church’s steeple that the famous “one if by land, two if by sea” beacon warning about the British advance from Lexington was sent. It was one of the preeminent Congregationalist (Puritan) churches in colonial Boston. Its simple and stark interior is a reminder of just how much the Puritans disdained Catholic ritual and tradition. You can only begin to imagine the great shock – and frankly horror – the Puritan community must have felt when one of Boston’s own Congregationalist ministers committed the ultimate “heresy” soon after the Revolution and converted to Catholicism in 1783. Not only did he convert, but he became a Catholic priest. His name was John Thayer, a consummate Yankee New Englander – born and raised Puritan, graduate of Yale University, friend and collaborator of the great Revolutionary hero, John Hancock. It was on a trip to Italy that he experienced the riches of the Catholic faith and allowed the Holy Spirit to transform his heart. Thayer entered the Sulpician Seminary in France and then returned to Boston in 1790 as a missionary priest, before continuing on to the frontier lands in Kentucky where he became a leading voice against slavery.
Boston’s North End is also home to the beautifully ornate Church of St. Leonard of Port Maurice. Named for the famous Franciscan preacher who re-evangelized much of Italy, it is the oldest Roman Catholic church established by Italian immigrants in New England.
Back Bay and the Eucharistic Shrine
Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood is one of the most pleasant places to visit in the city. Here you will find the high-end shops of Newbury Avenue, the leafy retreat of Commonwealth Avenue and the Esplanade, a large waterfront park which is also a great spot for watching the competitive rowing on the Charles River.
In the heart of the Back Bay neighborhood is St. Clement’s Eucharistic Shrine. It opened in 1935 and is the self-described “spiritual powerhouse” of the city, offering perpetual Eucharistic adoration.
Nearby is the Prudential Center, with its 50th floor observatory providing spectacular views of the city. Part of the Prudential Center mall houses St. Francis Chapel, operated by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. In addition to offering daily mass, confession and Eucharistic adoration, the chapel also makes available for public veneration relics of the Marian Saints – St. John Paul II, Maximilan Kolbe, and St. Faustina Kowalska.
South End
In Boston’s South End is the John F Kennedy Presidential Library, and the largest Catholic church in all of New England, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Built in 1866 and recently completing a multimillion renovation, it is a lovely and expansive church, whose interior is actually larger than that of Notre Dame in Paris. The beautifully restored interior showcases the ornate high altar, beautiful paintings of the stations of the cross, and the cathedral’s storied stained glass windows. The relic of the True Cross which was first brought to Boston and venerated in 1788 is displayed for veneration in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The Cathedral was the site of the requiem funeral mass for President Kennedy in 1964 and in 1978 was the very first place St. Pope John Paul II stopped in the Western Hemisphere, on his first papal voyage to the hemisphere.
Boston’s East End
Just across the bay in East Boston is the Shrine of the Madonna, Queen of the Universe. It is located on a hill next to Logan Airport, dominated by a giant 35 foot statue of Our Lady. The outdoor Pilgrim Plaza is filled with mosaics depicting the mysteries of the rosary, as well as a Marian grotto. Below ground is the church complex, which includes first and second class relics of the True Cross, St. Pius X, St. Luigi Orione (founder of the order that built this shrine) and two mitres of St. Paul VI, who dedicated the shrine in 1978.
“Lourdes in the land of America”
Of all of Boston’s churches, the most impressive is found a short drive away from baseball’s iconic Fenway Park in the Roxbury neighborhood: The Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The shrine, originally built for Irish and German immigrants in the Roxbury neighborhood, opened in 1871 and within a few months, the Redemptorists had enthroned a replica of the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. From that moment on, it became a pilgrimage destination for the faithful. From 1871 to 1884 alone, over 330 miraculous healings were recorded, including the very famous healing of the young daughter of a Civil War general who had been crippled since age four and after praying the novena, walked out of the church healed.
As early as 1901, the shrine was described as “Lourdes in the land of America” and was one of the most important Marian pilgrimage sites in New England, attracting upwards of 20,000 a week in a church with capacity for only 1,500. The novena services were broadcast widely on radio and television. Today, the church is lined with crutches and other votives of pilgrims who were healed following prayer before the icon. The Basilica also holds an important reliquary of St. Nazarius in a glass enclosed coffin under the St. Joseph side altar; Nazarius was a Roman soldier converted by Pope St. Linus, the second pope. His relics were translated to Boston in 1873.
Museum of Family Prayer – North Easton
Located about twenty minutes south of Boston in North Easton, the Museum of Family Prayer is dedicated to nurturing prayer and the sacraments in family life. Its exhibits were inspired by the life of Holy Cross Father, Venerable Patrick Peyton, who is renowned for the massive prayer rallies he led in the twentieth century and his pioneering work in Hollywood bringing the faith to the masses. He is best remembered for the slogan, “the family that prays together stays together.”
At the museum, you can view interactive exhibits on the life of Fr. Peyton, participate in daily adoration (a family holy hour), reconciliation and Holy Mass, and there is a beautiful Marian garden on the grounds as well. This is also where you can pray at the grave of Fr. Peyton, whose cause for canonization continues to advance.
National Shrine of Our Lady La Salette – Attleboro
About fifty minutes south of Boston is the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette.
The apparition of Mary to two children in the mountains of France near Grenoble in the mid 1800s is often overlooked compared to the more famous apparition in Lourdes later that century. However, Our Lady came with a simple message calling for repentance and conversion for a people that had gone astray and lost their faith in the village of La Salette; not all that different from the challenge we face today with secularization in the western world. Our Lady came to catechize two of the local children – Maximin and Melanie – and use them to bring the people back to Jesus. She specifically asked that at minimum, the faithful pray one Our Father and one Hail Mary each day. Now, more than ever, this message needs to be conveyed.
The Shrine at Attleboro has expansive grounds set in a splendid natural setting and a pilgrimage to the shrine chapel can be spiritually enriching in learning more about this apparition. An especially beautiful time to visit is over the Christmas season when the entire grounds are alight in thousands of Christmas lights drawing visitors from far and wide.
CATHOLIC CONCIERGE 
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