St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church

For the 3rd year in a row an awesome phenomenon occurred in the Church, on September 15^th, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Again just after 7:00 pm the sun shining through a tiny piece of red glass in the large stained glass windows illuminated with a red glow the heart pierced by 7 swords on the statue of Our Blessed Mother on the High Altar. Again, as in the 2 previous years it touched no other part of the statue or any other statue on the altar.

In 2008 this phenomenon occurred at 7:15 pm during a Mass in Her Honour.

In 2009 it occurred again at 7:15 pm while several parishioners were praying the VII Sorrows Rosary. They had come prepared this time with cameras in anticipation of a re-occurrence of the event.

This year the phenomenon was witnessed by approximately 300 people during a procession just before Mass in Her Honour and after having had Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day followed by Benediction and the VII Sorrows Rosary. The red glow started shortly after 7:00 pm at the lower left side of the High Altar and travelled at a sharp angle upward and to the right until it reached the Heart of the statue, illuminating it for about a minute. As one witness described, it then dissipated without travelling any further.

This year witnesses were in the Church on Monday, September 13^th and after all day Adoration and Evening Prayer on Tuesday the 14^th to see if this event might be occurring at any time other than on Her feast day but no reflection came near the heart of Mary. This truly amazing event has occurred only on Her feast day, drawing attention to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Our Mother Mary.

Will this happen again next year? To be sure there will be many more people attending with their prayers and petitions.

SORROWFUL AND IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, Pray for us.

A Miracle at St. Mary's

In 1892 a 9 year old boy was told by his father that his mother would die that day (she had just given birth, with complications). Devastated the child ran to St. Mary's his parish church and kneeling in front of the statue of the Mother with 7 swords piercing her heart he cried and begged her to save his mother. In return he promised Our Blessed Mother that one day when he grew up he would do something BIG for the church. His mother survived.

His name was Ambrose Mayer. When he grew up he joined the Servite order and was ordained at the Cathedral of Our Mother of Sorrows in Chicago. He was then sent to Oregon where he purchased a piece of land from the railroad and built the National Shrine to Our Sorrowful Mother in Portland.

This story can be found in different publications from the Shrine and on their website.

We are presently trying to confirm if the statue Father Mayer prayed before is the same statue that is on the High Altar today.