Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation

Pope Paul VI raised the Marian shrine to the status of Minor Basilica via his Pontifical decree Quam Prope Assit on 21 October 1971.

It is the site of an annual pilgrimage of Roman Catholics (primarily from the Middle East) to mark the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, celebrated 15 August of every year.

The first Archbishop of Toledo, Joseph Schrembs invited the Conventual Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception Province in Syracuse, New York to take charge of the shrine.

[1] In 1923, Ku Klux Klan members held a counter demonstration to the annual procession of the eve of the Feast of the Assumption, but ended holding a gathering on the outskirts of town.

The wooden statue, thirty-six inches high, depicted Mary holding the infant Christ with mother and child dressed in ornate garments.

The original parish church remains today and still sees daily use for early morning Mass, as well as for special programs and devotions.

Along the sides of the basement sanctuary, display cases show the various items cast off by those reportedly healed, including artificial limbs, canes, and crutches.

The feast of Our Lady of Consolation is one of the solemnities not inscribed in the General Roman Calendar, but which are observed in particular places, regions, churches or religious institutes.