The shrine is located within the St. Joseph Cupertino Friary in Ellicott City, Maryland, USA.

The shrine is a ministry of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Our Lady of the Angels Province, USA.

In 1700 Charles Carroll of Annapolis was granted 10,000 acres (40 km2; 16 sq mi) of property in what is now Howard County, MD.

[4] An area of 1,000 acres (4 km2) of land was sectioned off from the Doughoregan estate and given to Emily Caton MacTavish (Carroll's granddaughter) as a wedding present.

[6] It was originally built around 1730 as part of the Doughoregan Manor estate, it was then remodeled by Charles Carroll of Carrollton for Emily Caton MacTavish, and completed in 1832.

[7] The property was offered for sale in the 1840s, without success, and then sold to Emily's son, Charles Carroll MacTavish in 1850, with around forty slaves.

[6][8] The Cardinal Protector of the Order, Rafael Merry del Val, Secretary of State under Pope Pius X, sent his blessing on the new establishment which was to be used by the Friars as a novitiate.

He decided to create a miniature version of the Sacro Convento, the original Friary built in Assisi, Italy in the 13th century.

In 1800 Charles Carroll modified the Greek, Georgian, and Romanesque building with four large front columns, a round chapel, a marble bathing pool in the cellar, and a three fireplace kitchen.