Sorrowful Mother Shrine

The Sorrowful Mother Shrine is one of the oldest places of pilgrimage dedicated to Mary in the Midwest. In 1850, Fr. Francis de Sales Brunner, built on this site a small red brick chapel in honor of Our Mother of Sorrows. He had a great devotion to Mary who guided him and his priests safely to the New World from Germany and Switzerland. Fr. Brunner founded this shrine to minister to the newly arrived German Catholic farmers in Northwest Ohio. Twenty years later, in 1870, a second larger chapel replaced the original chapel. On Assumption Day in 1912, the chapel burned. Within two years, the chapel was built and remains on the grounds today. To accommodate the growing number of pilgrims who were coming to the Shrine for spiritual help, to seek physical cures, and to simply nourish their souls, an Outdoor Pieta Chapel was constructed and dedicated in 1968. The Sorrowful Mother Shrine is a devotional landmark in northern Ohio. If in the area, a stop to this Shrine is a must.