Local author’s book details history, devotion at the Black Madonna Shrine near Pacific
Jeanette McDermott can’t stop telling stories.
When she first stumbled upon the Black Madonna Shrine near Pacific while out exploring with her camera about five years ago, she was stunned to find the striking grottos, tucked away in the hillside. As she walked around and looked closer, questions filled her mind: Who built these? With what? Why here?
“I’m a storyteller, and that’s what captivated me about this place, is the storytelling aspect,” said McDermott, a parishioner at St. Pius V in St. Louis. “I knew there was a story here.”
She returned again and again. While she was praying near the statue of the Blessed Mother above the Gethsemane Grotto, she heard a calling from the Lord to write a book sharing everything she was learning about the shrine with others.
In November, McDermott published “Walk the Pilgrim’s Path,” a book that explores the features of the Black Madonna Shrine as well as the history of devotion to Our Lady of Czestochowa, the story of the Franciscan Missionary Brothers and Brother Bronislaus Luszcz’s 23-year solo effort to construct the grottos.
The shrine’s story goes back to 1927, when Cardinal John J. Glennon invited six Franciscan Missionary Brothers from Poland to the Archdiocese of St. Louis. They settled on land in the wooded hills near what is now Pacific. Brother Bronislaus led the efforts to clear the land without the help of machinery. In 1937, he cleared a spot in the woods and built a cedar chapel with a painting of Our Lady of Czestochowa — the Black Madonna — who was highly revered in his native Poland. He spent the next 23 years constructing the grottos by hand, using tiff rock from the Old Mines area.
Brother Bronislaus died from heat stroke while working on the grotto to Our Lady of Fatima in 1960. In the mid-1960s, the open-air Chapel of the Hills, dedicated to Our Lady of Czestochowa, was dedicated to replace the first cedar chapel.
As she learned more about the shrine, McDermott felt a kinship with Brother Bronislaus and his evident love of the natural world. Connecting with God through His creation has been a big part of McDermott’s life — at one point, she owned 124 acres in Kentucky and helped form an association of woodland owners to focus on land preservation.
Each time she visits the shrine, she finds something new to marvel at as her eyes trace over the stones, laid by hand to form the grottos. She loves the seashells used as decorations in the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Grotto, given to Brother Bronislaus by traveling missionaries, and the brightly colored beads from costume jewelry offered by women who couldn’t give much else. Often, visitors will leave a flower or other small trinket at the base of the statues as a tribute for answered prayers.
“Wonder and awe. I just stand in awe, again and again, no matter how many times I come, and wonder about God’s creation, humans’ representation of that connection between the earth and the divine and humans, and where we fit into it all,” she said. “I pray a lot about that.”
Storytelling has been McDermott’s life work. She was born in St. Louis but joined the Navy at age 18 and spent most of her adult life living and traveling all over the world, working as a journalist and communications professional. She moved back to St. Louis about five years ago and retired in March from her job as communications coordinator for the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
The book took her about four years to research and write, drawing from interviews with Mike Scully, the shrine’s outgoing executive director and nephew of Franciscan Missionary Brother Paschal Scully, as well as further research in the order’s archives and into the history of the surrounding area.
After its publication, she began hearing from readers interested in visiting the shrine and wondered whether she could offer a guided tour. She led her first pilgrimage to the shrine on Jan. 4 with about 30 people. Afterward, participants wanted to know — where could they go next?
She took that as a sign of her next calling: helping others discover sacred places and deepen their devotion. She plans to visit several of the archdiocesan bicentennial pilgrimage sites throughout the year and hopes to also lead more groups to the Black Madonna Shrine.
“They’re wanting these connections, not just with the sacred places, but with each other,” she said.
McDermott is donating part of the proceeds from her book sales back to the shrine. She wants to do everything she can to make sure the shrine continues on for generations — and to help more people discover the holy place.
Brother Bronislaus’ grottos show us how beauty can come from broken fragments, McDermott wrote in the book’s preface. “As you travel through this book, I hope you’ll sense that same quiet pattern within your own life: the gathering, the building, the surrender, the light returning.”
Walk the Pilgrim’s Path
Purchase the book “Walk the Pilgrim’s Path” or sign up to be notified of future pilgrimages with Jeanette McDermott at walkthepilgrimspath.com. The book is also available for purchase in the Black Madonna Shrine gift shop.
Upcoming pilgrimages include:
St. Cecilia Church
Friday, Feb. 20, 4:30 p.m. tour, followed by fish fry
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
Palm Sunday, March 29, noon Mass, followed by tour
Black Madonna Shrine
100 St. Joseph’s Hill Road, Pacific, MO 63069
Hours: April-October 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (Gift shop and museum 9 a.m.-4 p.m.)
November-March 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Group tour: To register your group tour, contact the shrine’s office at (636) 938-5361 or email theblackmadonnashrine@gmail.com.
For more information, visit theblackmadonnashrine.org.
