About Our Shrine

For more than 400 years, pilgrims have been coming to the Marian sanctuary in Csiksomlyo in the Transylvania region of Rumania.  When the Franciscans who operated the shrine were driven out by the Soviets in 1948, the refugees came to the United States.  Here they worked among American Hungarian Catholics, many of whom were also immigrants.  In 1963, the friars received permission to build a new monastery and a replica of the old country shrine.  In it they placed a copy of the centuries’ old miraculous statue of Our Lady, Comforter of the Afflicted of Csiksomlyo.

In the Shrine is the image of the Divine Mercy and Pilgrim Statue of the Blessed Mother of Fatima, donated by the Servite Friars.  Outside is the large statue of St. Stephen of Hungary, the first canonized monarch in Christendom.  This statue was featured in the World’s Fair in 1939 in New York.  Next to the statue is a monument of the 1956 revolution in Hungary.  Between them is the paved trail of an open-air Stations of the Cross, a unique one called the “Iron Curtain Stations of the Cross.”  The trail embraces the meadow, called the ‘Cathedral in the Pines, which is available for outside Mass.  It has a granite altar and can accommodate over one thousand people.  Over the altar is an image of the Blessed Virgin of Fatima.  See our photo gallery here!

The Bishop of Fatima commissioned four replicas of the statue of his cathedral and sent them out to the four winds; one north, one south, one to the east and we happen to have received the one destined for the west. When the statue was enthroned, the bishop came from Fatima, dedicated and blessed it.  Across from the statue is the Monument to the Unborn, donated by the Knights of Columbus and erected on June 30, 1996.

The Shrine is open year-round with Sunday and weekday masses.  Holy hours are offered twice a week, with Novena devotions following daily Mass.

With prior arrangements, groups may experience a Spirituality Day, structured and preached by the Franciscans; the Stations of the Cross; the Rosary; the Litany; or any kind of devotion.

The Shrine of Our Lady, Comforter of the Afflicted was built by the Hungarian Friars as a commemoration to the struggles of the Hungarian people and the church under communism.  Today, the Shrine serves spiritual needs of American laity.

We, the Friars, look forward to having you come and visit our Shrine.

For further information, please fee free to call at 330-799-1888, FAX at 330-799-0723, or E-Mail us at info@ShrineofTheFriars.org.  Provide us with your name, phone number, and/or e-mail address and we will contact you as soon as possible.