I had been told by a friend that there was a guesthouse at Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, and I thought that sounded like a very pleasant place to stay while I visited Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I couldn’t get them on the phone, so I took a chance and showed up at the monastery office to check availability.  Unfortunately, half of the guesthouse was being renovated, and the rest was booked up, which I suppose was not unexpected in the week before Easter.  But while I was there I took a look at the beautiful basilica.

The church sits high on a hill with a grand view of the countryside all around.  The entrance doors are perhaps even more spectacular though.

The basilica is renowned for the beauty of the alter and the stained glass windows.  For such a large space, it has a feeling of lightness.

The side chapel is simple and elegant, and very impressive, with a lit starry sky on the ceiling.  There’s a collection of crutches and braces outside the chapel door, and although there was no explanation, I’m told that being here tends to have a profound effect on people.

I took a closer look at the windows, and they seemed to be quite elaborate.

I found the information available about the church rather uninformative, unfortunately.  Perhaps there was a tour or a pamphlet that I didn’t see.  Luckily, Wikipedia exists to fill in the gaps:

“The first resident on the hill was a hermit named Francois Soubrio. Around 1862, an area farmer found him living on the hill. Soubrio had heard about the hill when he was working as an assistant to a retired professor in Quebec, Canada. He had found an old French diary and map dated 1676 showing a cone-shaped mountain in Wisconsin. The diary described how the author placed a stone altar, raised a cross, and dedicated the hill to Jesus’s mother Mary. The diary account corresponds with Jesuit missionary work in the area between 1673 and 1679.  The name “Holy Hill” was first given to the place by Irish settlers in the area.  Father George Strickner dedicated a log chapel as the first Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians on May 24, 1863. A set of wooden crosses were placed for the Stations of the Cross in 1875. In the winter of 1879, Fr. Raess sent a proposal to Archbishop John Henni to construct a new shrine to Mary. Construction began that spring. Pilgrims began flocking to the shrine, and it was decided that a religious order should administer the shrine. A group of Discalced Carmelites came from Bavaria at the invitation of Archbishop Sebastian Messmer, and the Shrine of Mary was put under their care on June 26, 1906. The building now known as the Old Monastery Inn and Retreat Center was completed in 1920. The second shrine was removed in 1925 so that a third shrine could be built. The cornerstone of the third and present shrine was placed by Archbishop Messmer on August 22, 1926. The present church was completed and consecrated in 1931.”

I stayed around for a while enjoying the peace of the place, but there were actually quite a few tourists around.  Once again, being the week before Easter may have had something to do with that.  So eventually I exited through the gift shop (mostly beads and books) and got on my way.

I almost forgot to mention though… this fuzzy little person was the greeter at the monastery office.  We had a nice chat and snuggle, and I provided a belly rub when requested. What a cutie!