The shrine, which overlooks the Mohawk River, is “one of the most sacred spots not just in the state of New York but in the United States,” the New York Eucharistic Congress website says.
It is the site of the 1649 martyrdom of the Jesuit missionaries Sts. Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, and Jean Lalande. Just years later, in 1656, St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born at the same place. She was an Algonquin-Mohawk convert to Catholic Christianity and the first Native American saint of what is now the United States.
The Eucharistic Congress’ website, https://nyseucharisticcongress.org, described the shrine as “one of the foremost eucharistic sites in the country,” given that three martyrs died there “trying to bring the Gospel and the eucharistic Lord” to the Mohawks of the region. It also cited Kateri Tekakwitha’s birth there, calling her “one of the greatest witnesses to eucharistic adoration.”
The Eucharistic Congress is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20. On Saturday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York will celebrate the principal Mass at 11 a.m. with a eucharistic procession to follow. The congress will end with an 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday.
There will be eucharistic adoration from 10 p.m. through 7 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
The congress is part of New York Catholics’ response to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Eucharistic Revival, a nationwide effort to foster and reinvigorate devotion to the Eucharist. The eight Roman Catholic dioceses of New York and the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn are backing the event.