8" OLO Consolation Statue 2023

Commemorate the history of the Our Lady of Consolation Statue with this beautiful new replica statue that has recently arrived at the OLC Shrine Gift Shop. The care and love that went in to creating this beautiful statue design took several years.

Brother Jeffrey Hines, OFM Conv has written the history of the statue below:

On May 24, 1875, Father Joseph Peter Gloden from Luxembourg made true on his promise to Our Lady of Consolation when he was stricken with typhoid. In the depths of this illness, he begged the intercession of Our Lady of Consolation to cure him. He promised that if his life were spared and he were to be ordained to the priesthood, he would name the first church he could in her honor.

Father Gloden arrived to the U.S. in 1860 and was assigned responsibility of the church in Carey in 1863. A replica of the statue at the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Luxembourg was brought to Father Gloden two years after this assignment.

He received permission from the bishop to change the name of the church and made plans for the statue to be solemnly installed in May of 1875. The date of May 24, the feast of Mary Help of Christians, was selected for this event. Father had invited all of the Catholics in the area to gather at the church of St. Nicholas, where they would carry the statue in a 7-mile procession from Frenchtown to Carey.

The morning of the procession was filled with wind and rain. Those who gathered for the procession thought there would be no possible way for the statue to be carried in procession with the weather as it was. Father Gloden, a man of great faith, instructed the statue to be taken to the front doors of the church. As the doors were opened, all beheld something truly wonderful.

As everyone looked toward the road to Carey they could see the rain falling on the fields on either side of the road to Carey, bit not a drop was falling on the road itself. Father Gloden then gave the signal for the procession to begin.

As the procession moved forward, those processing were praying the rosary and singing hymns to Our Lady. As they continued toward Carey, everyone could see the same blessed phenomenon. Not one drop of rain fell on anyone in the procession or the statue they carried.

Since this first miracle, countless pilgrims have flocked to Our Lady of Consolation asking Our Blessed Mother for her consolation and intercession. Miracles continue to this day.