A Road Trip to the Saints

Imagine taking a road trip to meet holy Catholic men and women who served as Christ’s hands and feet on earth by caring for the poor, the sick, and the vulnerable. Imagine hearing their stories and becoming immersed in the love they exhibited for the people around them.

This summer, you can do just that. As you’re making vacation plans or trying to determine how you will spend the 250th birthday of our great nation, I encourage you to consider setting your GPS to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin.

The shrine is the only Church-approved Marian apparition site in the US, and pilgrims travel there every day of the year. But this summer, the staff has something extra special planned.

Fr. Nathan Mudd, CPM, is one of the chaplains at the shrine, and he spoke to me about the upcoming Catholic Saints of America exhibit. Inspired by the nation’s 250th anniversary, the staff at the shrine chose to celebrate the “men and women whose causes have been completed, who are canonized, who are in the process,” and who have made a significant impact in America. Fr. Nathan explained, “Since the discovery of America, there have been Catholic feet on the ground.”

The Catholic Saints of America exhibit runs July 1-9, and features a “Carlo Acutis-inspired exhibit honoring the holy men and women of America—saints, blesseds, venerables, and servants of god—who have shaped our faith and serve as powerful examples of Christian virtue.”

Display boards filled with information about over 70 holy people, representatives from guilds promoting their causes of canonization, veneration of relics of some of these men and women, talks, Mass, confession, Adoration, and more will fill the days. And on July 5, the anniversary of the death of Adele Brise—the visionary whom Mary appeared to in Champion—visitors can attend a special Mass and picnic.

Fr. Nathan says he hopes that the exhibit will inspire people “to want to do great things for God.” He said that entails following Christ and “doing some crazy things that will require us to lay down our lives for God in one way or another, whether that be for martyrdom, in the service of others, or in the service of our own family.”

Understanding the foundation these holy men and women laid is integral so that we can continue the work they began.

To help you get excited about this exhibit, I want to highlight just five of the holy men and women featured. While all saints have furthered our faith in some way, these five are especially poignant for those who work to help the poor, the sick, the preborn, and the elderly.

Venerable Fulton Sheen

An impassioned and inspirational evangelist, Venerable Sheen, who will be beatified in September, was also passionate about the protection of preborn babies.

After the Roe v. Wade decision decriminalized abortion, he wrote a prayer for the spiritual adoption of a baby in danger of abortion. He later prophetically said, “Just think . . . of how many mentally disturbed women we are going to have in the United States in the next 10 or 15 years when the guilt of abortion begins to attack the mind and soul.”

We see evidence of this disturbance throughout our country today, and so we pray not only for his intercession to protect the vulnerable preborn but for a change in mindset about the slaughter of innocents that we see on a daily basis.

Venerable Patrick Peyton

Venerable Patrick Peyton was known as the “Rosary Priest,” and he famously said, “The family that prays together stays together.”

He held Rosary rallies throughout the country and even broadcast them on the radio, convincing “celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr to lend their fame to the promotion of the Rosary through radio, television, and film.” My great-uncle, who was also a CSC priest, worked with Fr. Peyton when he was just beginning his Rosary initiative.

Understanding that the Rosary is our greatest spiritual weapon, he and Fr. Peyton helped encourage people, especially families, to pray the Rosary and to invite Mary into their lives.

Venerable Aloysius Schwartz

Father Al, as he was called, was born in Washington, DC, and wanted to be a missionary priest, so he took an assignment in Korea just after the Korean War to work with the poor and the sick.

There, he founded hospitals, orphanages, clinics, and schools, always working to help “the sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor.”

The school model he founded has since spread to other countries, and “to date, 150,000 students from poor villages have graduated” from them.

Servant of God Mary Virginia Merrick

Mary Virginia Merrick had a passion for caring for children from the time she was young, and at one point, she said that “nothing is ever too much to do for a child.”

Though an accident left her partially paralyzed, she spent her life living out that motto. Mary founded the Christ Child Society after encouraging a poor boy who wanted a red wagon for Christmas to write a letter to the Christ Child. Mary and some friends fulfilled that wish for him on behalf of Christ, and more and more letters soon arrived.

Further, after learning of a mother who had no clothing for the baby she was carrying, Mary and her friends sewed a layette so the mom would have what she needed. That layette program continues today through the Christ Child Society and “provides material assistance in the form of welcome kits, known as layettes [with] each kit contain[ing] the essentials every newborn needs: onesies, sleepers, sleep sacks, diapers, baby wipes, children’s books, community resources, educational material, and a handmade blanket.”

Servant of God Vincent Robert Capodanno

Robert Capodanno was a Navy chaplain and a Maryknoll priest who served Marines in Vietnam. He administered the sacraments, taught about Catholicism, distributed medicine and food to the men, tended to their wounds, and even “lived, ate, and slept as they did.”

In September 1967, he made the ultimate sacrifice when he was shot and killed by enemy forces after rushing into an open battlefield to help a wounded Marine.

These holy men and women not only helped make America great, but they also helped make America faithful, and they taught us how we should treat the people in our homes and in our communities. By learning about them, we can discern how we are called to live heroic and holy lives.

Fr. Al Schwartz once said to his sister that he would want his gravestone to read: “Here lies Father Al. He tried his best for Jesus.”

Imagine how great America could become if we all lived with the hope that this epitaph would also be on our gravestones.