Shrine to deceased children offers 'womb' of mercy to parents, families

(OSV News) -- Just below an outdoor Marian shrine in western Massachusetts, a trail of baby footprints, made of tile, winds across a flagstone entrance past two 13-foot bronze angel statues, heads bowed and wings upswept as if in greeting.

The footprints slip silently beneath the heavy glass and metal doors, crossing the threshold and wending their way across a dusky blue floor.

Suddenly, they make a sharp left turn, continuing in a tiny, determined line for several steps and then halting before another set of feet: those of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of unborn children whose serene countenance tenderly tilts to behold them, as water from an indoor fountain murmurs down the mosaic walls, and soft music envelops the space.

Surrounding the life-size Guadalupana statue are more tiles in restful shades of blue, lilac, green, pale yellow. Names are etched in a simple, clean font: Charley and Abby; Jasper, Lauren and Ryan; Baby Kateri.

Other tiles simply read, "My unborn babies."

Deceased children, named or not, are remembered here at the Shrine of the Holy Innocents, located at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

And those who have lost little ones to abortion, miscarriage or other untimely deaths seek out the shrine, tracing with trembling fingers the names of their beloved, lighting candles to honor their memory, kneeling before Our Lady of Guadalupe and the shrine's other sacred images, aching for comfort, forgiveness, peace, hope.

"Any child that's lost, the parents are grieving, and they're looking for a place to go to," said Father Anthony Gramlich, vice rector of liturgy at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy, and a member of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary order of priests.

The concept for the Shrine of the Holy Innocents developed from Father Gramlich's long years of work with Rachel's Vineyard, a global Catholic ministry for post-abortion healing.

The Divine Mercy shrine began hosting Rachel's Vineyard retreats in 2007, and while giving a tour of the shrine for participants in 2008, Father Gramlich was asked by a retreatant about memorializing aborted children on the campus.

The concept quickly expanded to include any child who had died, Father Gramlich told OSV News.

The decision was made to make the shrine an indoor space tucked behind the Mother of Mercy outdoor shrine, a large, semi-sheltered structure for open air liturgies -- including a massive, annual Divine Mercy Sunday celebration.

Named for the infants slain by a vengeful Herod the Great at Jesus' birth (Mt 2:16-18), the Shrine of the Holy Innocents is designed to invite visitors to experience divine healing by engaging "the five senses," a technique used by the Rachel's Vineyard ministry, said Father Gramlich.

"And that's basically what we did with the images, the water, the candles, the music, the baby feet," he said.

Construction on the shrine began in 2008, with the dedication taking place in 2010 -- although the work was not complete, since the project lacked the necessary funding to be fully realized.
Yet even in its unfinished form, the shrine served its purpose, said Father Gramlich.

"People were going into the shrine and were moved or crying," he recalled. "You could tell something spiritual was there."

Still, said Father Gramlich, "I kept saying to people, 'It looks like a shell; it's not complete.'"

Builder and pro-life philanthropist Michael Pfau confirmed that assessment, telling OSV News that when he first visited the shrine almost a decade ago, "It was just basically one wall done with glass tiles and Our Lady of Guadalupe."

The rest, however, was "very sad," Pfau said. "The floor was painted concrete. … They had paper posters in there, and cobwebs. I said, 'Oh, my Blessed Mother; you're looking across the room at gray painted cement board.'"

Through prayer, Pfau discerned a call to lend a hand.

"I worked very closely with Father Anthony … and I said, 'Let's keep it simple. You tell me what you want and I'll do my best to create it,'" Pfau told OSV News.

Following discussion with the priest, Pfau commissioned a sculptor to craft the entrance angels and the baby's feet, using his granddaughter's footprint as a model for the latter.

When Father Gramlich asked for a space in the shrine to honor St. Joseph, Pfau created what he called a "beautiful little alcove," and then enlisted his daughter Abigail to arrange the pattern of the colored tiles -- which Father Gramlich said symbolize "resurrection."

Along with enhancing the shrine's aesthetics, Pfau also installed "a better exhaust system that worked really well with the candles."

But he admitted one request from Father Gramlich momentarily stumped him.

"He said, 'Well, I want water. So I want a waterfall,'" Pfau recalled. "And I go, 'How do we do waterfalls?'"

In the end, "we just did it," said the builder. "We broke up the concrete floor, put in the proper drain pipes, and we have this rain glass" -- a textured architectural glass that gives the effect of streaming raindrops -- "and the water runs down the glass. Behind it, we put LED light strips."

The water represents baptism, which is either "the only sacrament these children have received, or the one they never received," Father Gramlich said. "And so it gives the loved one the chance to desire baptism for the child, and also to touch the water and bless themselves."

Providing the labor for the project were Pfau's "rosary group guys," who would drive "eight hours one way … weekend after weekend" from Maryland, where the builder lives.

The shrine was rededicated in 2018, and Pfau admits that he is amazed he was able to complete it while working full time, describing the project as a "spiritual journey" that was sustained by "the grace of God" and dedicated to Mary.

Divine Mercy shrine rector Father Matthew Tomeny told OSV News the Holy Innocents shrine shows "there is mercy for these little ones, and especially for those who have lost their child even by their own actions."

"It's a special place to be able to remember miscarried infants … and also those who were lost through abortion," he said. "It's a beautiful place of mercy for all kinds of parents who have had that loss, and they can also experience that mercy for themselves, too."

Even the shrine's specific location evokes God's mercy, added Father Gramlich.

"It seems like it's very hidden, very small," said the priest, who actually once lamented that fact in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

"I said, 'Jesus, I would love for more people to visit the Shrine of the Holy Innocents,'" Father Gramlich told OSV News. "And I heard in my heart that the shrine is the 'womb' of the Mother of Mercy outdoor shrine. And so when people are entering there, it's almost like they're entering into the womb of the Blessed Mother, where these children are."