Main Marian Shrines

Can you name any country in the world where there is not at least one shrine dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary? There isn't one.

Mary is really present throughout the entire world, on every continent. It is true that certain important places of Marian devotion have become, by their well-known reputations, international sanctuaries visited by millions of pilgrims each year.

For instance, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, or Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, or O.L. of Czestochowa in Poland, O.L. of Loretto in Italy, O.L. of Vladimir in Moscow or O.L. of Altötting in Germany, O.L. of Walsingham in England, O.L. of Lourdes in France, and many others still, where crowds on pilgrimages gather to honor and to pray Mary, the Virgin of the Holy Rosary and advocate of all causes...

Of course, this story began 2000 years ago in Nazareth of Galilee, a small town in the Holy Land where Mary received a visit from the Archangel Gabriel at the time of the Annunciation.

Today a large basilica rests on the exact site where the Virgin Mary pronounced the "yes" that made her become the Mother of the Messiah announced to the nations, Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Nazareth is the first Marian shrine--it has a universal significance. 

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