Carey Ohio Chapter 8

 Many of the churches and shrines of Our Lady of Consolation in the US were founded by immigrants from the Benelux region of Europe, where there has been a strong devotion to Our Lady of Consolation for centuries. For example, the town of Leopold, IN, was founded by Belgian immigrants. Leopold was the first king of Belgium. (Benelux = Belgium + Netherlands + Luxembourg)

The Shrine and Basilica in Carey, Ohio is no exception. Its roots go back to the Benelux region. Construction of the first Catholic church in Carey started in 1868. The first pastor, Fr. Joseph Gloden, was a native of Luxembourg. Many of the first members of the parish were immigrants from Germany, Belgium, France, Ireland, and Luxembourg. In 1875 a statue of Our Lady of Consolation was obtained from Luxembourg and brought to the parish in a grand procession. On April 28, 1878, Pope Leo XIII established the Confraternity of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, OH. (The first Confraternity was established on January 27, 1652, in Luxembourg by Pope Innocent X.) In 1924 a large church in the style of a basilica was built. Since 1912, Franciscan Friars have taken care of the church and the many pilgrims who visit. Eventually the church and shrine were raised to the status of a Basilica. 

The Basilica maintains an excellent web site full of information. Rather than repeat their information or share their pictures, I have chosen to post the following links.  Much of the information above came from a Confraternity manual dated 1970 (an Ebay purchase) and from a Luxembourg website (we will soon be looking at Luxembourg). 

https://www.olcshrine.com/

https://www.olcshrine.com/about/history

https://www.olcshrine.com/about

Edit: 

A reader of this blog, Kevin Hammer, has supplied the following information. He is very familiar with the Shrine in Carey and had relatives who came to Ohio from Leopold, Indiana. The following are direct quotes from some of his emails to me. 

" I live about 15 miles from the shrine in Carey and sing in the choir there. Also, of my four grandparents, 2 are of Luxembourg / Belgian background. (My one grandmother was actually born in Leopold, IN, and moved up to Ohio at a young age.)....

I've helped with a blog about art & history of churches in our Diocese of Toledo; there are many posts about Our Lady of Consolation:

https://catholictoledo.blogspot.com/search?q=consolation

A bit about Fr. Edward Vattmann, who started the parish that became the shrine in Carey. A remarkable man.

https://www.facebook.com/ArmyChaplainCorps/posts/608153409260024/

....The Belgians who settled around Leopold, IN (Perry County), had a sort of secondary immigration to my area of NW Ohio in late 1800s to early 1900s, I think for factory work, especially in glass. I believe these were generally French-speaking.  But there were also immigrants from the Luxembourg province of Belgium here (including my maternal grandfather's ancestors...) who spoke Luxembourgish.  Most of the local Catholics had German roots and were assisted by priests from the Society for the Precious Blood, which had German & Swiss roots; they have shrines in the area too." 

 End quotes. Thank you, Kevin, for providing this information. It shows another connection between the two shrines of Our Lady of Consolation in the USA.