Mary Help the Christians of Cold Spring

Marian title of Cold Spring (Minnesota)

La Assumption Chapel Cold Spring, popularly known as “Grasshopper Chapel” (chapel of the grasshoppers), born in the context of the devastating plagues of locusts that struck the state of Minnesota between 1873 y 1877. The Cold Spring area, with a strong presence of German Catholic settlers, suffered serious crop losses, which led the community to make special use of the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

Main data

Origin and history

La Assumption Chapel Cold Spring, popularly known as “Grasshopper Chapel” (chapel of the grasshoppers), born in the context of the devastating plagues of locusts that struck the state of Minnesota between 1873 y 1877. The Cold Spring area, with a strong presence of German Catholic settlers, suffered serious crop losses, which led the community to make special use of the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

According to the traditionthe settlers made a vote to the Virgin: if the plague ceased and the crops were saved, they would build a chapel in their honor on the top of the hill and keep prayer alive, especially the Marian prayer. This local tradition interprets the sudden disappearance of the locusts and the recovery of the crops as a grace achieved by intercession of the Virgin Mary, venerated there as Christian help on the test. However, devotional accounts do not always accurately distinguish specific dates and details.

As for the documented historythe first chapel was built in 1877 on the top of the hill, on the outskirts of Cold Spring, in compliance with a collective vote of Catholic settlers following the plagues of locusts. The original chapel was destroyed by a bandage in 1894; the current Assumption Chapel, of a simple Neorromic style, was rebuilt and dedicated in the 20th century, keeping alive the memory of the vote and the character of a place of Marian pilgrimage. The advocation is related to Mary as Help of Christians y con la Assumption of the Virgin, although the title popularized in English is "Grasshopper Chapel."

The image and the sanctuary

Inside the Assumption Chapel an image of the Virgin Mary in style is venerated Marian tradicional European, asociada a la Assumption and Mary's patronage of the agricultural community; the concrete iconography (material, author and exact date of the main sculpture) No detailed information is available in the usual sources and in the available disclosure documents. There is not enough precise data on the type of size (wood / polychrome or other material) to describe it rigorously; it is known that the Virgin appears in an attitude of intercession and protection over the faithful and the agricultural region around her.

The sanctuary is officially known as Assumption Chapel and, popularly, as “Grasshopper Chapel”. It is a small stone chapel on a hill, with a simple bell tower and a sober interior, typical of a rural pilgrimage oratory. It belongs to the Diócesis de Saint Cloud (Minnesota) and is a place of Catholic veneration of Latin rite. It is not known that the Assumption Chapel has been elevated to the range of minor basilicaor having the official title of National sanctuaryIt is considered mainly a sanctuary. local/diocesano of great historical and devotional relevance to the region.

Sponsorship and coronation

The Assumption Chapel - Grasshopper Chapel is spiritually linked to the Catholic community of Cold Spring and the farmers in the surrounding areas; in this sense, it is considered a focus of Marian patronage on the city and the nearby rural areas, especially with regard to the protection of crops and the supplication in times of natural calamities. However, no consta a formal decree that designates the canonical patron of the city or of the diocese, beyond the strong local devotional link.

On the canonical coronation of the image of the Virgin venerated in the Assumption Chapel, does not contain a documented canonical coronation given by the Holy See or explicitly delegated by a Pontiff.

Party and devotion

The advocation is associated, by its official name, with the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, el August 15on the day of Mass and special events in the chapel, with the influx of the faithful of the area and pilgrims who come to honor the Virgin and to renew the memory of the vote of the ancestors. In some years, Marian processions and meetings are organized around that date, especially when agricultural or social circumstances move into a special climate of prayer.

In addition to the solemnity of the Assumption, local devotion maintains the memory of the plagas de langostas of the 19th century; some pilgrims visit the chapel to ask for protection from drought, plagues and other difficulties linked to the countryside and work, following the memory of the settlers who came to Mary in the midst of the test. The chapel, because of its location on a hill, is also a place of silent prayer, retreats and personal visits during the year, without official influx figures, although it is recognized in Minnesota as one of the most unique rural Marian shrines in the state.

Link to the Rosary

The historical and pastoral sources on the Assumption Chapel and the "Grasshopper Chapel" highlight the vote of prayer of the settlers and the confidence in the intercession of Mary, but no consta a specific and documented link of this advocation with a the Rosary or with a particular practice of the rosary of the sanctuary, beyond the ordinary use of the rosary as Marian prayer of the faithful.

Even without a unique and unique rosarian tradition, the Rosary is a natural place in the spirituality of this sanctuary: by meditating on the mysteries of Christ's life with Mary, the believing people contemplate the Assumption of the Virgin - the central glorious mystery in this Chapel - and learns to see the concrete history (plagues, difficulties, migrations, work of the field) in the light of the Paschal victory of Christ. To pray the Rosary in the "Grasshopper Chapel" means to unite the memory of the Assistance received in times of proof of the persistent confidence in the maternal presence of Mary, who continues to accompany the Church and rural communities in their needs.