Our Lady of the Mississippi

Patrona de Dubuque

Our Lady of the Mississippi is linked to the female trapense monastery Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, founded in 1964 in a rural area near Dubuque, in the state of Iowa (United States), on the banks of the Mississippi River. [] The community belongs to the Cistercian Order of Strict Observance (Trapian nuns) and follows the Latin rite of the Catholic Church. [] From its origin, the monastery was conceived as a contemplative house deeply centered on the Virgin Mary, from which it takes its official title in English: Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey.[ ]

Main data

Origin and history

Our Lady of the Mississippi is linked to the female trapense monastery Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, founded in 1964 in a rural area near Dubuque, in the state of Iowa (United States), on the banks of the Mississippi River. [] The community belongs to the Cistercian Order of Strict Observance (Trapian nuns) and follows the Latin rite of the Catholic Church. [] From its origin, the monastery was conceived as a contemplative house deeply centered on the Virgin Mary, from which it takes its official title in English: Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey.[ ]

The documented history indicates that the foundation was made from another Trapense (subsidiary) community, in continuity with the expansion of female cysterian monasteries in North America during the 20th century. [] The nuns live the rule of Saint Benito, with emphasis on liturgy, silence, prayer and manual work (notably the production of candy and other monastic products), in a climate of marked Marian devotion. [] There are no private apparitions or revelations associated with this advocation; it is a Marian monastic ownershipNot a sanctuary of apparitions.

No ancient local traditions or legends have been found that explain a miraculous or legendary origin of the title "Our Lady of the Mississippi"; therefore, no consta a specific pious tradition different from the simple dedication of the monastery to the Virgin Mary under this name.

The image and the sanctuary

The available documentation of the monastery does not describe a unique and officially outstanding Marian image as "headline image" of Our Lady of the Mississippi (for example, a concrete sculpture with its own history, coronation, etc.): no consta a detailed description of the type, material or iconography that can be considered central to this advocation.

The main place of worship is the monastic church of the monastery itself, integrated into the architectural complex of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey. [] This is a contemplative monasteries with its church for the celebration of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, in an environment of fields and forests by the Mississippi River, apart from the urban cores. [] It is not known that the monastic church has been elevated to minor basilicanor that it has been formally declared National sanctuary o diocesan sanctuary Marian; it is, above all, a monastic closing church, although it can host faithful in certain liturgical celebrations according to the rules of the community.

Sponsorship and coronation

The title of Our Lady of the Mississippi is linked mainly to the monasteries and the community of Trapan nuns who live there. [] No official decrees have been found to designate her as a patron of the Diocese of Dubuque, the city of Dubuque, the state of Iowa or another broader civil or ecclesiastical constituency: no consta a patronazgo oficial beyond the monastic community itself.

As for coronation, in the sources consulted does not contain a documented canonical coronation of a specific Marian image under the title of Our Lady of the Mississippi. No coronation ceremony approved by the Holy See or by episcopal delegation related to this community is mentioned.

Party and devotion

The nuns of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey live a daily Marian devotion, inserted in the liturgy of the Church and in Cistercian spirituality. [] In accessible sources, a own party of "Our Lady of the Mississippi" with specific date different from the Marian festivals of the Roman calendar (Immaculate Conception, Assumption, Nativity of Mary, etc.) or from the solemnities of the Order: no consta a particular memory or solemnity with its own liturgical range in the diocesan calendar.

Because it is a closing monastery in a rural environment, the influx of faithful seems to be limited and collected, mainly linked to retreats, specific visits to the mass and the monastic shop, rather than to great popular pilgrimages. [] There is no public data on great romaneries or mass traditions associated with this specific advocation: No mass pilgrimages comparable to important international Marian shrines.

The devotion is characterized, rather, by a style sober, contemplative and liturgicalmarked by the coral celebration of the Divine Office, the Eucharist, the stillness of the monastery and the presence of Mary as a model of listening to the Word and of total availability to the will of God. []

Link to the Rosary

The available information about Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey does not include a specific practice or promise of Our Lady under this title in relation to the prayer of the Rosary, nor a formally instituted rosarian brotherhood or movement: no particular documented link between the advocation of Our Lady of the Mississippi and a unique form of the Rosary.

However, as in most of the contemplative monasteries of Cistercian and Trapense tradition, the Rosary of the Virgin Mary It is part of the ordinary spiritual life, along with the liturgy of the Hours, the divine lectio and the Eucharistic worship. [] In a context of silence and contemplation like that of this abbey, the Rosary is understood in a very natural way as meditation of the mysteries of Christ with Marywho accompanies the monastic day and supports the community in its mission of intercession for the Church and the world. Although there are no external signs of the great Marian sanctuary, the title "Our Lady of the Mississippi" refers to the humble and discreet presence of Mary, as in Nazareth, accompanying the hidden life of the nuns and the persevering prayer of the Church.