St. Mary’s Grotto
The story of St. Mary’s Grotto begins in Poland, at the outbreak of World War II, with Father Marianus Nowakowski, a Carmelite priest ordained in 1939. At that time, he had never heard of Skaneateles, New York, nor imagined that 25 years later he would fulfill a promise to the Blessed Virgin Mary by building a shrine here.
A Promise Born from Faith and Suffering
In August 1939, Father Marianus returned to his hometown to celebrate Mass and bless his family and friends. Shortly thereafter, the German Army invaded Poland. Father Marianus hurried back to his Carmelite monastery in Krakow, where he and his fellow priests ministered tirelessly to civilians and soldiers alike.
The Nazis seized the monastery, and Father Marianus, along with many priests, was imprisoned in overcrowded boxcars and sent first to Auschwitz, then Krakow, and finally Dachau. He spent five harrowing years in concentration camps, where thousands of Catholic priests were executed.
Father Marianus credited his survival to the Blessed Virgin Mary. On multiple occasions, she appeared to him in dreams, standing on a pedestal on a mound of green grass. These visions gave him extraordinary strength during unimaginable suffering. On April 29, 1945, just an hour before his scheduled execution, Allied forces arrived at Dachau, saving him from certain death.
A Shrine Built in Gratitude
After the war, Father Marianus moved to the United States and was assigned to the Whitefriars Carmelite Monastery in Auburn, New York. During his imprisonment, he had resolved to build a shrine in honor of the Blessed Mother if he survived. His first shrine was at Whitefriars, and seeing it, Father McMahon, Pastor of St. Mary’s of the Lake, invited him to build a similar shrine for the parish.
Communication posed a challenge: Father Marianus did not speak English, so he directed construction in Latin, with assistance from Father John Heaggerty and parish volunteers. High school students collected fieldstones, and community members donated labor and resources. The shrine was constructed from 1954 to 1955, during a Marian Year, with the statue of the Blessed Virgin donated by Joseph T. Mooney in memory of his sister Veronica Mooney Strahl.
Blessing and Devotion
The shrine and statue were blessed on Sunday, September 8, 1955, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Father Paschal of Auburn assisted in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, while children, guided by the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, sang hymns. That October, the Young Ladies Sodality recited the Rosary there each evening. Floodlights illuminated the shrine at night, creating a peaceful and inspiring place for prayer.
Father Marianus later built another shrine in New York Mills, near Utica. Reflecting on St. Mary’s Grotto, he said:
“This shrine was built out of gratitude to the Blessed Mother for the liberation of my life from the concentration camp.”
The only wish he did not see fulfilled was a plaque to formally dedicate the shrine to Our Lady, leaving a silent invitation for parishioners and visitors to continue honoring her devotion.