Founding Day Pilgrimage

Schoenstatt was founded on October 18, 1914, with a small group of young men and the Covenant of Love. The Covenant of Love is an act of consecration to Mary as the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt. It brings about a deeper relationship with Mary and gives one full participation in the stream of life and graces originating in the covenant of 1914 and flowing from the shrine.

Schoenstatt’s founding act in 1914 was the moment when Father Joseph Kentenich and the founding generation offered their efforts, striving for sanctity, and asked Mary to come to dwell in their chapel, the Schoenstatt Shrine--transforming it into a place of pilgrimage. It is from this original act that Schoenstatt’s life, identity, and fruitfulness flow.

Fr. Kentenich spoke to the boys that day, the 18th of October 1914, the day we have come to know as Founding Day. That talk is so important that it is known as The Founding Document of the Schoenstatt Movement. In it, Fr. Kentenich challenged the young men, many of whom would soon go to the front lines of war, to strive for sanctity and invite the Blessed Mother into every aspect of their lives. 

To this day, Schoenstatt practices what Fr. Kentenich laid out over 110 years ago and has continued building shrines for pilgrims across the world to visit. Covenants of Love are sealed each year, and sanctity abounds.

The Founder Shrine in Madison, Wisconsin, was dedicated on June 20, 1953. It is the first Schoenstatt Shrine to be built in the United States.

From June 21, 1952, until September 15, 1965, Fr. Joseph Kentenich lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He understood the importance of the Blessed Mother in forming the American person, particularly from the visit he had made throughout the USA in 1948. As he noted in February 1953, “The more I get to know the Americans with their childlike hearts, their simplicity, their open-mindedness, the more I become convinced that they are the right timber from which saints can be carved.

It is our firm belief that God, through the intercession of our Mother Thrice Admirable, wants to educate and form the American Saint from the Founder Shrine.

The present location of the Shrine at Schoenstatt Heights overlooks the State Capitol and reminds us that the Blessed Mother wishes to lead us upward to the heights of holiness. The Shrine was moved from its original site on the grounds of Queen of Apostles Seminary on October 10, 1979.

Because Fr. Kentenich prayed in the Founder Shrine and celebrated the Eucharistic liturgy there, the Shrine will always mediate the grace of spiritual nearness to the Founder, and faithfulness to his spirit.

From time immemorial, people have set aside places that have deep spiritual significance—where God is revealed, honored and worshipped. In our Judeo-Christian tradition, a shrine is considered a place where divine grace is manifested in a very special way—a place where the human and divine world intersect. Pilgrimages remind us that the journey we take to a place of special devotion designated as a shrine mirrors the journey on which we are embarked as the pilgrim people of God, for the Church on earth is a pilgrim Church (Lumen Gentium VII, 48-51). 

In the genuine tradition of Christian asceticism pilgrimages have always had devotion and expiation as their motives. The pilgrimage can still today be inspired by the same motives . . . . It is essential that the mark of a pilgrimage, besides prayer and penance, be the practice of love of neighbor. For that is a clear proof of love for God and it must be expressed in spiritual and corporal works of mercy towards those most in need ..." (Iniziandosi ufficialmente, 31 May 1973 AAS 65, 1973).

During the Jubilee Year, in addition to performing a work of mercy and penance, a Jubilee Indulgence may be obtained by making a pious pilgrimage to a sacred Jubilee site, such as those designated in Rome and the Holy Land, as well as by making a pious visit to other sacred places around the world, including any minor basilica, Marian sanctuary, or national sanctuary. (Decree on the Granting of Indulgence during the Ordinary Jubilee Year called by His Holiness Pope Francis, 13.05.2024).


In the Diocese of Madison, Bishop Hying has designated six Jubilee pilgrimage sites. We are fortunate to have the Founder Shrine at Schoenstatt Heights as one of them! To learn about all six site, click here!