The snow was falling this morning and then later it was flying when the wind was gusting to 36 mph as the temperature began to fall. Watching white clouds racing across the sky on a sunny summer day would be more enjoyable.
Summertime Cloud Watching
Picture of the Day for July 26, 2017
The extreme high dew points did drop this evening, which is good for the brave souls climbing to the top of St. Anne’s Hill in Plain, Wisconsin on this feast day of St. Anne. The St. Anne’s Chapel sits on a hill, which pilgrims can reach as they follow the half mile path along the fourteen stations of the Way of the Cross as it climbs about two hundred feet in elevation. Looking down the hill from the 9th Station, the 8th station, St. Luke’s Church and School can been seen in the background before making the steepest part of the climb.
Climbing St. Anne’s Hill
Picture of the Day for December 8, 2015
Today is one of the most important Marian feasts celebrated in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, “the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, free from original sin by virtue of the foreseen merits of her son Jesus Christ”.
In 1858, Marian Apparitions came to a 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France. In the 16th appearance of Mary to Bernadette, the Blessed Virgin Mary stated “I am the Immaculate Conception”. Lourdes has become one of the greatest pilgrimage sites of the world visited by millions of Catholics each year.
A replica of the Lourdes Grotto can be found on St. Anne’s Hill in Plain, Wisconsin and it is a peaceful spot to visit. And if you search in the crevices in the rock, you might even find my stash of pennies (and a nickel) as we would hide a penny on our visits up the hill to the chapel and shrine.
Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto
Picture of the Day for July 26, 2015
Hidden on top of St. Anne’s Hill, sits a quaint stone chapel dedicated to St. Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose feast day is today. The St. Anne’s Shrine consists of the fourteen Stations of the Cross, which line the path from St. Luke’s Catholic Church to the top through a cow pasture, a replica of the Lourdes Grotto in addition to the chapel.
Five years after a cross was first fashioned from stones on the summit of Council Bluff by Father Surges and two visiting priests, the shrine was dedicated in Plain, Wisconsin. Held on the Feast of St. Anne, the July 26, 1928, dedication was attended by more than 1,000 parishioners and guests.
Some of the “pretty” rocks in the communion rail came from my grandmother’s flower garden, but since I didn’t circle on the picture when she pointed her rocks, I don’t remember which ones they are.
Inside St. Anne’s Hill Chapel
