Mother's Day

Mother's Day falls in May. This feast is a very cozy and family celebration. Until 1986, it was celebrated in a special and church-wide way in our Archeparchy with the pilgrimage in Fox Chase (Now, for almost 40 years, this pilgrimage has been held on the first Sunday of October.) The May pilgrimage on Mother's Day combined many wonderful occasions for celebration. It involved veneration of the Virgin Mary, greeting all mothers, and often celebrating the first confession and Holy Communion of children who studied in schools organized by the Basilian sisters. 

In the early 1930s, the sisters petitioned the Vatican and were granted permission to hold the pilgrimage at their motherhouse in Fox Chase, near the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. Since then, they have planned and held it annually, gathering hundreds of pilgrims in prayer. Often, these pilgrimages were led by Philadelphia’s metropolitans and bishops of other Ukrainian Catholic eparchies in America. The sisters also invited many priests of the archeparchy to hear confessions, prepare solemn sermons in two languages, and lead the faithful in the prayer of the rosary, the Stations of the Cross, and Molebens, which were often part of the pilgrimage. 

For the laity, this pilgrimage was not only an opportunity for spiritual renewal through prayer and the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist but also a chance to gather together and see old acquaintances and friends. 

Do you have any memories of attending the Fox Chase pilgrimage in May?