Our Lady of Lourdes in Río Grande City

Grotto built in 1928 honors the Immaculate Conception of Mary

By Brenda Nettles Riojas

The Valley Catholic

RIO GRANDE CITY – Lourdes in southwestern France draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year as the site where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubiroux, in 1858.

The Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette 18 times. During the ninth apparition, Bernadette, as instructed by the Virgin Mary, dug a hole in the ground with her hands, and a gush of water was released from an unknown spring. She was instructed to drink the water and wash herself there. The site is known around the world for its healing waters. During another apparition, the Virgin Mary identified herself saying, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Closer to home, Our Blessed Mother draws people west to Starr County where pilgrims come, in smaller groups, to Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, a replica built in Rio Grande City 70 years after the apparition in France.

While there are no healing waters in a county where drought conditions persist, the man-made setting provides a quiet prayer space. One can choose to kneel in the grotto built on the north side of Immaculate Conception Church or sit on a stone bench shaded by the oak trees nearby.

Our Blessed Mother always in prayer, a rosary over her arm, the seven-foot statue brought from Paris, France stands in a hollow of the grotto. She stands above another statue of the child Bernadette who kneels before the Immaculate Conception. The agave cactus which grows on the concrete formed into the grotto reminds us we’re in south Texas, as does salmon-colored bougainvillea and the lavender periwinkles that surround the area.

A German priest, Father Gustave Gollbach, a missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate who moved to Rio Grande City in 1924 as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, built the replica in 1927-28.

According to the historical marker, “Father Gustave had dreamed of building a grotto to resemble the shrine of Lourdes in southern France.”

“Father Gustave fashioned the grotto with his own hands, and received help from many including a Baptist minister. It took 14 months of work before the grotto was dedicated on April 27, 1928,” reads the marker.

The grotto replica, which measures 33 feet high and 90 feet wide, cost an estimated $5,000 to construct.

“All of the rocks were brought from the surrounding hills of the petrified forest that once existed near Escobares.”

My visit to the grotto in Rio Grande City, reminded me of my first pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1998. Our group from the Diocese of Brownsville attended Mass at the grotto early one morning and participated in an evening procession and Rosary. As a lapsed Catholic some 15 years ago, my devotion and understanding of Our Blessed Mother grew during that early pilgrimage to the Marian shrines.

I remember wanting more time to sit in silence in Lourdes, but our busy schedule dictated otherwise. In Rio Grande City, I felt blessed to have an entire hour to sit in the grotto to pray and listen to the kiskadees splash in the water while the mocking birds added their own tune to the church bells ringing for evening Mass.

In my head I hummed the tune to “Immaculate Mary.” For me this song, particularly the refrain, which is both soothing and meditative, reminds me of that first pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Immaculate Mary, thy praises we sing;

Who reignest in splendor with Jesus our King.

Ave, ave, ave Maria.

Ave, ave Maria.

Pope Benedict XVI, who visited Lourdes on the 150th anniversary in 2008 said, “Mary teaches us to pray, to make our prayer an act of love for God and an act of fraternal charity.” He said, “A quiet encounter with Bernadette and the Virgin Mary can change a person’s life, for they are here, in Massabielle, to lead us to Christ who is our life, our strength and our light.”
They are in Rio Grande City as well, in a replica made 85 years ago by an Oblate priest who wanted to bring the message of the apparition to south Texas.

(Originally published in the June 2013 issue of The Valley Catholic newspaper.)

Go west to Starr County

Sanctuary 

found among

the mesquites

in rattlesnake

country

By Brenda Nettles Riojas

The Valley Catholic

RIO GRANDE CITY – Sometimes, we need a break from routine, so I went west. I made my way to an oasis of quiet, hidden among the mesquites, brush and cacti in Starr County where the Sisters of the Benedictine Monastery of the Good Shepherd welcome visitors year round.

Some guests come to visit for a few hours, some to stay at one of the casitas on the property for a personal retreat, and some for a discernment weekend or a group retreat. I came for a combination of field reporting and a mini private retreat.

The rock and gravel road leading to the monastery slowed my pace from the start. There is no speeding, no rush, on Monastery Lane.

It’s a good idea to call in advance and make arrangements. Some weekends the retreat center and casitas fill with retreatants. Plus, the sisters like to be on hand to welcome every guest.

They personalized a note outlining some essentials (the gate code and the code to the Fountain of Life Chapel for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament). Included as well, some advice in case snakes are around: “Just let them pass and continue.”

“The Good Shepherd Handmaidens pray for you before you arrive, during your stay and in your absence,” reads the note.

The monastery exists because of the dreams, prayers and work of these “handmaidens” – three sisters from Crookston, Minn., Benedictine Sisters Nancy Boushey, Luella Walsh and Fran Solum, who moved to the Rio Grande Valley in the early 70s and mid-80s.

“We had $900 and an old car and a lot of people praying for us, and some of them thinking we were crazy of course, and sometimes we thought we were crazy too,” Sister Nancy shared about their decision in 1989 to give up their salaried positions and start their monastery in the remote reaches of Starr County.

Monasteries have a long history dating back to the fourth and fifth century. Sisters Nancy, Luella and Fran live in a monastic community and “live the Gospel in the spirit of Saint Benedict.” St. Benedict is known as the founder of western monasticism.

Twenty-three years since the nuns moved west to Starr County, their monastery serves as an ideal place to visit and find some quiet time for prayer in the remote dry brush land. One of the highlights, however, comes from spending time with the Sisters. Their welcoming spirit and love exemplify Christ’s teachings. Without words, their kindness and hospitality inspire me.

They inspire others as well. Shortly after moving into a rat infested home in El Sauz, the three sisters mobilized hundreds of volunteers and started raising funds for their monastery.

Just eight miles from the Rio Grande River, the monastery sits on 115 acres of land donated by Texaco Oil Company in 1993. But it took seven years to get an easement to what the sisters call their “Promised Land.” Meanwhile, they lived in a mobile home until 2004.

The nuns added the Monte Cassino Renewal and Conference Center in 2008 to accommodate retreats for lay and religious groups. They are now raising funds to add additional rooms.

Visitors staying in one of the casitas provide for their own meals, but during my visit, the sisters invited me to join them for a grilled cheese sandwich and soup dinner. As we ate, an array of cardinals, green jays, house wrens and tree swallows pecked at their own dinner at feeders outside the window. Some days, road runners and javelinas make an appearance as well.

“Our guardian angels are the paisanos (roadrunners). They kill rattlesnakes,” said Sister Nancy.

During my stay I had a chance to spend some time with the women participating in their monthly Ora et Labora Discernment Weekend. Ora et Labora is Latin for pray and work.

Irma Wolcott from Laguna Vista was assisting that weekend as she does monthly with the discernment vocation retreats. She first visited the monastery six years ago. “They (nuns) are absolutely wonderful. Their hospitality is tremendous,” she said. “You feel like you are walking on holy ground,” she added about the monastery.

After our visit, we ended with the Lectio Divina and I returned to the Blessed Marmion Casita just a few feet from the monastic residence. When Sister Nancy assigned me to the casita I had not heard of Blessed Marmion, a Benedictine Irish monk who was beatified by Blessed John Paul II in 2000. After some research I learned that Blessed Marmion’s spiritual writings are highly regarded.

I stayed up past 1 a.m. writing, enjoying the solitude. The next morning, I did not want to leave the serenity of the brush country. I delayed my departure with an early morning walk and some time sitting in the back patio of the casita. My visit not long enough, but I know I will return – si Dios quiere.

(Originally published in the November 2012 issue of The Valley Catholic newspaper.)