Week
of
May 22, 2002
Inside the Register
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Cabrini Shrine conserves water during saint's centennial year
Drought affects water supply at shrine on 100th anniversary of saint's arrival to state
By Roxanne King
An
oasis of peace atop Lookout Mountain, the Cabrini Shrine attracts pilgrims
from across the globe who want to walk where a saint walked and is believed
to have caused a miraculous spring to flow. But drought has slowed the
spring and the nuns are taking precautionary measures to prevent it from
drying up.
"It's still flowing right now, but we are not watering the plants on the steps, no watering trees, no irrigation," said Cabrini Sister Bernadette Casciano, the shrine administrator. "We're not doing any laundry here, we're sending it out.".
The shrine's namesake, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, arrived in Colorado 100 years ago. She founded an orphanage in Denver and purchased the mountain property in 1910 as a summer camp for orphan girls despite being told it lacked water. While picnicking on the property with nuns and orphans two years later, Mother Cabrini pushed a rock with her cane and water flowed from the ground.
Today an estimated 150,000 visitors trek to the pilgrimage site. Many go for the water some believe has healing powers.
"The Church never proclaimed this water miraculous, the people have," said Sister Casciano, adding that many have claimed it healed them of eye, intestinal or other ailments.
The spring, which for the last seven years has been augmented summer months with a second spring, Sister Casciano said, was also threatened in 1993.
"During World Youth Day, with the number of people we had coming here, it started to slow down," Sister Casciano said. "We knew it could not continue with the amount of people we had here, so Coors provided us with water so it didn't stop."
After that the nuns sought to further augment their water supply and for the past two years have negotiated with Golden to tap into theirs. But even if approved, which the nuns expect, it would be at least a year before the shrine receives any supplementary water, Sister Casciano said.
The nuns hope to use that water for irrigation and their Stone House retreat facility so as to conserve the spring for pilgrims and the shrine chapel and convent.
"We want to maintain the miraculous water, which currently serves everything, because people come for it," Sister Casciano said.
Augmenting the water with the second spring and with the emergency water provided in 1993 does not take away from the spring's miraculous nature, Sister Casciano said, noting that its faith that makes miracles happen.
"Mother Cabrini sent water on this property and it's holy land," she said, adding that the marvelous discovery combined with faith is what makes the water efficacious. "People continue to drink it because of their faith."
Pilgrims also travel to the shrine to pray, to walk the ground where America's first saint did, and to find peace and tranquility, the nun said.
That was the draw May 17 for Susan Waterburg of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Boulder.
"This particular spot is dedicated to my dad," she said as she tended a landscaped patch alongside the shrine's famed 378 stairs leading to a statue of Jesus. "I visited here with my dad and he said it was near but far enough away to serve as a place of pilgrimage. After he died we adopted a plot.
"I don't look to the water for healing and spiritual power, although the way (Mother Cabrini) found it was a miracle," she continued. "For me it's a place of pilgrimage and prayer. As I work, I think about my dad and pray."
Prayer also drew a lively group of fifth-graders from Holy Trinity School to the shrine. Led by teacher Sharon Williams their pilgrimage was made to honor Mary in the month dedicated to her and to conclude the students' study of the rosary.
"It's the best place in the world because you can say the rosary and do the Stations of the Cross," said an enthusiastic Matthew Lopez, 11.
Classmate Cavin Wagner, 10, chimed in, "It's a great, holy hike."
Sharing their impressive knowledge about Mother Cabrini the students reported that she was born in Italy and desired to be a missionary to China but the pope sent her to America instead, where she ministered to immigrants and orphans.
"She made a miracle by curing a baby who had (silver nitrate) put in his eyes by accident," said Joseph Richards, 11.
(The child, Peter Smith, later became a priest. He died at 80 in Rhinebeck, N.Y., earlier this year.)
Having already climbed the steps to the shrine's landmark 22-foot statue of Christ, students were bounding down toward the grotto to drink the spring water.
"My grandmother was sick and she got a bottle of the holy water and drank it and a few days later got better," said Andrew Criswell, 11. "She comes up here a lot."
Parent Debbie Richards, 36, said she doesn't believe the water will dry up.
"The Lord wouldn't let it," she said. "I think the good Lord gave it to us as a blessing and as long as we respect that blessing and take care of it we'll be fine."
Even if the spring were to dry up, pilgrims would still visit the shrine, Sister Casciano said, noting, "There's more to the shrine that people come for."
"They come to the shrine because it's a faith-filled experience for them," she said. "When they come up here they find peace. And they come with a lot of faith that God is going to answer their prayer through the intercession of St. Cabrini."
The three resident nuns are praying about the water situation, as are many faithful, Sister Casciano said.
"I'd like people to come up because it is the centennial year (of Mother Cabrini's arrival in Colorado) and it is a place of pilgrimage and prayer," she said. "And, yes, the water will continue to flow."