PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) The Vatican decree elevating the Miraculous Medal Shrine in Philadelphia to the status of minor basilica brings great joy to the entire Philadelphia Archdiocese, said Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez. The Miraculous Medal Shrine is a great gift drawing souls closer to Christ through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, he said in a statement issued Jan. 25, the day the basilica designation was announced.
The Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, as i
On Jan. 25 the Miraculous Medal Shrine, a Marian devotional destination and ministry of the Vincentians of the Eastern Province in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, announced it has been elevated by the Vatican to minor basilica status.
The Vatican has bestowed "minor basilica" status on the Miraculous Medal Shrine and the church that houses it in Germantown. Minor basilica status gives the shrine, located on the grounds of Saint Vincent’s Seminary in Northwest Philadelphia, prominence among other churches as well as certain honorifics and responsibilities. There is just one other minor basilica in Philadelphia and 91 others across the U.S.