Carfin Grotto and Chapel of St. Thérèse

Why pilgrims come

Discover what makes Carfin Grotto and Chapel of St. Thérèse a place of pilgrimage

Carfin is a village in North Lanarkshire near Motherwell. Its grotto is Scotland’s national Marian shrine, and its original central sanctuary is Scotland’s National Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes—a true Scottish counterpart to Lourdes rather than merely a chapel with the same dedication. Built by local parishioners, many of them coal miners, the complex formally opened in 1922 and now has more than forty chapels, shrines, and statues combined. Carfin also says its All Saints Reliquary Chapel holds hundreds of relics and one of the largest relic collections outside the Vatican. Named examples include relics or reliquaries associated with St. Thérèse, St. Thomas More, St. Barbara, St. Ursula, and St. Lawrence. The shrine’s permanent St. Thérèse chapel, statue, drawing, and relic—not the major touring reliquary that visited temporarily in 2019—make this an enduring Little Flower destination.

Carfin is both the name of the North Lanarkshire village and the shorthand commonly used for Scotland’s Lourdes-inspired national Marian shrine. The original sanctuary is officially identified as Scotland’s National Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes. Across the grounds are more than forty chapels, shrines, and statues combined—not forty chapels alone. The All Saints Reliquary Chapel reportedly contains hundreds of relics, which Carfin describes as one of the largest collections outside the Vatican. Alongside that extraordinary wider complex, the permanent Little Flower chapel, early statue, drawing associated with Thérèse’s sister Céline, and Carfin’s own relic of St. Thérèse make it an enduring Thérèse destination rather than merely a former stop on a relic tour.