Why pilgrims come
Discover what makes National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs a place of pilgrimage
Auriesville’s national shrine honors Jesuit martyrs Sts. René Goupil, Isaac Jogues, and Jean de Lalande on the landscape of the former Mohawk village of Ossernenon. The modern pilgrimage grounds also interpret the site’s association with St. Kateri Tekakwitha while requiring careful distinction between devotional tradition, documented history, and living Mohawk memory.
Walk Auriesville as a landscape of martyrdom, mission, encounter, and contested memory. The shrine honors three Jesuit martyrs and recalls its traditional association with St. Kateri’s early life; its great Coliseum and wooded devotional grounds reveal how the site became a national pilgrimage destination beginning in the 1880s.
The sacred connection
People and objects remembered here
These relationships are part of the destination record, with feast days and catalog qualifications shown where available.
martyrdom landscape commemorated by the shrine
Feast: October 19early-life landscape association
Feast: April 17What to notice
Look closely at the place and its story
The North American Martyrs
Pray with the witness of René Goupil, Isaac Jogues, and Jean de Lalande while learning the distinct story of each man.
The 1931 Coliseum
Enter the vast circular church built for thousands of pilgrims and read it as evidence of Auriesville’s national devotional reach.
Kateri and Ossernenon
Keep the shrine’s traditional Kateri association distinct from her baptism at Fonda and her tomb at Kahnawake.
From 1884 pilgrimage grounds to today
Trace how the first chapel, cross, pilgrimages, and later stewardship shaped the modern shrine campus.
Feasts, anniversaries & celebrations
How to read this page
Sources, tradition, and what is verified
The destination record was last checked on 9/15/2026.
This page records the site’s tradition as “Catholic.” That wording describes the nature of the claim and keeps devotional tradition distinct from independently verified history.
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