As Lent approaches many Catholics consider making pilgrimages to sacred shrines and other holy places as an act of penance or reparation.

Everyone knows about Fatima and Lourdes and Guadelupe. I thought it might be interesting to feature on this thread interesting destinations of pilgrimage and worship in the United States of America.  What shrines, sanctuaries of healing, or other places of pilgrimage have you been to in the USA (or Canada)? What especially struck you about those places when you visited?

Are there any American destinations of Catholic piety that you haven't been to but plan to visit, or at least hope to visit one day? What draws you to them?

I'll kick-off with one place that I have been to: Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna, New York, built by the Ven. Monsignor Nelson Baker in the 1920s. It's a breathtaking domed church looking like something that was miraculously transported from Rome and impossibly situated in the old steel town of Lackawanna. It just overwhelms. Every square inch is marble or gilt or frescoes or mosaics. Within a reconstructed Lourdes grotto inside the basilica, the late Father Baker rests in a marble sarcophagus.

An aspiration I have for the future is to visit a small mission church in New Mexico called El Santuario de Chimayo. The story goes that it was constructed (around 1810) in response to the discovery on the site of a miraculous crucifix. The crucifix was taken to the nearby church but disappeared overnight. It was found back at the place it was discovered. This happened twice more before they finally got the hint: build a church on the spot where it was found.  They did, and that crucifix is still used as the Altar Cross, today (it is still a functioning Catholic Church).

Chimayo is considered, like Lourdes, a place of healing, and whereas Lourdes is famed for its healing waters, Chimayo is renowned for its "Holy Dirt": earth, that is, from the holy pocito, which, I believe, is the place the miraculous crucifix was discovered.  It is, apparently, a hugely popular pilgrimage destination, so much so that I feel rather clueless that I'm only just finding out about it now.  Now that I have found out about it, however, it's definitely on my Catholic "to do" list.

The website for the shrine is here:

http://www.holypilgrim.us/Santuario.html#

Evidently, it is but one of a number of Franciscan mission churches that dot the area, all of which have their own unique charm about them. You can virtually tour each one by clicking on the crosses on the map here:

http://www.holypilgrim.us/

Of special interest to traditionalists, perhaps: there is no table placed in front of the original altar.  The original altar is used, as is. I find myself so mystified by the sacred art found in these early New Mexico churches. I find it both primitive and magnificent all at once; I don't quite know how to describe it.  I always thought the California missions were unique-looking, but these churches and chapels have an even more mysterious aspect to them.