National Shrine of the Little Flower - Royal Oak, MI - Dixie Highway on Waymarking.com

In early May 1925, Michael J. Gallagher, the Bishop of the
Diocese of Detroit, traveled to Rome to witness the
canonization of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Determined to
establish the first parish in her honor in the United States, he
telephoned from Rome with instructions to name the new
church after her. The Bishop chose Royal Oak for the new
parish, although only 28 Catholic families resided there at
the time because he foresaw that the booming auto industry
would attract many Catholics to the area. The new pastor
was to be a young priest who already had earned a
reputation for stimulating Mass attendance: Father Charles
E. Coughlin.

Father Coughlin decided the corner of Twelve Mile Road and
Woodward Avenue would be the ideal location for the new
church. Borrowing $78,000 from the Detroit Diocese, Father
Coughlin purchased 18 lots for the new parish. A simple
wooden building with a shingle roof was quickly erected at
the site where the tower now stands.

Father Coughlin, seeking a way to repay the $101,000 cost
of the new church, turned to creative fundraising. With the
parish still in desperate need of funds, Father Coughlin took
the unprecedented and surprising step of renting airtime on
the Detroit radio station, WJR. Commercial broadcasting in
the United States was only six years old when Father
Coughlin's Golden Hour program began in the fall of 1926.
The priest’s sermons clarified the principles of Christianity
and answered thousands of questions concerning faith and
morals. The listeners were easily mesmerized by the man
known as "The Voice" with his dramatic presentations at 2
p.m. each Sunday. Each broadcast resulted in an
increasingly positive response, often accompanied by
financial contributions.

By 1932, Father Coughlin's radio chain had grown to 27
stations, from Bangor, Maine, to Kansas City, Missouri.
Father Coughlin and his army of secretaries and assistants
worked out of parishioners’ homes and various rented
properties. When these arrangements proved insufficient,
the planning of a new church began, with provisions for
much improved office space in the basement.

Late in 1928, Father Coughlin met with Henry McGill, of the
New York architectural firm of Hamlin and McGill, to discuss
plans for the construction of the church. The altar was to be
in the center, an innovation that was 40 years ahead of its
time. Father Coughlin wanted to illustrate that the sacrifice of
the Mass is the center of the Catholic faith. A tower was to
rise above the church—a tower so magnificent that it would
inspire all who saw it. It would be a tower that "neither man
nor beast could tear down or defile."

Because of the unusual configuration of the property and the
resulting restrictions, the architect had great difficulty devising
a workable plan. He considered thousands of ideas. McGill’s
final design features the church proper, an octagon, with four
two-story "wings" that, together with the narthex and the
Blessed Sacrament Chapel, create an overall shape of a
cross. The roof is built to evoke the feeling of a tent as
described in the Book of Exodus. The primitive sanctuaries
of the Old Testament were protected by a heavy cover, which
was stretched from an elevated central pole and reached
down beyond the vertical framework of the sanctuary. The
church roof is faced with copper and nickel-chrome steel.
The entire structure is capped with a crown, which is
surmounted by a golden cross. The crown, forming the base
of the cross, also serves as ventilation for the church.

In the autumn of 1998, the Shrine of the Little Flower Church
was declared a national shrine by the United States Bishops’
Conference, one of only five in this country. On the feast of
Epiphany, January 3, 1999, in the midst of the area's worst
snowstorm in 30 years, Adam Cardinal Maida presided over
the dedication Mass. He commemorated the new status of
the church with these words: "This day we celebrate the
long faith tradition of your parish, dedicated to the spirituality
of the Little Flower, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.

"This day we celebrate that Christ was made a light to the
nation. You are here at the heart and center of the
Archdiocese; I hope and pray that you will be a sign of that
light of Christ right here as all the world passes by. In the
way that you accept the rhythm of the joys and sorrows in
your own daily lives, may you bring the light of Christ to
others, that they, too, may come and worship him, now and
for all eternity. On this feast of the Epiphany, like the star
that showed Jesus to the whole world, so your parish and
this Shrine will witness to the greatness, the love, that Christ
has for all God's people."

Americana: Other Significant Interest: Other Milestone or Marker: Other Web Site Address: [Web Link] Physical Address: 29130 Woodward Ave royal Oak, MI USA 48073

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