By Michael Motes

“I was always being told by a certain friend that if I could arrange for a miracle to take place, then there would be no problem with the Shrine growing in popularity. Then one day a miracle did occur and Catholics throughout the United States realized that they did have a National Shrine and that it was time to do something about it.”

When Monsignor P. J. O’Connor reminisces about his days as Director of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. It is a history lesson not only of the six-year period during which he was head of the magnificent edifice in the nation’s capitol, but of the Shrine since its very beginning.

As a young student from Savannah, Patrick J. O’Connor enrolled in the Catholic University of America, then a relative newcomer to the country’s educational institutions, in 1920. His original plans had been to go to Georgetown, as his father had done before him but fate stepped in and young O’Connor began an association with the Shrine that was to span a 60-year period.

“A notice was put up on one of the bulletin boards at school that the cornerstone of the National Shrine was to be laid in September 1920, just after I arrived as a freshman at Catholic U.”

“Being from the small and remote Diocese of Savannah, I was excited about the possibility of seeking such a large assembly of Catholic Bishops, plus, of course, a Cardinal. I had never seen a Cardinal in my life and this was the most exciting thing about the laying of the cornerstone.”

Little did the future Monsignor O’Connor realize that 30 years later he would be appointed Director of the National Shrine and it would be during his administration that the actual construction of the above-ground Church would take place.

For nearly half a century, the National Shrine consisted of the original Crypt Church Monsignor O’Connor saw begun in 1922. Following the completion of this in 1926, major construction ceased at the Shrine.

“This was a very important period for American Catholics,” Monsignor O’Connor recalls. “The Church was growing throughout the country and building in local areas took precedence over any construction on a national level.”

“Of course, this was also the period of the Great Depression and a World War, so there was little money to be spent on a single building,” he added.

Following his graduation from Catholic University as Valedictorian in 1924, Monsignor O’Connor furthered his education with studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York and spent a couple of years as an actor prior to making his final decision to enter the priesthood. In 1928, he entered St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained five years later in his native Savannah.

He returned to Catholic University in 1936, this time as a member of the faculty. His interest in the National Shrine was renewed, but he thought little about it until the day in 1950 when he was informed that he had been proposed to the Board of Trustees to succeed Monsignor John J. Reilly, who had served as director for ten years.

“I was practically speechless when I was told this news,” he said. “I immediately went to the Crypt Church and knelt at the Mary Altar, which had been presented to the Shrine in 1927 as a gift from all the women and girls in the country named Mary. I asked one thing of the Blessed Mother as I prayed, and that was that she would make it possible for the Shrine in her honor to rise above the ground.”

Monsignor O’Connor prayers remained the same during his first four years as Director. It was then that the ‘miracle’ he remembers took place.

The year was 1954, proclaimed a Marian Year by Pope Pius XII. To recognize the event, the Bishops of the United States pledged to raise enough money to complete the upper church of the Shrine.

“When you get a large number of bishops to agree on a single issue, it is indeed a miracle,” Monsignor O’Connor jokes, “and the miracle I had needed had taken place.”

This was the only time in the history of the Shrine that a National Collection had taken place and the pledged $5 million was raised in the single, nation-wide collection.

“For years, the Shrine had managed to exist through individual donations and the small amount of money brought in by the sale of Christmas cards and items in the gift shop, which I suggested the Shrine open while serving as Director,” Monsignor O’Connor stated.

On November 9, 1954, a contract was signed with John McShain to build the superstructure of the Shrine and the project was undertaken under the direction of Eugene F. Kennedy, Jr. In 1957, the Knights of Columbus voted one million dollars for a Bell Tower and construction planning for this was begun. Exterior work was completed and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception was dedicated on November 20, 1959, three years after Monsignor O’Connor had left as Director to oversee another Shrine -- the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta.

Monsignor O’Connor is delighted that attention is again being focused on the Shrine by the Church’s December 8 and 9 collection for its upkeep. This is being done in conjunction with the 125th anniversary of the definition of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

“I have very strong feelings about our National Shrine since it has been such an important part of my life,” the former Director says. “I do have two regrets about the Shrine, however. The first is that a more comprehensive history has not been written, picking up where ‘A Song In Stone to Mary,’ which was published in 1953, leaves off. This would be a wonderful project for a noted Church historian such as Monsignor John Tracy Ellis.”

“My second regret is that President John F. Kennedy was not buried in the crypt of the Shrine. A precedent for such an interment was set when Woodrow Wilson was buried in the National Presbyterian Church, also in Washington.”

Monsignor O’Connor, now living in retirement at St. Thomas More in Decatur, where he served as pastor for nine years before working as a missionary in the Bahamas, was invited during the visit of Pope John Paul II to return to the Shrine and greet the Holy Father during his Mass there.

“I thought of the dedication of the Holy Father’s predecessors to our National Shrine,” Monsignor O’Connor said, “and this was such a glowing feeling. I especially thought of the papal gifts to the Shrine and how wonderful it is that those who visit there can witness these beautiful tributes to the Blessed Mother.”

Monsignor O’Connor explained that two magnificent mosaics at the National Shrine represent gifts from four pontiffs. Murillo’s “Immaculate Conception” was promised to the Shrine by Pope Benedict XV, who died before the mosaic was presented. His successor, Pope Pius XI, continued the project.

Likewise, Pope Pius XII promised a mosaic of Titian’s “Assumption” to the Shrine, but did not live to see the final gift, which was presented by the next pontiff, Pope John Paul XXIII.