A Project to Restore the Rosary Shrine Grotto
The grotto pictured at an early Rosary Pilgrimage
The grotto today, now within the Nuns’ cloister walls
We’ve recently kickstarted a project to restore the historic grotto built at the very beginnings of our monastery’s history, at the time of the very first Rosary Pilgrimage in 1921. This grotto was the site of pilgrimages with crowds of thousands of faithful from across the country, and the Sisters received a number of reports of miracles received after praying in the grotto. However, after the building of our permanent monastery, pilgrims began to come to pray in the monastery chapel instead, and the grotto began to become run-down and neglected. Originally located just outside the enclosure wall, in 1991 when a section of the wall near the grotto needed repair, the wall was moved to bring the grotto inside the enclosure so that the Sisters could use it as a space for private prayer. But the effects of time and humidity continued to work on the grotto, and its condition has deteriorated to the point that we are no longer able to use it as a space for prayer.
In 2018 when we held an open house for the dedication of the new addition to the monastery, some friends of the monastery came across the Grotto and, hearing about its history, approached the community about beginning a project to restore the Grotto to save its history and to allow us to use it once again as a place of prayer. They are hoping to raise the money to begin the project in another month or two! You can read more about the history of the Grotto and the restoration project here: Grotto Restoration Project.
Would you consider making a contribution to the project?
To donate to the Grotto Restoration Project, you can either click the link below to donate securely by credit card, or else, send a check to:
Dominican Nuns
543 Springfield Ave
Summit, NJ 07901
with “Grotto Restoration” in the memo line.
