IN THE CATHEDRAL CHAPEL
Our Lady of Seattle
Blessed are you for firmly believing
that the promises of the Lord would be fulfilled Luke
1:45
This beloved image, known as Our Lady of Seattle, has been venerated in this city for well over 100 years. The pioneer priest of Seattle, Father F. X. Prefontaine, ordered this image of Mary from Italy in 1870. She weathered a sea journey around the Horn, and arrived safely in Seattle, where she was installed in Seattle’s first Catholic Church, Our Lady of Good Help. When the old church began to slide down the hill following Seattle's 1949 earthquake, the statue was moved to St. James, where she has remained ever since.
MEDITATION
We have contemplated Our Lady with joy, pondering her holiness, her generosity, her hope, her burning love, her whole-hearted dedication in faith to the saving work of her Son. For we believe the Father gave her to us as a model of virtues of the whole community of the elect. May her pilgrimage of faith strengthen us in our individual Christian vocations. May her loving desire that her Son’s words be heeded hasten Christian unity. May her motherly intercession make us worthy of the promises of Christ.
from Behold Your Mother: Woman of Faith, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1973.
PRAYER
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.