By Kimberley Heatherington
OSV News
Five years ago — on May 1, 2020, during the first terrifying stages of the COVID-19 pandemic — the bishops of the United States turned to Mary for protection.
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles — then president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — led a “Renewal of the Consecration of the United States of America to the Blessed Virgin Mary” at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles. The ceremony — lasting just a little more than 30 minutes — was livestreamed to isolated viewers across the country.
By April 2020, more than 3.9 billion people — almost half of the world’s population — were in lockdown quarantine. The United States was particularly hard hit among Western industrialized nations, posting an eventual 111,820,082 coronavirus cases and 1,221,897 deaths.
“In this difficult time we turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of the church. She intercedes with her Son for all are affected in this way by the pandemic,” intoned Archbishop Gomez. “We implore her maternal care for her children.”
“The first missionaries came to this country under the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Later, the bishops consecrated her as patroness of the United States of America,” he added, emphasizing the country’s Marian heritage.
“The Virgin Mary has accompanied this great nation since our beginnings,” Archbishop Gomez said. “Now in this difficult hour, we renew our consecration to her.”
America had previously been dedicated to Mary on three occasions.
In 1792, Bishop John Carroll, the first bishop of the U.S., consecrated the country to Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception. In 1846, the U.S. bishops — then numbering 23 — did the same, choosing her as America’s patroness. In 1959, Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle of Washington consecrated America to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to coincide with the completion of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. (In 1990, St. John Paul II elevated the shrine to minor basilica status.)
“Five years ago, the late Holy Father invited us to turn to Our Lady and implore her to watch over the world during the COVID pandemic,” said Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the national shrine in Washington, America’s preeminent Marian shrine and the largest Roman Catholic Church in North America.
“Pope Francis did the same in 2022 petitioning the Blessed Mother for peace especially for Ukraine and Russia. As children run to their mother in times of crisis, emergency and joy, so, we should turn to Our Heavenly Mother at all times,” Msgr. Rossi added, “confident that in the words of the ancient prayer, Sub Tuum Praesidium, Our Lady will ‘deliver us from all dangers.’”
Father Edward Looney, secretary of the Mariological Society of America, noted, “Time and again, people have made some sort of active entrustment or consecration to Our Lady in times of crises, and we usually see a favorable outcome afterwards.”
