Virtual pilgrimage to Mount St. Macrina to be held this weekend
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For decades, the faithful have traveled to Mount St. Macrina over Labor Day weekend for a pilgrimage to honor Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
While the tradition will continue in its 86th year, all of the events will be virtual.
“There are going to be seven different video services,” said Sister Margaret Ann Andrako, with Byzantine Catholic Sisters of St. Basil, one of the organizers of the pilgrimage.
The pre-recorded services and programs will be released Saturday on the YouTube channel Basilians – Uniontown PA, with a direct link to the page available at www.sistersofstbasil.org. A link will also be posted on the Facebook page, @sistersofstbasil.uniontown.
This year’s theme is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Basil.
The virtual program will include a welcome from Sister Ruth Plante, the provincial for the Byzantine Catholic Sisters of St. Basil; Marian hymns; Akathist to the Mother of God; divine liturgy, Panachida for all deceased pilgrims, a children’s program and a program for teens.
“I think it all looks very well,” Andrako said. “We had it done by a special videographer.”
Since 1934, the Our Lady of Perpetual Help shrine at Mount St. Macrina has been a favored destination for thousands of pilgrims to pray before the sacred image.
Plans for a virtual pilgrimage were announced in June, when organizers made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person event in light of COVID-19 concerns. At the time, Plante said the 2020 event would be a pilgrimage of the heart instead of the feet.
The three-day event has typically seen between 3,000 to 4,000 visitors come to Mount St. Macrina on Route 40 just west of Uniontown.
Over this weekend, no groups of any size will be permitted on the grounds. No public facilities or buildings, including the religious gift shop, will be open, and the shrine will be closed to visitors.