Miracle Spring Drying Up So Nuns Go Truckin'
[Original headline: Nuns turn to man after prayer fails to increase water at shrine]
GOLDEN, Colo. – They come from around the world, drive from across the country or just across town to partake in the waters they consider holy at the Mother Cabrini Shrine. But in a severe drought that even prayer could not help, starting this summer the sisters have had water trucked in to maintain the flow from a natural underground spring at the shrine.
Since 1912, when Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini sat on a loose red rock and then tapped it with her cane to discover water improbably flowing underneath, faithful worshipers have flocked to this site in the belief that the spring water might contain some healing properties. Some drink it as part of their prayer ritual along with lighting a candle in the nearby chapel. Mother Cabrini came here initially to create a summer camp for orphan girls from the city, but there was no evidence of water on the parched hill overlooking Denver until the mysterious – some say miraculous – discovery.
Now for the first time in 90 years that spring water flow has slowed and is being supplemented.
"There is still enough of the holy water in it," said Sister Bernadette Casciano, one of the three Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who live at the shrine. "Some people believe that just one drop of the spring water makes it holy."
She added that although many people attribute miracles or curative powers to the water, it has never been declared holy by the Vatican.
But for some of the 150,000 annual pilgrims to the shrine of the patron saint of immigrants, the news that the water they were seeking was mixed with municipal water did not sit well.
"You just don't mess with God and a miracle," said Donna Basile, 55, from Portland, Maine. Her 1-year-old granddaughter, Haley, drank the water from a paper cup.
This was Basile's second visit, and she now refers to a bottle of water they took back to Maine two years ago as "the original water."
"We took the original water home for our grandson, who is autistic, and we blessed him with it," she said. "It meant a lot to us." She added, "The water came because Mother Cabrini prayed for it, and I think it would never dry up because it is a miracle."
Basile's husband, Roland Basile, was at first angry to learn of the diluted water as he sipped it from paper cups provided for visitors who can choose among four spigots over a sink for their holy water.
"If I want city water I'll go back down the hill and get it," Ronald Basile said before finding humor in the situation. "I guess since it's diluted we'll just have to use more."
Esteban Campos, a 26-year-old delivery-truck driver who lives in Denver, said he comes to the shrine for the water more than once a month.
"I drink it, I put a little on my hands or make a sign on my forehead," Campos said.
Campos said he knew when the spring water was mixed with city water and took it in stride. "It's in a holy place and so it should not change anything," he said.
Many years ago an 8,000-gallon water tank was donated to the shrine, and the spring water always has been stored and used for domestic uses by the sisters and visitors – for washing linens and dishes, flushing toilets, watering flowers and trees. As the natural flow decreased this summer some basic conservation efforts were put into place. There are now portable toilets for visitors, laundry is taken to town, most of the flowers have died and a sign asks visitors to limit themselves to one quart each.
The sisters are praying for water – and maybe a little divine intervention – as they try to raise $250,000 to install pipes to pump the water uphill from Golden. Sister Bernadette said it was not an option to wait and see if the spring goes dry.
"It's just too important to too many people who base their belief on the water and how it helps them," she said. "It's a major part of the shrine." The shrine also includes a gift shop, retreat house and 373-step hike to the Mount of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Janet Boulter of Denver recently visited the shrine and refilled her plastic water bottle.
"All of the water comes from God, it all flows from the same place," Boulter said with a shrug. "For me, I'm thirsty, and this is a peaceful place. Water is water and it's all created by God."
• Story originally published by:
NY Times News Service via The San Diego Union Tribune - Oct 27.02
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