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The Geography of Marian Shrines in the United States: A Preliminary Comparison With Western Europe

Blewett, Joanne E
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1128100652

Abstract Details

2005, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences : Geography.
From the beginnings of human history, people have designated particular locations as sacred and traveled to them in a pilgrimage. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 314 CE, Christian shrines emerged very soon at martyrs’ tombs and other places of historical importance in development of this religion. The distribution of physical relics created many of the Christian shrines in Western Europe. Popular belief concerning Mary began to evolve upon Jesus’ death; and in turn, most of these beliefs were adopted into Roman Catholic doctrine and became Mariology or Marianism, the veneration of Mary. In Western Europe, a number of shrines were created from an apparition of Mary to local people, and with any shrine’s approval by the institutional Church, it gained an international reputation and following; shrines not granted this approval by the Church have remained less internationally well-known and mostly locally based. This study contrasts the process of Marian shrine development in Western Europe with the United States. A typology is created for Marian shrines in the United States based primarily on the occurrence of an apparition. The distribution of each types is shown and possible explanations are presented. Not a single apparition location has received the approval of the Church. Since the majority of Marian apparition sites in Western Europe have been approved, it was possible to use a classification system based on the reason for their founding. Whereas none of the United States sites have been approved, it was necessary to construct another typology. Thus, this study finds a somewhat different rationale for development of Marian shrines in the United States when compared to Western Europe.
Dr. Roger M Selya (Advisor)
266 p.
Mariology; Roman Catholic shrines; apparition; United States; Western Europe

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Blewett, J. E. (2005). The Geography of Marian Shrines in the United States: A Preliminary Comparison With Western Europe [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1128100652

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Blewett, Joanne. The Geography of Marian Shrines in the United States: A Preliminary Comparison With Western Europe. 2005. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1128100652.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Blewett, Joanne. "The Geography of Marian Shrines in the United States: A Preliminary Comparison With Western Europe." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1128100652

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1128100652
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© 2005, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.