The Shrine is a Byzantine Catholic Shrine located in the Eparchy of Phoenix atop Mount Lemmon Arizona.
The Santa Catalina Mountains, part of the Coronado National Forest, is designated as a "Sky Island" and is unique in that it has a village 1,000' below its highest peak (9144') with a shrine consecrated to Mary Undoer of Knots. People come from around the world to visit the treasures of the Sonoran desert and then travel to the Summerhaven village high above Tucson where pine forests are at the same biome as Bampf Canada. There is even the southern most ski lodge in the United States atop the mountain. But there is another treasure nestled in the heart of these mountains. At 8,100 feet, a Byzantine Catholic shrine has become a haven for Catholics and other pilgrims during their time in Arizona.
With over a million visitors to the Santa Catalina Mountain each year, the founders saw the great opportunity for evangelization. After four years of planning and construction, the Shrine was completed in June 2019 and is the first and only church atop Mount Lemmon.
A shrine is a holy or sacred place dedicated to a specific saint, wherein they are venerated. Here we venerate the oldest veneration for Our Blessed Mother, Mary Undoer of Knots. St. Irenaeus originally described her with this title in the second century in his treatise, Against Heresies: “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by the obedience of Mary; what the virgin Eve bound by her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith”.
The Shrine is a walk through history. It is architecturally designed to replicate the wooden Byzantine Catholic churches found in the Carpathian Mountains found in Poland extending southward through Ukraine and into Romania. In the years 1600-1800, one would see wooden churches very much like the three main structures (Ramada, Bell Tower and Chapel) at the Shrine. We have had many visitors from Russia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Ukraine and many other central European countries who easily recognize the architecture as being strikingly similar to their churches back home.”
Many have never heard of the Byzantine rite. There are different rites within the Catholic Church with the Roman or Latin rite the most well known. The Byzantine rite is orthodox in practice but is also in union with the Pope. To be able to share the rich traditions of the Byzantine church with other Catholics is a joy.
The Shrine was consecrated on September 24, 2020 by Bishop John Pazak of the Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix. Pilgrims are invited to visit the Shrine. Take a pilgrimage from your busy days and go up to the mountain to pray. Add your prayer requests to the book of intentions, which is placed on the altar at each liturgy. At the small, unique bookstore, you may purchase Byzantine religious items and icons from Russia, Poland, Ukraine and many other areas in central Europe. Take a tour to learn more about the history, art, and tradition that led to the creation of the Mary Undoer of Knots Shrine on Mt. Lemmon or to see with an Eastern eye the mystery of God incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of the knots in the lives of His children, I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life. In your hands, there is no knot that cannot be undone.
