THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS IS THE SEED OF THE SHRINE: EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF THE JESUIT FATHERS’ PLACEMENT OF THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF MARTYRS IN AURIESVILLE, NEW YORK
By William H. Baaki, Esq. and Msgr. Roger Landry
I. Introduction
In 1885, the Jesuit Fathers consecrated Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine on the site identified after years of painstaking research and investigation as the location of the Mohawk village where the Jesuit missionaries St. René Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, and St. John Lalande were martyred in 1642 and 1646, and where St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656.
In his 2025 book “The Catholic Holy Sites of the Mohawk Valley,” Richard Upsher Smith Jr. claims that the learned Jesuit Fathers and multiple esteemed historians and archaeologists got the location wrong. Mr. Smith, however, overlooks significant evidence that confirms that the Jesuit Fathers correctly placed the National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs at its location on the hill near the Mohawk River, just west of the Schoharie Creek in Auriesville, New York.
II. The Jesuit Fathers Correctly Placed the Shrine in Auriesville
Mr. Smith states: “The argument of this book will show that the martyrdoms of St. René Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, and St. Jean de Lalande in 1642 and 1646 did not occur at the location of the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs at Auriesville, New York. Their deaths happened about seven miles away, up the Mohawk River at what archeologists call the Bauder Site in Root Township, Montgomery County, New York.” Mr. Smith further states that “the present argument will also demonstrate that the birth of St. Catherine Tekakwitha in 1656 did not occur at the Auriesville location, but about five miles upriver at what is called the Printup Site in Glen Township, Montgomery County.”
Click the link below to read the full article.
We pray and hope that the presentation of the evidence found in the below link will be sufficient to buttress the conviction of the faithful over the last century and a half in coming to this sacred place, where the National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs continues to welcome pilgrims from around the world who are drawn to pray where the saints prayed and leave with a double-portion of their courage,missionary zeal, and love for Our Lord and Our Lady of Martyrs.