St. Columban’s Seminary, Bellevue, NE

The Columban Foreign Mission Society was founded in Ireland in 1917 as a mission to China (and later expanded to other Asian nations and the Americas). A US seminary to train missionaries was built on 220 wooded acres near Bellevue, Nebraska (on the south edge of the Omaha metro area) in 1921. In 1929, a Lourdes grotto was added:

MISSION HAS REPLICA OF GROTTO OF LOURDES Donor Hides His Identity, Says Priest at St. Columbans. CALLED ‘ACT OF FAITH’ As near to the original as human hands could fashion it, a replica of the grotto of Lourdes, that world famous shrine on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees that annually attracts thousands of pilgrims, has been erected on the grounds of the Chinese Mission society at St. Columbans, Neb., near Bellevue.

It is the gift of an unnamed donor, said to be a poor man who has literally spent the last cent he possessed in making this gift. Rev. E.J. McCarthy of the mission supervised construction, acting as the representative for the donor. He says the donor was prompted by faith and love, and the desire to raise a shrine in Mary’s honor in the heart of the new world….

The recently constructed grotto on the grounds of the Chinese Mission society is unique in that it is of concrete construction, an imitation of natural rock. A cliff 30 feet high, 60 feet wide, and in a lofty niche, seemingly carved from the rock, stands the life-sized figure of Mary. The statue, made in Germany, is an almost exact replica of the marble statue that sets in the niche above the original grotto.

Contractors, in order to imitate waters or the original shrine, the healing powers of which are credited with the working of miracles, piped water two hundred feet. It gushes forth to trickle down the rocky surface of the constructed cliff. Father McCarthy has visited the original grotto several times, as well as the replicas of the famous spot, and it was from his descriptions and pictures that architect and contractor made their plans. W. O. Johnson the Ornamental Concrete company supervised construction, and Leo A. Day was the architect. Omaha World-Herald, May 24, 1929

The grotto was pictured in several newspapers during the next few years:

Retreats for groups began to be held at St. Columban’s by at least the 1940s, and the facility is still available for groups to rent. Stations of the Cross and a large crucifix sculpture have been added near the grotto.