Yesterday the bumtour drove from St Louis to Kansas City, along the way visiting Missouri's only roadside attraction dedicated to the feminine divine: The Shrine of the Black Madonna in Eureka, MO.
Built over a period of 25 years by a Franciscan monk from Poland named Brother Bronislaus Luszcz, the shrine features a series of man-made grottoes built from local tiff rock, seashells, concrete, trinkets and geegaws sent from around the world.
Brother Bronislaus built these beautiful shrines all on his own, pushing wheelbarrows of rock up the steep hill and hauling water from a nearby stream to mix his cement.
The shrines celebrate not only Mary, Jesus and St. Francis, but also thrift and invention. Brother Bronislaus used local materials and tools. The pillars framing Our Lady of Perpetual Help (see video) were cast in coffee cans. A spray of cement flowers adorning the grotto were cast in cupcake tins, and the lambs and bunnies at St. Francis' feet were molded in Easter cake molds.
In addition, there is an outdoor chapel on the site dedicated to the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, (you can, and should, read more about this miraculous painting HERE, but for now you may prefer to just gaze upon her lovely face).
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