American Patroness

Marian Shrines and the Making of US Catholicism

KATHERINE DUGAN AND KAREN E. PARK, EDITORS

320 pages, 42 b/w illustrations

9781531504885, Paperback, $40.00 (SDT), £36.00

9781531504878, Hardback, $140.00 (SDT), £125.00 edition available

“This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date collection of Marian shrine devotionalism that I have read, and I urge everyone interested in understanding the enduring power and persistence of shrines devoted to the Virgin Mary to read this book. American Patroness is an exciting and important new collection that features top scholars of Catholicism who effectively translate the power and beauty of belief, prayer, and community in shared and communal spaces. Deeply researched and clearly written and excellent for class use.”

—KRISTY NABHAN-WARREN, AUTHOR OF MEATPACKING AMERICA: HOW MIGRATION, WORK, AND FAITH UNITE AND DIVIDE THE HEARTLAND

“American Patroness is a major contribution to the study of US Catholicism and American religion. The helpful introduction and vivid case studies offer surprising insights about the complexity and vitality of devotion today, not only at traditional shrines but also tourist sites, urban underpasses, and digital spaces. Indispensable for specialists but of interest to everyone who wants to know more about the contemporary religious landscape.”

—THOMAS A. TWEED, AUTHOR OF RELIGION: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION

A vital collection of interdisciplinary essays that illuminates the significance of Marian shrines and promises to teach scholars how to “read” them for decades to come.

American Patroness: Marian Shrines and the Making of US Catholicism is a collection of twelve essays that examine the historical and contemporary roles of Marian shrines in US Catholicism. The essays in this collection use historical, ethnographic, and comparative methods to explore how Catholics have used Marian devotion to make an imprint on the physical and religious landscape of the United States. Using the dynamic malleability of Marian shrines as a starting place for studying US Catholicism, each chapter reconsiders the American religious landscape from the perspective of a single shrine to Mary and asks: What does this shrine reveal about US Catholicism and about American religion?

Each of the contributors in American Patroness examines why and how Marian shrines persist in the twenty-first century and subsequently uses that examination to re-read contemporary US Catholicism. Because shrines are not neutral spaces—they reflect and shape the elastic yet strict boundaries of what counts as Catholic identity, and who controls prayer practices—the studies in this collection also shed light on the contested dynamics of these holy sites. American Patroness demonstrates that Marian shrines continue to be places where an American Catholic identity is continuously worked on, negotiations about power occur, and Marian relationships are fostered and nurtured in spaces that are simultaneously public and intimate.

CONTRIBUTORS: Adrienne Nock Ambrose, Lloyd Barba, James S. Bielo, Katherine Dugan, David J. Endres, Kayla Harris, Patrick J. Hayes, Joseph Laycock, Karen E. Park, Terry Rey, Stephen Selka, Claire Vaughn, Andrew Walker-Cornetta

KATHERINE DUGAN is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Springfield College (MA), where she studies contemporary US Catholics and teaches courses in American religion. She is the author of Millennial Missionaries: How a Group of Young Adult Catholics is Making Catholicism Cool.

KAREN E. PARK is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Norbert College (WI). She is a frequent contributor to Religion Dispatches and other online and print publications on religion and culture in the US.