In 1899, Italian immigrants from the hills around Caposele — the Apennine village where St. Gerard Majella died in 1755 — gathered in Newark's First Ward for the first Feast of San Gerardo. Newark was then the fifth-largest Italian city in America. The carved wooden statue they carried through the streets would, within decades, draw childless women from across the United States and Canada to a national shrine of the patron saint of expectant mothers.
Roughly 2.6 kilometres southwest, in a Gothic Revival church built by German immigrants, a different congregation keeps a different devotion. St. Ann's Church houses the National Shrine of Jesús del Gran Poder — "Our Father Jesus of the Great Power" — a Spanish-language Passion devotion whose image was carved in Seville in 1620 by Juan de Mesa. A community of South and Central American immigrants venerates the suffering Christ in a building whose first parishioners never imagined this future.
Two national shrines, two waves of Catholic immigration, one American city. The Archdiocese of Newark holds both, and the two churches sit roughly 2.6 km apart — close enough to visit in a single morning.
📜 History & Spiritual Significance
St. Lucy's Church and the Italian wave
St. Lucy's was the second Italian parish founded in Newark, established in 1891 by immigrants who had crossed the Atlantic from the province of Avellino, in Italy's Campania region. Among them were families from the area around Caposele — the town where St. Gerard Majella had died in 1755 at the hamlet of Materdomini. They brought with them a devotion to the saint their grandmothers had prayed to, and in 1899 they held the first Feast of St. Gerard on the streets of the First Ward.
The present church, a Romanesque Revival building of brick and stone, was erected in 1925 under the architect Neil J. Convery. Its interior murals were painted by Gonippo Raggi, who also worked on the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. The cornerstone, like that of the original wood-frame church before it, was laid on December 13 — the feast day of St. Lucy of Syracuse, the parish's patron. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
St. Gerard Majella was born in 1726 in Muro Lucano, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. As a young man he tried first to become a Franciscan, then a hermit; both attempts failed, and in 1749 the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori, accepted him as a lay brother — not a priest. He died on October 16, 1755, at the age of twenty-nine. Pope Leo XIII beatified him in 1893; Pope Pius X canonized him in 1904.
His patronage of expectant mothers comes from the story of a handkerchief he dropped while visiting a family. A pregnant woman in danger of miscarriage received it and was safely delivered. At the shrine in Newark, handkerchiefs are sold as devotional tokens, and the statue's annual garments are cut into small pieces and distributed to pilgrims.
The October Feast of St. Gerard became so widely known for miracles associated with childbirth that in 1977 the National Conference of U.S. Bishops designated St. Lucy's as the National Shrine of St. Gerard. Pilgrims travel from across the United States and Canada — above all expectant mothers and families hoping to conceive.
St. Ann's Church and the Hispanic wave
St. Ann's was organized in 1888 as a German-immigrant parish. The first Mass was celebrated in a storeroom; the cornerstone was laid that October. The present Gothic Revival church, designed by the architect Paul C. Reilly with interiors and stained glass by the Daprato firm, opened in 1933.
Over the decades that followed, the German community dispersed and a new one took its place. The parish merged with neighbouring St. Rocco's in 2005 to form the Catholic Parish of the Transfiguration, with St. Ann's Church as the parish church. The congregation today is predominantly South and Central American, and Spanish is the language of worship.
The devotion the parish houses — Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder, "Our Father Jesus of the Great Power" — is not native to Newark. It originated in Seville, Spain, where the venerated image of Christ bearing the cross was carved in 1620 by the sculptor Juan de Mesa y Velasco. The Hermandad del Gran Poder, one of Seville's oldest confraternities with origins traced to 1431, carries the image through the city's streets during the early hours of Good Friday, in the procession known as the Madrugá. The devotion spread across the Hispanic world: to La Paz, Bolivia, where the festival of the Santísima Trinidad del Señor Jesús del Gran Poder was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2019, and to Quito, Ecuador, where a Gran Poder procession began in 1961.
The National Shrine of Jesús del Gran Poder at St. Ann's is listed among the national shrines of the United States by GCatholic and confirmed by the Archdiocese of Newark. The specific decree date and decreeing body for the designation could not be verified in any available source — the designation is confirmed, but its administrative history is not documented publicly.
☩ Pilgrimage Sites in Newark
National Shrine of St. Gerard Majella
Santuario Nazionale di San Gerardo Maiella
A Romanesque Revival brick church on Ruggiero Plaza at Seventh Avenue, built in 1925 by Italian immigrants largely from the Caposele area. The interior, richly decorated in Renaissance and Baroque motifs by the muralist Gonippo Raggi, houses the National Shrine of St. Gerard Majella in a chapel where a carved wooden statue of the saint is kept. Pilgrims — particularly expectant mothers and women hoping to conceive — come to pray before the statue and to receive devotional handkerchiefs. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
National Shrine of Jesús del Gran Poder
Santuario Nacional de Jesús del Gran Poder
A Gothic Revival church at Sixteenth Avenue, designed by Paul C. Reilly with interiors and stained glass by the Daprato firm, opened in 1933. The parish was organized in 1888 as a German-immigrant community and now serves a predominantly South and Central American congregation in Spanish. The church houses the National Shrine of Jesús del Gran Poder — a devotion centred on Christ bearing the cross, rooted in Seville's Holy Week tradition. The parish is part of the Catholic Parish of the Transfiguration, formed in 2005 by the merger of St. Ann's and St. Rocco's.
🕯️ Annual Feast Days & Celebrations
Feast of St. Gerard — October 16
The principal pilgrimage event at St. Lucy's. The celebration spans several days around October 16, the fixed feast day of St. Gerard Majella. A nine-day novena precedes the feast, during which many pray for a successful childbirth or for conception. Before the festival, church members take down the carved wooden statue from its chapel and redress it in new garments. On the feast days, the statue is carried in a street procession through the old First Ward neighbourhood, followed by special Masses, food vendors, and music. Pilgrims come from across the United States and Canada — above all expectant mothers, families hoping to conceive, and the New Jersey Italian diaspora returning to the neighbourhood of their grandparents. The feast was first celebrated in Newark in 1899.
St. Lucy's Day — December 13
The parish's patronal feast. Both the original wood-frame church (1891) and the present brick church (1925) were dedicated on December 13, the feast of St. Lucy of Syracuse. This is a liturgical observance rather than a street festival.
The devotion at St. Ann's
No source documents a specific annual feast, procession, or pilgrimage day tied to the National Shrine of Jesús del Gran Poder at St. Ann's. The devotion originates in Seville's Good Friday Madrugá, and the Hispanic world associates it with Holy Week processions — but no Newark-specific calendar for the shrine has been published. The parish's patronal feast, St. Ann's Day on July 26, is the fixed memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne.
🛏️ Where to Stay
Neither shrine offers on-site pilgrim lodging — both are active urban parish churches with no attached religious house or guesthouse. The realistic base is downtown Newark, roughly 1.5 to 2.5 km south of both churches, where three hotels cluster on or near Broad Street within a short walk of Newark Penn Station.
Robert Treat Hotel ⭐⭐⭐ — A long-standing Newark landmark in the downtown civic district, a short walk from Newark Penn Station and the Prudential Center. The closest of the downtown hotels to St. Lucy's Church. Website ∙ Reserve this hotel
Hotel Indigo Newark Downtown ⭐⭐⭐ — An IHG boutique hotel occupying the historic 1912 National State Bank Building on Broad Street, designed by Cass Gilbert. The lobby reuses the original bank teller desks and vault as design features. Website
Courtyard by Marriott Newark Downtown ⭐⭐⭐ — A Marriott-branded mid-range hotel on Broad Street, opened in 2012, with a skywalk connection to the Prudential Center. Website ∙ Reserve this hotel
🚗 Getting There
By Air: Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) is in Newark itself — the nearest major airport. An AirTrain monorail connects the terminals to the Newark Airport Rail Station, where NJ Transit and Amtrak trains run to Newark Penn Station and beyond.
By Train: Newark Penn Station, in downtown Newark, is served by Amtrak, NJ Transit, and PATH trains. From New York Penn Station, NJ Transit runs frequent service on the Northeast Corridor line. PATH trains connect Newark to Manhattan via Hoboken and Jersey City. Newark Broad Street Station, on the north side of downtown, is a second NJ Transit stop closer to St. Lucy's Church.
By Bus: NJ Transit operates bus routes throughout Newark, including along Broad Street, which connects downtown to the North Ward where both churches are located.
By Car: Interstate 78 runs east-west through Newark, connecting to the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95). The Garden State Parkway is accessible to the south. Both churches are in residential neighbourhoods; street parking is available on nearby streets.
📚 Further Reading
Fr. Edward Saint-Omer, CSsR. St. Gerard Majella: The Wonder-Worker and Patron of Expectant Mothers — The standard English biography of the saint the first shrine is built around, written by a Redemptorist — Gerard's own congregation.
Manuel Jesús Roldán Salgueiro. Gran Poder: Historia, Arte y Devoción (Spanish) — The only book-length study in print of the Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder devotion, explaining the theology, art, and history of the Sevillian image whose cult the second shrine enshrines. Spanish-language; no English edition exists.
Marion Amberg. Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles: A Traveler's Guide to Catholic America — A country-scope guide to Catholic pilgrimage sites in the United States, giving the Newark shrines their place in the wider American landscape.
🎥 Recommended Videos
St. Lucy's Church and the St. Gerard National Shrine in Newark, NJ — A documentary walk-through naming both the St. Gerard and the Jesús del Gran Poder shrines at St. Lucy's. By drciolino, 10 minutes.
Monsignor Granato and St. Lucys - True Devotion — A profile of Msgr. Joseph Granato, St. Lucy's long-time pastor, tracing the parish's Italian immigrant history and its evolution into the North American home of the Shrine of St. Gerard. By americanmontage, 7 minutes.
🔗 Useful Links
Catholic Parish of the Transfiguration — Official parish website for St. Ann's Church, which houses the National Shrine of Jesús del Gran Poder.
Archdiocese of Newark — The metropolitan archdiocese in which both shrines are located.
GCatholic — National Shrines in the USA — A listing of U.S. national shrines, including both the Shrine of St. Gerard and the Shrine of Jesús del Gran Poder.
🧭 Nearby Pilgrimage Destinations
New York City (17 km) — America's largest Catholic metropolis: St. Patrick's Cathedral, Mother Cabrini's shrine, the city's only catacombs, and national shrines.
Stirling, New Jersey (28 km) — Shrine of Saint Joseph in the Watchung Mountains, a pilgrimage center run by the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity.
Graymoor, New York (70 km) — Franciscan motherhouse on a Hudson Valley hilltop; home of the St. Anthony National Shrine and birthplace of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Washington, New Jersey (70 km) — National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima on 150 acres; USCCB-designated National Shrine, the American Fatima shrine.
Middletown, New York (79 km) — National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a Marian pilgrimage destination in the Hudson Valley.
🪶 Closing Reflection
"Eum equidem despexit mundus, et fatuum arbitratus est: non item vero Deus."
— Pope St. Pius X, Haud tenui, Apostolic Letter canonizing St. Gerard Majella, 1904
