National Marian Shrine, Mariamabad

The National Marian Shrine in Mariamabad, Sheikhupura District, Pakistan is a National Shrine, and since 1949, has been the site of an annual pilgrimage on September 8 for the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. Approximately 2 million Catholics of Pakistan these are days of celebration. Many of them, in recent days, have taken to the road on a journey to Mariamabad, which means the ”City of Mary” in the Urdu language. Known as one of Pakistan's oldest Catholic settlements, it is about 80 km from the Punjab's capital of Lahore. Covering an area of 835 hectares (2, 060 acres), Mariamabad has become an important pilgrimage site for over one million believers annually. Mariamabad was founded in 1892. Observing the misery and oppression of the newly converted Christians in the District of Sialkot, Capuchin Bp Emmanuel Van Den Bosch purchased 150 acres (0.61 km2) of government land for 650,000 rupees (US$29, 545) for Christians to live and work on. In January 1893, a 'Long march' of six days (170 km) led by Capuchin fathers Godefroid Pelckmans and another, took three Christian families to the new land, named Maryabad, in Punjab. This event is often compared to the Biblical Exodus and has a particular significance in the history of the local Christian community. The Capuchins built the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Joseph on December 8, 1898. A prominent feature of the shrine is the Marian

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).