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A different Marian apparition

Zoey Dimauro | Catholic Herald

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Anson Brassell and Fr. John P. Mosimann stand by the statue of Mary that appeared mysteriously outside the historic St. John the Apostle Chapel in Leesburg.

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After months of hard work, Anson Brassell completed his Eagle
Scout project. At the suggestion of his pastor, Father John
P. Mosimann, Brassell, a St. John the Apostle parishioner and
high school senior, decided to build a grotto outside the
historic St. John Chapel in downtown Leesburg.

Following the example of a parishioner who constructed a
grotto at his own home, Brassell created a design and started
purchasing cinder block and stone. After convincing the town
of Leesburg that the structure was within regulations, he
received approval to build. Members from his troop helped lay
the foundation and stack the flat stones. Now all he needed
was a statue to put in it.

A few weeks after the grotto’s completion, on the feast of
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Nov. 27, several
parishioners were in the church setting up Advent
decorations. From the flower room, Mary Thomas spied a
pick-up truck with Pennsylvania license plates pulling up to
the church. A man and woman got out of the truck, lifted a
blanket-covered statue out and set it on the sidewalk. By the
time Thomas had walked outside, the truck was speeding away.

Thomas went back into the church to grab the other
volunteers, Joan Mentzer and Joe and Jean Ange, to inspect
the mysterious gift. It was Our Lady of Grace, painted in a
blue and white robe with her hands outstretched. When they
told Father Mosimann, he had the heavy statue moved to the
grotto. Her height was a perfect fit for the space.

Father Mosimann promised Brassell he would find a statue to
put into the grotto, but instead Our Lady provided one, said
Father Mosimann. “I guess she decided I was taking too long.”

Mary’s intercession in the life of the parish named for the
apostle who was entrusted to her care is abundantly clear to
Father Mosimann. While the parish was still a mission, it was
known as Our Lady of Lourdes, or Immaculate Conception, he
said. When building the new church, dedicated in August 2012,
approval from the town came much earlier than expected on the
feast of the Immaculate Conception Dec. 8.

During the church building campaign, Father Mosimann asked
the community for both money and the intercession of Our
Lady. “We had people submit their names on envelopes where
you could check off how many Hail Marys you prayed,” said
Father Mosimann. In the end, the parish prayed more than 6
million Hail Marys for the construction of the church.

“If we can increase our love of Mary, she will always lead us
to love of the Eucharist,” said Father Mosimann.

As for the Mary statue, Father Mosimann is grateful for its
presence and the people who donated it to the church. Though
its backstory is unknown, he welcomes any clues to the
statue’s previous home.

“For now, I am taking this as a sign that Our Lady wanted
this very statue in that very grotto,” said Father Mosimann
in a bulletin announcement. “And it makes me whisper a prayer
for whoever first owned and loved the statue, and for the
folks who dropped her off on our sidewalk.”

Di Mauro can be reached at [email protected] or on
Twitter
@zoeydimauro.

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