The Franciscan Friars of The Immaculate enthroned a statue of Our Lady of America at Our Lady of The Angels Monastery in the Shrine of The Most Blessed Sacrament after a procession which began at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31st. The devotion to Our Lady of America arose from the apparitions to Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil) beginning at Rome City, Indiana, on September 26th, 1956, and continuing there, and at the Precious Blood Sisters Cloister near Fostoria, Ohio. The image, a medal and the Prayer to Our Lady of America all received the Imprimatur from Monsignor Paul F. Leibold, Vicar General to then Cincinnati Archbishop Karl Alter in 1963. The Our Lady of America Center has sent this particular statue to the Shrine of The Most Blessed Sacrament for public veneration through August 15th, The Feast of The Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Processions of this Our Lady of America image at the Shrine of The Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama are planned for a number of Marian feast days this year. This statue of Our Lady of America was originally made with the approval of Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg, Pennsylvania (Deceased), and exhibited for more than thirty (30) years by the Discalced Carmelite Sisters of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. This particular image was recently given to the Our Lady of America Center at Fostoria, Ohio, which is sponsoring this visitation along with the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration at the Our Lady of The Angels Monastery. The same statue visited the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming this immediate past February 11th-19th for a novena and Cathedral procession.