The Jubilee Year 2025 is about to begin. Guided by the Holy Father and united with the whole Church, we want to be “pilgrims of hope” in a world that needs to rediscover in itself the signs of hope and, at the same time, to see in Jesus Christ the only hope for humanity.
In this context, on June 9, 2025, at 9:30 a.m., a great international celebration will occur in which Mater Ter Admirabilis will be crowned Queen Mother of the Church. In her Mother of Holy Hope, we seek refuge, inspiration, and courage to bring hope to the world.
How can we prepare for the coronation? One possibility is a novena in preparation
Beginning January 22, 2025, we will conduct a novena of preparation, with a meeting every 15 days, in which we will reflect on the objectives of the coronation, the mission of the Matri Ecclesiae Shrine and the International Schoenstatt Center in Rome, and the new image of the Church that Father Kentenich announced, in the context of the intertwining of Schoenstatt, Church and Vatican Council II, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the return of the Founder from exile and the 60th anniversary of the closing of Vatican Council II.
In mid-January, with the help of the IKS (International Schoenstatt Coordination), we want to distribute a brochure of the Novena in PDF format and several languages, which includes a prayer and reflection guide for the days 22/01, 08, and 22/02; 08, and 22/03; 08 and 22/04; 08 and 22/05. The days of the month were chosen symbolically: the 8th is the monthly date of prayer for the mission of the Matri Ecclesiae Shrine since it was inaugurated on September 8, 2024; the 22nd commemorates December 22, 1965, when Father Kentenich was received by St. Paul VI, marking the end of his exile.
Beginning in January 2025, the shrine’s YouTube channel will broadcast a short video summarizing the content of that day’s novena and encouraging prayer on the 8th and 22nd of each month: SANTUARIO SCHOENSTATT BELMONTE-ROMA @santuarioschoenstattbelmon426.
We invite you to bring a small crown to Rome
When the Matri Ecclesiae Shrine was inaugurated on September 8, 2004, jars with contributions to the capital of grace arrived from all over the world to symbolize that this shrine is an international shrine and the main Schoenstatt reference point in Rome, as well as a shrine with a precise mission in the center of Christendom. There was an actual “exchange of jars”: one was donated to the shrine, and another small, symbolic one was received as a souvenir of the inauguration.
For this reason, the Domus Pater Kentenich houses a collection of jars from different countries, cultures, sizes, and materials. These diverse jars help us think about the Gospel’s “universality,” the vast extension of the Schoenstatt charism worldwide, and the Church’s “catholicity,” which can only be experienced with such intensity in Rome.
Now, in the Jubilee Year 2025 and Crowning Year, we would like to invite all who come at any time of the year, especially those who come for the crowning celebration, to pray the Crowning Prayer and to symbolically crown Mary in the Shrine by attaching an adhesive crown to an MTA shrine, which can then be taken home.
We would also like to invite people to offer the Blessed Mother a small crown of any material or size to join the crowning chain. It would be good to use one’s creativity to offer Mary a very original gift representing each donor’s life and their trust in Mary as “Mother of the Church of the new Shores.”
Some Schoenstatt institutes and federations’ courses, as well as groups and individual pilgrims, have already sent small crowns; others have informed us that they want to do the same. The idea is that all these crowns, brought by national delegations, groups, or individual pilgrims, will be displayed in the same way as the jars brought to the shrine’s dedication in 2004.
If anyone prefers, they can buy a small crown in Belmonte, which will not be a replica of the one used at the coronation. The place where pilgrims can leave their crown as a gift to Mary is being lovingly prepared.
A sign of hope: the Church of the new shores
The Domus Pater Kentenich is the Roman house of Fr. Kentenich and his pulpit in Rome, so, on this occasion, we want to make known the idea of the Church that Fr. Kentenich outlined during his stay in Rome between September and December 1965, at the time of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. In Belmonte, the pilgrims will be able to know or remember the thoughts and proposals of Fr. Kentenich on the “Church of the new shores” or the “renewed Church,” according to the Constitution Lumen Gentium, 60 years after the closing of the Second Vatican Council.
This aspect of the coronation is equally essential since it helps us discover Schoenstatt’s contribution to the renewal of the Church at this time when we are receiving the conclusions of the Synod on Synodality.
Dr. Fr. Marcelo Cervi
On behalf of the team in charge of preparing the coronation.
