Mass & Service Times
CARFIN GROTTO
SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL MARIAN SHRINE
St Therese and Carfin Grotto
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St Therese of Lisieux
And Carfin Grotto
Canon Thomas Taylor, founder of the Grotto, was zealous in promoting The Little Flower and shorty after the Grotto was opened and St Therese was canonised, he erected a statue of St Therese in the Grotto. The statue was positioned directly across from the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes which caused great division at the time with arguments that the statue would take away from Our Lady's shrine. However, Canon Taylor wrote to the Mother Superior in the Carmel at Lisieux to seek advice. The Mother advised him that the statue of St Therese could never detract from our Blessed Mother and should remain in place and that the Grotto would enjoy large numbers of visitors as a result. To this day the statue of St Therese stands in Carfin Grotto as St Therese continues to shower down her roses from heaven upon the pilgrims who visit Our Lady's Shrine.
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Canon Taylor blesses the new statue of The Little Flower at Carfin Grotto in the early 1920's.
The Grotto at Carfin is also blessed to have a drawing of St Therese which was gifted to Canon Taylor during one of his visit to Lisieux by St Therese blood sister, Celine. The drawing, the work of Celine, was gifted to Canon Taylor in 1912 before Sister Therese was canonised. Today, this drawing can be found in the Little Flower Chapel.
