The Minnesota Schoenstatt community’s Jubilee Family Shrine in Sleepy Eye isn’t special for being one-of-a-kind. Quite the opposite, in fact. What makes it remarkable is that it’s exactly identical to more than 200 other shrines around the world. The tiny chapel is an ideal spot for Minnesotans seeking a quiet pilgrimage of prayer and reflection and, during this Jubilee Year with its theme Pilgrims of Hope, it is an official jubilee pilgrimage site in the Diocese of New Ulm.
It traces its story back to an abandoned medieval chapel in a cemetery in rural Rhineland, Germany. Father Joseph Kentenich, then 28, began holding meetings with a group of students in the chapel. In 1914 they sealed a “Covenant of Love” with the Blessed Mother. It was a new form of Marian consecration aimed at deepening one’s relationship with Mary and participating in, as Father Kentenich put it, a mutual exchange of hearts, goods and interests. The meetings eventually developed into Schoenstatt, a global lay movement that promotes strong Catholic family life and devotion to the Blessed Mother.
Like all other Schoenstatt shrines around the world, the shrine in Sleepy Eye is a precise replica of the original chapel near Vallendar, Germany.
Father Kentenich spent three years in the Dachau concentration camp during World War II, lived 14 years in Milwaukee while the Church examined the Schoenstatt movement, and died in 1968. The Church recognizes him as a Servant of God.
In German, “schoenstatt” means “beautiful place.” The Jubilee Family Shrine lives up to the name. It sits on the shores of Sleepy Eye Lake surrounded by woods, grassy fields and farmland. The chapel itself is cozy, with four rows of pews that can hold about 30 people.
“(The shrine) offers a quiet space where the soul can experience and be renewed in the love of Jesus and Mary,” said Sister Deanne Niehaus, a member of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary community that resides next to the shrine.
Schoenstatt is present in 35 countries around the world and its shrines are most concentrated in Germany and the Southern Cone region of South America. The Jubilee Family Shrine is one of 11 in the United States. Schoenstatt has been active in Minnesota since 1968 and today counts 200 participating families across the state.
While growing up in rural Rice County, Anne Halbur often made trips to Schoenstatt on the Lake for retreats. “(It) helped cultivate a personal relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen and Mother, which I cherish,” she said.
The Jubilee Family Shrine gets its name from the fact that several important anniversaries landed on the year it was dedicated,1976. It marked 50 years since the founding of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, 100 years since the founding of St. Mary parish in Sleepy Eye, and 200 years since the founding of the United States. From early on, the Schoenstatt community in Ivanhoe had a desire to build a shrine near one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. In December 1974, they held a crowning of the Mother Thrice Admirable — Schoenstatt’s principal image — and asked for Mary’s intercession in finding a suitable location. Two hours later, someone suggested the Sleepy Eye site. Shortly thereafter they acquired it from the Diocese of New Ulm.
“We like to say that Mary herself chose to have her Schoenstatt Shrine in Sleepy Eye,” Sister Niehaus said.
The shrine is open daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. year-round. During the months of May and October, visitors can join a daily rosary at 4 p.m. Schoenstatt on the Lake’s retreat center hosts a variety of retreats and youth camps throughout the year. On Sept. 20, 2026, Schoenstatt Minnesota will celebrate yet another jubilee year: the 50th anniversary of the Jubilee Family Shrine. All are invited to attend the celebration.
