Description of the Chapel

The chapel is constructed entirely of stone in the early Rhenish-Romanesque style.  It is 69 feet long and 43 feet wide.  Its height to the gable is 50 feet and to the right of the sanctuary the tower walls reach 67 feet.  The spire, in typical Romanesque style, is short.

Above the main entrance is a magnificent 12-paned rosette window.  Above the window, in a niche, is a beautiful statue of the Archangel Gabriel.  It was sculpted in Italy and donated by Mr. Jacob Moershel of Jefferson City, in memory of his wife, Bertha.  The roof is of slate.To the front of the Shrine, adjoining the spacious platform, is a pulpit of stone.  Its ironwork, in which the Evangelists are depicted, originally adorned the pulpit in the log chapel; it now graces the new pulpit so that a touch of the old merges with the new.

Before entering the chapel, one sees a lovely bas relief of Mary Queen of the rosary, with St. Dominic on one side, and St. Catherine of Siena on the other.  Two angels kneel in veneration.  Beneath it are the words, "Blessed is the man that watches daily at my gates and waits at the post of my doors."

To the left of the main entrance is the aisle leading to the altar of Our Sorrowful Mother.  It looks like a small chapel of its own.  Before this altar lie crutches and braces, as well as plaques of thanks, all bearing testimony to the graces received by the pilgrims through the intercession of Our Lady.

One of those who placed a plaque there was a young student who noticed a growth which had suddenly appeared on his hand.  He prayed and used the holy water from the Lourdes well; the growth disappeared, and never returned.  The student later became Monsignor Hellriegel, who was ordained in 1914 and said his first mass in the chapel.