Cambria City Historic District skyline including Casimir Cultural Center, Bottle Work Ethnic Arts Center, Resurrection Church, and more.

Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Máriapócs

Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
Shrine and Garden of Our Lady of Mariapocs in Cambria City Historic District located in Johnstown Pennsylvania
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winter 2
Garden Looking In
Shrine, Icon in Winter
Old Shrine, Out Looking In
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stellajohnstown.com – 409 6th Ave – (814) 262-5643

Attraction Information and History

Stella, Property Development and Event Production is honored to have created this representation of an Eastern European Roadside Shrine Garden in the Cambria City Historic District. It is open to the public, but privately owned. 

While there are many prayer and reflection areas of the Shrine and Garden (the Stations of the Cross, The Grotto of the Infant of Prague, The Wall of Saints and the Arch of St. Michael the Archangel) the prominent feature of the garden is the Shrine to Our Lady of Mariapocs.
This icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary was chosen for its cultural significance and connection to the heritage of Cambria City.
 
The icon, originating in the city of Mariapocs, Hungary, faces the site of the former St. Emerich’s Magyar (Hungarian) Roman Catholic Church.
 
The original Our Lady of Mariapocs icon is also of great importance to the Carpatho-Rusyn and Byzantine Catholic people of Hungary. She is invoked for the unity of all people, but especially the Latin and Byzantine Rites of the Catholic Church, both of which are present in Cambria City. Parishioners of both parishes, St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic and Resurrection Roman Catholic, frequent the Shrine.
 
Many of the original immigrants who founded St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church were from the area of Hungary around Mariapocs. There are currently descendants of immigrants who lived in the village of Mariapocs living in our neighborhood to this day.
The sign above the gate of the garden is the city crest of Mariapocs, Hungary.
A very special part of the garden is Our Lady’s Peach Tree. It has become a part of the beauty of Mariapocs, dedicated to Our Lady and graced with a print of Joseph Michael Stella’s painting, The Virgin*, these white peaches are harvested and freely shared with visitors to the Shrine and churches around our region to be blessed and distributed. It symbolizes the grace of harvest and blessings being shared with others. In 2019, over 1000 peaches came from the tree. While a late frost killed the peach buds in 2020, the tree did produce three offspring that are now being nurtured to create a row of Our Lady’s Peaches.
 
*The Virgin is a painting that enshrines the Blessed Mother with peach blossoms and other flowers. The artist’s name is special since it shares our company’s namesake, Stella, and her husband’s name, Michael Joseph. A sign of things that are meant to be.

The Infant of Prague is a cherished devotion across many cultures. Inspired by a visit to the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa, this grotto has been lovingly built and created from a myriad of bricks, rocks and glass from various important buildings and locations, including the Casimir Cultural Center (the former St. Casimir’s Polish Catholic Church), the former St. Brigid’s Catholic School in Lilly, and brick that survived the fire at St. Brigid’s Catholic Church, Lilly in 1971.

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