National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

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Location: 400 Michigan Ave., NE, Washington, DC

Washington DC Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Roman Catholic church in the Western Hemisphere, has become a spiritual home to hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who journey there each year from every state and many foreign lands.

Together, they symbolize the Church's catholicity - its universal nature. It is synonymous with the story of 20th-century Catholicism in the United States. Each of the more than 60 chapels and oratories represents some history of the multi-ethnic community that comprises the universal Church. The National Shrine is literally, "America's Patronal Church." When the United States' first Catholic bishop, John Carroll, placed the young nation under Mary's protection, he foretold the faith and devotion of its Catholics through ensuing generations - including those who conceived of and built the National Shrine, and those who visit it and support its ministry today.

Every stone and artistic nuance of the Shrine proclaims the nation's relationship with Mary, a spiritual bond formalized in 1847 with Pope Pius IX's proclamation of Mary as "Patroness of the United States" under the title of her Immaculate Conception. Guided tours are offered at 9am and 1pm Monday-Saturday, and 1:30pm Sunday.