NORTHFIELD — The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has decreed that the Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel at Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) will be an official pilgrimage site for the people of the diocese in observance of the 2025 Jubilee Year.

The Most Rev. William D. Byrne said he chose the chapel, which was rededicated in March 2022, because he wants people to see one of the diocese’s newest gems.

“Since TAC is relatively new to the Diocese of Springfield, I think it is important for people to know about its presence here, not just as a sightseeing stop but as a place of learning and prayer where we can give God glory, honor and praise,” the bishop said in a statement prepared by the college.

Held at least once every 25 years, a Jubilee Year is a time for forgiveness of sins, thanksgiving, joyful celebration and pilgrimage. Pope Francis, recently honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, formally began the Jubilee Year in Rome on Christmas Eve with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest Catholic church in the world. It will conclude on the Feast of the Holy Family on Dec. 28.

During the Jubilee Year, pilgrims to the chapel who fulfill the usual conditions — detachment from sin, sacramental confession, Holy Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father — will be able to obtain full removal of temporal punishment for sin by engaging in Eucharistic adoration and meditation, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer, the Catholic profession of faith and invocations to the Virgin Mary. Eucharistic adoration is a Catholic practice and devotion to what is known as “the Real Presence” — the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist in the truest sense, not merely symbolically or metaphorically.

The Rev. Greg Markey, head chaplain and assistant to the dean for religious affairs, said he found out in early October that the chapel would be a designated official pilgrimage site.

“We’re happy continuing that role as a landmark and destination for people to come visit,” Markey said. “It’s the center of worship for us. It’s the heart of the college. We’re very happy with the success of the renovation, and it’s where the students and the faculty find their inspiration to do their work every day. There’s always someone in the chapel, praying. It’s a very active chapel.”

In front of at least 300 people on March 7, 2022, Byrne visited Thomas Aquinas College for a rededication of the chapel and celebrated a 2½-hour Mass. He administered the sacred rite of dedication of a church and an altar, sprinkling the building with holy water, anointing its altar and walls, and blessing a newly installed icon of its patroness, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, a Byzantine icon believed to have originated during the 13th to 15th centuries. Byrne was joined at the altar by Markey and the Rev. Carlos Viego, as well as alumni priests and local clergy.

The college, with its flagship campus in California, acquired in 2017 what had formerly been Northfield Mount Hermon School’s Northfield campus and held its first semester in the fall of 2019, just weeks after the chapel received its new name.

Designed for Protestant worship and known as the Sage Chapel, the structure was built in 1909 and was a gift from Margaret Olivia Sage, which is why it bears the name of her late husband, the American financier, railroad executive and U.S. Rep. Russell Sage. The college gradually renovated the chapel for Catholic use — adding a central aisle, confessionals, the Stations of the Cross, two altars, a tabernacle and a reredos (ornamental screen or wall behind an altar) in the sanctuary.

“We are honored that His Excellency would designate Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel as a pilgrimage site, and we look forward to welcoming faithful pilgrims throughout the year,” College President Paul J. O’Reilly said in a statement. “The chapel is already a fount of grace for our campus. In this year of Jubilee, may it become one for the entire diocese.”

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-930-4120.