Belleville, Illinois - National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows

The Millennium Spire isn't the only nifty roadside attraction at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. It also has other things you can look at while driving:

- The 16' fiberglass statue of Our Lady of the Snows
- Lourdes Grotto
- The Agony Garden
- The Shrine's Way of the Cross
- Our Lady of Guadalupe Hill
- A playground with two huge hands holding a rock that one can climb on

The whole,"The interesting thing about the Millennium Spire is that it is outfitted with LED lights capable of transmitting prayers to God..." does not seem to be true. I could not find anything at the Spire that showed you could submit a prayer to be transmitted out. [Rachel B., 12/06/2008]

[RA: We've been to the Lourdes Grotto replica, but were distracted by a nighttime Indian pow wow going on there, and didn't get to see all of the other offerings of Our Lady of the Snows.]

At the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, there is a big metal sculpture called the "Millennium Spire." The structure looks like a piece of giant metal confetti.

The interesting thing about the Millennium Spire is that it is outfitted with LED lights capable of transmitting prayers to God. Worshipers submit their prayers to the shrine to be entered into a computer, which translates the prayers into binary code so the LED lights can beam them to heaven. (Apparently this was designed with an eye toward the geekier parishioners who secretly believe Bill Gates might be God. ...) [Emily Priddy, 02/15/2000]