Our Lady of Consolation is a significant part of our heritage. This statue was made in Luxembourg and is a close replica of the original statue in the Cathedral of Luxembourg (see photo below). Our Lady is in the Our Lady of Consolation Church in Carey, Wyandot County, Ohio. Father Gloden obtained a copy of the statue from Luxembourg. Father Gloden heard one of the members at St. Nicholas Church in Frenchtown was going to Luxembourg to visit relatives. This member was Nicholas Warnement, my Great, Great, Great Uncle. Father Gloden asked him to bring the statue back with him and in March 1875 Nicholas Warnement returned from Luxembourg with the statue.
Our Lady was carried in a procession from Frenchtown to Carey on 24 May 1875. According to Father Gloden's account of the procession, the evening before there was a violent storm and a heavy rain fell all night long. The people in the community still showed up at St. Nicholas Church at the appointed time with their umbrellas and began forming the procession. Father Gloden asked John Warnement, brother to Nicholas, to stand by with his covered surrey to place the statue in since it was still raining.
As soon as the statue of Our Lady was bought outside of St. Nicholas Church the rain stopped and the sun shined down on the procession. The sun shined on the procession all the way from Frenchtown to about a mile from Carey. While the sun was shining down on the procession, it was thundering and lightening on both sides of the procession. Father Gloden did not believe they would make it to the church in Carey without the rain pouring on them. He again called for John Warnement to follow close behind in his surrey in case it would start raining.
They miraculously reached the church without any rain falling on the statue of Our Lady. As soon as the statue was safely inside of the church the rain poured down. Hardly anyone from the procession had time to get inside the church or to take cover before the rain fell.
Several of my ancestors were members of the St. Nicholas Church in Frenchtown and participated in the procession from Frenchtown to Carey on 24 May 1875.
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