Saint Maria Stein the Smiling Madonna

Saint Maria Stein is an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary that took place in Switzerland. The Blessed Virgin became known as the Smiling Madonna and St. Mary in the Rock. The chapel where the apparition took place is named Mariastein Abbey and houses the Benedictine Order.

Saint Maria Stein Prayer Intentions

Thousands of Catholics travel to Mariastein Abbey to visit the natural grotto where Saint Maria Stein appeared. The Blessed Virgin saved a child from a terrible fall when he walked off the cliff and fell to the valley below. Throughout the year, pilgrims visit the site of the miracle receiving help and encouragement from Saint Maria Stein, also called Our Lady of Consolation.

Many of the 150,000 visitors each year wear a Saint Maria Stein medallion or a Saint Maria Stein medal in veneration if the Blessed Virgin.

Prayer to St. Maria Stein Our Lady of Consolation

A Prayer in Time of Need
Saint Maria Stein, Loving Mother of Consolation, I turn to you now in this time of need. I come to you confused and fearful, anxious as a little child.

I know you really are my Mother. You see me with eyes filled with love and understanding. Touch me through your prayers and hold me in your love, that I might continue strong and unafraid in these days of difficulty and hurt.

Gentle Mother, I now confide to you my greatest need (pause and reflect). Please pray that the loving will of Our Father may always come first in my heart and in my mind.

Help me to reflect on the needs in your own life, Mary, the days when you, too, knew concern, fear, loneliness and grief. You always turned to Our Father and gave yourself to Him

completely. You knew His love and showed us how to live in it.
When I remember the love of your Blessed Son for me, I am less afraid. When I think of you I can smile. Pray for me, Mary. Guide me always in your love, and lead me to your Son, Jesus. Amen.