Attleboro Springs

Creating a Sanctuary Garden
at National Shrine of Our Land of La Salette

Attleboro, Massachusetts

Just one mile from the center of Attleboro, a small manufacturing city in southeastern Massachusetts, lies the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette. The Shrine attracts many visitors annually for retreats and a very popular Christmas light festival, but the Shrine and Retreat Center actually cover little of the over 120-acre property. The remaining acreage has been untouched for years, allowing it to return to its natural state of woodlands and fields, ponds and streams.

In recent years, the La Salette community at the Shrine has sought to extend their mission of reconciliation and healing to foster healing between human and nature. Their dream was to create a spiritual garden and trails through this wild property, to foster education about, and respect for, the natural world. In 2005, Reverend Roger Plante of the La Salette community attended a conference on conserving land presented by the Religious Lands Conservancy (RLC), and talks about the future of this land began.

With the aid of Mass Audubon, a proposal to preserve the wonderful features of this property was created. This proposal was approved by the local community, and then by the National La Salette Chapter. With the collaboration and strong support of local officials and the local land trust, 117 acres of forest, wetlands and field at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette were permanently dedicated to conservation. This land, to be called Attleboro Springs, will be the La Salette legacy to the community—a place of contemplation, reconciliation and healing into the future.

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