Our Lady of Lourdes adds shrine to church

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER – Our Lady of Lourdes Parish now has an indoor shrine honoring its patroness, thanks to a 98-year-old who has had a devotion to the Blessed Mother since his youth.
The statue of Our Lady of Lourdes that graces the shrine in the church’s former baptistry isn’t the only statue Charles Genovesi has donated to places in the diocese. And statues that he has displayed in his yard have been drawing the attention of passersby for years.
“I always had, deep in my heart, (a devotion to) the Blessed Mother,” Mr. Genovesi said. “When my father was sick,” with what doctors thought was cancer, “we prayed to the Blessed Mother.” His family bought a statue of Mary and set it up in the yard, he said. The doctors decided his father did not have cancer, but that an injection had caused his health problems.
Mr. Genovesi said it was wonderful to see Bishop McManus bless the shrine at Our Lady of Lourdes in October, the month of the rosary; he didn’t think he would live to see it blessed, as he had health problems.
“I lit a candle for my family: my mother, my father, my brother and my sister-in-law,” all deceased, he said.
Explaining how the shrine came to be, Mr. Genovesi said the pastor, Father Brian P. O’Toole, was interested in having an indoor statue of the parish’s patroness. (There is a painting of her in the church and a statue outside.)
“I told him to pick one out and I’d pay for it,” Mr. Genovesi said. “He picked it out.” Mr. Genovesi also paid for the two candle stands for the shrine.
“He pretty much took care of the whole shrine,” which also includes a memorial plaque to the Genovesi family, Father O’Toole said Nov. 10. “I think it does add a sense of reverence to the patroness of our parish. These past two weeks … I constantly have to change out the candles,” since so many people are lighting them.
“My mother and father were buried from Our Lady of Lourdes, and I wanted something to remember us by,” Mr. Genovesi said of his family, when asked why he paid for the shrine. He said he never married and has no children, and his closest relatives are all deceased.
The statue of Our Lady of Lourdes isn’t his only memorial to his family.
“My mother was in St. Francis Home, and my father was too,” he said. So he bought a statue of the Blessed Mother for that institution in memory of his family. He said he also bought more minor things for the chapel there.
And that’s not all he’s done.
“When I volunteered at Notre Dame Health Care on Plantation Street they didn’t have any statues at all,” Mr. Genovesi maintained. “So I bought a statue of St. Joseph and a statue of the Blessed Mother” for the chapel there. “I used to lead the rosary (and the) Stations of the Cross. I used to set up for Mass every day” at the Notre Dame du Lac assisted living facility. “I helped them out (with) whatever they asked me to do … at least 10 years.”
He said he started volunteering there after he got his friend Judge Lucian A. Manzi, for whom he was caregiver, into that facility. Mr. Genovesi said he donated the statue of St. Joseph in memory of his own family and the statue of Mary in memory of Judge Manzi, whom he visited daily.
“I miss going there,” he said, but his health is too bad to continue doing so. Mr. Genovesi has his own friend and caregiver now in Elio Sonsini, who lives with him near Our Lady of Lourdes.
“In my back yard I had about 15 different statues and I gave them all away because I couldn’t handle them anymore,” Mr. Genovesi said. “I have a little shrine in my front yard with the Blessed Mother and two angels. And I have it lit up at night.” He said one person came right up on the lawn to see it, and others slow down or park to take a look.
He said he’s had the statue of Mary about 70 years; it’s the one his family got when they thought his father had cancer. He has painted it every year when needed, and brought it with him when he moved from one house to another.
“Then I have the crucifix right on the front lawn,” he said, adding that he bought it because he saw wayside crosses or crucifixes on other lawns.

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