An American Pilgrim's Story

The following is a blog posting from an extraordinary young man who is biking his way across America and his experiences at Sylvan Springs in Rome City and his introduction to Our Lady of America's home and birthplace.



"Everyone always leaves America to find spirituality. From Delhi and Jerusalem to Guadeloupe and Lourdes, there are guides and travelogues of voyagers who have found themselves, found their ancestors, or found God.

But what about our country? Founded as a haven for the free practice of religion, the United States is the birthplace of the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Pentecostal movement, and the Nation of Islam.

There has yet to be an extensive exploration of the distinctive spiritual sites in America, and that is why I have set out on this journey. From the middle of June to the middle of March, I will traverse the country, north to south and east to west, exploring the great variety of faiths that have fostered our country’s four Great Awakenings.

I am Matthew Streib, a 26-year-old who studied the history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam as an undergraduate at Cornell University. I then went on to earn a master’s degree in religion and journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. I have traveled through more than 30 countries, and my articles on religion have appeared in newspapers such as USA Today, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, and The Chicago Tribune.

I chose to undertake this journey by bicycle, because there’s so much you can miss speeding along the interstate. This is an exploration of average, everyday belief, the backbone that drives our nation. The destinations are only part of the trip. Along the way, I will be visiting churches, temples, synagogues and mosques, randomly sampling the tapestry of the American religious experience.

On my blog, you can read about my travels, discover the religious sites that I pass along the way, and watch videos where the people I meet describe the role of faith in their lives. And, if you subscribe to my podcast, you will receive more detailed, emotive descriptions of sites and experiences from the mouths of the people involved."


A Spooky Night by the Church with Healing Waters
Aug 20, 11:10 PM
As I write this, I am in a tent on the grounds of the Church of the Immaculate Virgin in Rome City, Indiana. It’s a bit creepy. This isn’t just any church. This is where the Virgin Mary appeared to a nun as Our Lady of America. This is a place with waters that are known to cure cancer. This is a place where a room oozes olive oil from its walls.

It’s also not in use right now. A huge estate with 480 beds just in its main building, it’s a little bit reminiscent of “The Shining.” I was taken on a long tour today by a wonderful man named Nick Chester, who volunteers his retired years acting as a guide, historian, and maintenance man for the place. He took me around for three hours, through empty cafeterias, hotel suites, prayer rooms, etc., telling me the glorious history of the place.

But while many good things have happened here, I was still a bit creeped out. There were abandoned wheelchairs from invalids who had come for healing. Floors were sealed off, everything echoed, and I expected to see a pair of troublesome twins any second. That, or the Virgin Mary. My imagination was imagining the worst, but my wiser side knew that if anything appeared, it probably wasn’t going to be malicious.
I couldn’t believe that Nick offered to let me sleep on the grounds even after he’d left. It’s a bit scary – there are red lights shining through the church windows. I know that they’re only exit signs, but still. And I’m right by the cemetery. Hopefully, I’ll last the night.


There is so much history here, that I can’t go into it in one blog post. So today, I’ll go over the earlier, pre-apparition stuff, and tomorrow I’ll tell about the really cool things.


The oldest part of the building was built in 1895, with the rest coming a few years later. It was founded as Kneipp Sanitarium by Dr. W.C. Geiermann. It had been named after Sebastian Kneipp, a Bavarian doctor who later became a Catholic priest. As a young man, he had consumption, and was not expected to survive. But he surmised that by bathing in the chilly Danube, he could make his heart improve his circulation, and cure himself. It worked.


There are tons of natural springs in Rome City, which produce a chilly water at a constant 54 degrees Fahrenheit. They’re rich in lithium, which acts as a mood enhancer, and had been used by American Indians as a peaceful, neutral healing spot among tribes for centuries before Europeans came.


As the beginning of the 1900s was much more prudish than than today, men and women waded separately, very far from each other so there could be no visible partial nudity (i.e. an ankle).


Soon after he opened the sanitarium, however, Geiermann found he had more clients than he could handle, and appealed to the Catholic Church for aid. Soon, an order of nuns, the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, moved in to study with him and help out. After a few years, however, they took over, and Geiermann moved on.


The Kneipp treatment was more than just water treatment, however, and included wholesome diet, hygienic clothing, and systematic regular exercise. Everything was regimented and scheduled, in the belief that it aids the body’s processes. Herbs were intrinsic in the healing, and were grown by the sisters on the land, which included a farm, a dairy, and a butchery so it could be self-sufficient. That ended with modern food laws, however, which made local production for restaurants impossible and enabled unhealthy food to dominate our national food supply.


Inside the buildings, there are remnants of a beautiful old retreat, such as tin ceilings, stenciling, wooden floors, and hand-laid tile. Much of that is not readily visible, as it was covered due to remodeling and modern fire-safety laws. Take a look at this restored sitting room for men. You can see the tin ceiling in the middle, but the rest has been covered to install a sprinkler system:

Despite the other offerings, water remained the centerpiece of the establishment, which included a bathhouse, steam room, ponds, and many other liquid amenities. The water is still actively flowing from the ground, and provides clean drinking water with no treatment necessary.
People come from all around to get some of the water from Rome City, as they believe it has curing powers, whether drunk or bathed in. Nick took me down into some old tunnels to the source of the spring to fill my water bottles: So, that’s some of the history of this place as a health resort. Tomorrow, I’ll get into the religious apparitions that occur here. If I make it through the night…