Rusty and Julie Ingram suffered with unexplained infertility for years following their 2007 marriage. A doctor suggested in vitro fertilization. They rejected that as it goes against Catholic teaching, instead committing to a 45-minute drive once a week from their Jacksonville, Florida, home to visit the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in St. Augustine, Florida.

Founded in 1609, it is the oldest Marian shrine in the U.S. Our Lady of La Leche (Nuestra Señora de la Leche y Buen Parto), meaning “Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery” is recognized as the second-oldest Marian devotion (after Our Lady of the Pillar), tracing back to the early Church.

“We trusted that if being parents was what God was calling us to, he would make it happen,” Rusty explained. “We were going to accept whatever he wanted.” 

“I had been closed off to adoption before,” Julie admitted. “After going for nine months, my heart became open to that possibility, but then we conceived. I think God wanted us to open up our hearts to his will.” Their daughter Rebecca is now 14. 

The Ingrams returned to the shrine monthly in thanksgiving and soon prayed for a second child. Their son Joshua is 11 years old. They continued making frequent trips in thanksgiving for their children and sometimes in petition for more children. They now have four children on earth and four in heaven — and they are currently exploring the possibility of adoption.

The Ingrams are not alone in seeking out the intercession of Mother Mary, whose pregnancy the Church celebrates on the feast of the Visitation each year on May 31.

With Jesus having grown in the womb of Mary, and having been nourished by her milk after his birth, devotional images showing Mary as pregnant (Our Lady of Guadalupe for instance) or as a nursing mother, like Our Lady of La Leche, portray the unique relationship between the Blessed Mother and her Divine Son. 

Many couples experiencing infertility are drawn to the Blessed Mother under these titles, praying to her to ask her Son to fulfill their desire for a child. There are many reported answers to these prayers, along with peace and understanding of God’s mission for marriage regardless of whether it results in a baby. 

Mary Soha, a retired pediatrician and vice postulator for the cause for canonization of the Martyrs of La Florida, is a longtime devotee of the La Leche shrine, which is located right next to her home and on the grounds of the Mission Nombre de Dios. Soha explained to the Register that the devotion was brought to Florida in the 16th century. Settlers built a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of La Leche soon after Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez placed the land under the protection of Spain upon landing on the shore on Sept 8, 1565. The first Catholic Mass in the continental U.S. was celebrated in thanksgiving that day on the Mission Nombre de Dios site, which also marks the starting point for the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which began on Pentecost Sunday.

“I’ve grown up coming here all my life,” Soha said. “People come for many intentions. When you come here, you are praying for a life to care for in whatever form that comes, that is a sharing in God’s creative love. To interact with God in the right order, the first and last step in any petitionary prayer is, ‘Thy will be done.’”

She pointed to a couple she knows who prayed for a child and ended up adopting a baby girl. “She’s getting married this year,” Soha said. “Her family is very supportive of the shrine, and she worked here in summers.”

Father Christopher Liguori, pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Jacksonville, frequently leads pilgrimages to the shrine. “Mary nursing the Infant Jesus reveals God’s closeness to human longing,” he told the Register. “Couples who struggle with infertility find in her not only a mother who understands the ache of waiting, but a woman who carried the impossible promise of life when all seemed barren.” 

For couples praying for a child, he said: “Mary knows the vulnerability of motherhood, the fragility of new life, and the hope that comes with waiting.”

Father Liguori recalled one day giving a tour of the shrine, noticing a husband holding two toddlers, one in each arm, in front of the historic chapel. “His wife was taking a picture,” he said. “I ran over and offered to take a picture of all of them together. They explained that they came up from Miami to offer thanks to Our Lady, after they had visited the shrine asking for her intercession for conception. They conceived twins!”

Patroness of Infertile Couples

Another Marian devotion for couples facing infertility is Our Lady of Guadalupe, the 1531 apparition to peasant St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill (now Mexico City), in which a visibly pregnant Mary left her image imprinted on his tilma. The symbolism of her image informed the Indigenous people that it was the Virgin Mary, carrying the Christ Child in her womb. 

The main Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is located in Mexico City. In the U.S., the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, is affiliated with the basilica in Mexico City, while the designated National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is in Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

Becket Ghioto, director of communications for the shrine in La Crosse, told the Register that people bring many prayer intentions to Our Lady, including asking her to pray for the blessing of a child. He and his wife Christina helped establish an annual Catholic Infertility Conference held at the shrine, which offers spiritual guidance and comfort. Three couples who attended the conference last year have conceived children, one after 12 years of marriage.

Infertility is a cross that the Ghiotos carry personally. They were married on Dec. 12, 2016, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They would love to care for children but have lost their only two babies to miscarriage.

“I think women carry the heavier burden with infertility,” Becket said. “As a husband, my job is to walk with my wife on this journey. I think what Our Lady has taught me is that she could not carry her Son’s cross, but she could be present to her Son who was suffering so greatly.”  The Ghiotos run a bed and breakfast near the shrine and consider it a way to minister to pilgrims as spiritual children. 

Christina pointed out that while Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared pregnant, Juan Diego was a widower, and there’s no evidence he had any children. “I take comfort,” Christina shared, “in Our Lady of Guadalupe’s message: ‘Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle; in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?’”

“The question is rhetorical,” Christina said. “God gives us everything we need. Our Lady gives us what we need by holding us in her arms. She understands suffering even more than we do because she was not tainted by sin and she experiences it with us. I go sit with her every day at the shrine church. Much of the time I picture myself under her mantle and that she holds me there.” 

“When I look at Our Lady of Guadalupe, she has Jesus in her womb,” Christina added. “I ask her to make my heart like hers so that Jesus will be with me.” 

The Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, in Orlando, Florida, has a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Msgr. Joseph Harte, the shrine’s founder (now deceased), shared in a previous Register article that many women have been healed from infertility after praying for the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Gail Coniglio from Florida is one of them. She recounted that, in 2002, during a family trip to Orlando, they attended Sunday Mass at the basilica. “After Mass, I was drawn to the shrine’s side chapel, which has a beautiful mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego,” she said. 

“When I had learned that Our Lady of Guadalupe was the only apparition in which Mary was with child, I prayed to her that I would have a third child. On our way home in the car, I felt a strong desire to put a statue of Our Lady in our front yard to honor her and to thank her for always helping me. The very next day, my next-door neighbor knocked on my door and said: ‘Gail, I have been meaning to ask you something for a while and I keep forgetting. I have had a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary sitting in my garage for over 10 years, and I really want to give it away to someone that would want it — would you like it?’ 

“I couldn’t believe my ears! I started crying, overwhelmed with joy that Our Lady was there all this time, waiting for me to open my heart to her. I continued to pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe for another child, and I soon became pregnant with my daughter Gianna. She was born in September 2004. I chose Marie as her middle name in honor of our Blessed Mother. The summer after that, we went back to Orlando to the same shrine, and I brought my daughter Gianna into the same chapel and knelt down with tears of gratitude.”

This story was updated on June 1, 2026.