The Shrine of Our Lady of the Island was established by the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (the Montfort Fathers) to be a center of authentic Marian Spirituality & Devotion, and to be a resource for the renewal of Catholic life in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

Faithful to the inspiration of our Founder, St. Louis Marie de Montfort, the priests of the Company of Mary take seriously Fr. de Montfort’s profound insight that the secret to a truly powerful renewal of the spirit of Christianity in the hearts of the faithful is a deep and authentic devotion to the Most Holy Virgin Mary.

The Shrine itself is the result of the vision and inspiration of Fr. Roger Mary Charest, SMM, and Fr. Francis Tomai, SMM, who in their tireless efforts to promote the rich spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort proposed the original plan for a Shrine dedicated to Our Lady, the Queen of All Hearts, located in Eastern Long Island that would be a true center where the faithful could find the formation and support necessary to enter into the fullness of Christian living by means of a Consecration of themselves to Our Lord through Our Blessed Lady.

This preaching in fact, so moved members of a local family, the Vigliottas, that not only did they themselves make an act of Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary in the Montfortian tradition but also put the “I am all thine and all that I have is thine” which lies at the heart of Montfortian spirituality into beautiful and dramatic action by means of the generous gift of the land upon which the bulk of the Shrine is built. A few years later another local family, the Harrisons, following this same inspiration made the generous gift of the parcel of land which includes the great Rock upon which our statue of Our Lady of the Island is enthroned.

In the seventy years since Fr. Charest and Fr. Tomai first articulated their vision for a Shrine founded upon a spirit of generous availability and surrender to Our Lady this very spirit has animated the activity and ministry of the Montfortian priests as well as our employees, volunteers and benefactors who have labored to build and maintain the Shrine that it may continue to be a powerful wellspring of blessing and renewal for all who visit.

It is our hope and prayer that each of us, and all of us, may truly live according to this same generous spirit to which St. Louis de Montfort gives such beautiful expression:

Tuus totus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt, O
Virgo Maria, super omnes benedicta!

I am all thine, and all that I have is thine, O Virgin
Mary, blessed above all others!