Blessed Sacrament middle-school students make pilgrimage to Escalante’s cross in Utah County

Courtesy photo/John McHugh

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A Blessed Sacrament student genuflects and blesses herself upon reaching Escalante’s Cross; the other students had done the same previously.

John McHugh

Special to the Intermountain Catholic

SPANISH FORK CANYON — In late July of 1776 Franciscan Fathers Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante set out on an expedition, hoping to establish the best overland route between the Spanish-Catholic mission in Santa Fe, New Mexico and those in Monterey, California. In September 1776 the members of the expedition spent more than two weeks in Utah County, where they encountered Ute Indians, some of whom asked to be baptized into the Catholic faith. Before leaving, the priests blessed Utah Valley and erected a large wooden cross at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. Known as Escalante’s Cross, this marked the spot where Catholicism emerged in Utah. The Bureau of Land Management has deemed this place a National Historical Site, and has erected a 37-foot metal replica to mark the spot where Escalante’s original cross once stood. On May 10, middle-school students from Blessed Sacrament Catholic School in Sandy traveled to the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon and made a pilgrimage to Escalante’s Cross. Led by teachers Joe Martin and John McHugh, the students climbed 450 feet up the muddy trail with their rosary beads in hand. Upon reaching Escalante’s Cross, each child genuflected and took in the view while being pelted by 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts.

Once everyone had caught their breath, Martin, the school’s religion teacher, led a rosary that focused on the Sorrowful Mysteries to reconnect the group to their Catholic faith, which was first sown on that spot 250 years earlier.

The school plans to make the pilgrimage an annual event.

John McHugh is a teacher at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School.