Mother Cabrini Shrine sits on a quiet foothills ridge above Golden, where a stone stairway of 373 steps climbs to a 22-foot white statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with all of Denver spread out below. It is free, open every day, and one of the most peaceful viewpoints on the Front Range.

The story starts with St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American citizen to be named a saint and the patron saint of immigrants. While visiting Italian mining families in the Clear Creek and South Park districts, she found a property on the east slope of Lookout Mountain and in 1909 and 1910 bought it as a summer camp for girls from Denver’s Queen of Heaven Orphanage. In September 1912, when the sisters complained there was no water, she told them to lift a certain rock and dig. The spring they found still runs today and is housed in an 8,000-gallon tank under a sandstone grotto modeled on Lourdes.

That same year Mother Cabrini led a small group to the top of the highest hill and arranged white stones in the shape of a heart topped by a cross. The Heart of Stones is still there under glass. In 1954, a 22-foot statue of the Sacred Heart, carved by an Italian artist, was set on an 11-foot base above it, and the 373-step Stairway of Prayer was finished in just 67 days, lined with mosaic Stations of the Cross. Down below you can visit the 1914 Stone House (listed on the National Register of Historic Places), the 1970 main chapel with stained-glass windows of Cabrini’s life, a Rosary Garden, a small Cabrini Museum in the old pump house, and the candlelit grotto chapel. It’s an easy pairing with Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave on the same mountain.

Insider tip: Come in the late afternoon for soft light over Denver, but watch the clock, because the grounds close at 4:30 p.m. The stairs are steep and can be icy in winter, so wear shoes with grip. Take I-70 to Exit 259 from Denver (or Exit 256 from the mountains), follow US-40 and the signs to Cabrini Boulevard. Leashed dogs are welcome on the grounds but not in the chapels.

The Feast of St. Frances Cabrini is celebrated with Mass at 12 p.m. on Friday, November 13, 2026 (there is no 7:30 a.m. Mass that day). Holiday Masses follow on Thanksgiving Day at 9 a.m., Christmas Eve at 4 p.m., Christmas Day at 9 a.m. and New Year’s Day at 9 a.m. The shrine’s 2026 gala takes place November 20 at the Pinnacle Club at the Grand Hyatt in Denver. See mothercabrinishrine.org for updates.