Fire Destroys Radio Priest's Original Shrine

ROYAL OAK (Mich.) March 17 – (AP) – Fire destroyed Father CHARLES E. COUGHLIN'S original Shrine of the Little Flower, a modest frame structure to-day. The imposing new half-million dollar shrine, as yet incomplete, was not damaged.
Father COUGHLIN, at the fire himself, estimated the loss at $30,000. He and firemen agreed faulty wiring was the cause.
Two Royal Oak fire companies, given assistance from neighboring Birmingham, brought the fire under control but not before seventy-five foot high flames had threatened to spread to the nearby shrine from which Father COUGHLIN makes his weekly radio broadcasts.
Nuns from the nearby Little Flower Convent helped church attendants save the blessed sacrament, the Little Flower statuary and most of the vestments.
Father COUGHLIN said the loss is covered by insurance.
The new shrine, built of masonry and steel, is only seventy-five feet from the squat, shingle-covered structure that burned. Its stone exterior was blackened by smoke, but no other damage was apparent.

The Fresno Bee The Republican California 1936-03-17
__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!