"Where the North American St. Nicholas Revolution Began"

Fr. Joseph Marquis

Founder / Executive Director

(For press releases and media coverage of Fr. Joseph, click here.)

Fr. Joseph Marquis is a Catholic priest (Byzantine Rite) who served for nearly 20 years as pastor of Sacred Heart Byzantine Catholic Church, Livonia, MI. Following his retirement in 2025, Marquis remains as docent of All Saints Shrine located within Sacred Heart. Fr. Joseph and his wife, Mary Marquis, are the Shrine’s co-founders and co-curators. The unique Shrine features over 300 first class relics, including those of Saint Nicholas of Myra. Online information concerning scheduled hours for individual prayer (open to the public) and/or group tours are available at: www.AllSaintsShrine.com.

For ten years, he was the Director of Pastoral Care at Detroit's Holy Cross Hospital, until its closure in the fall of 2003. Prior to that, Fr. Joseph was a resident chaplain for one year at Children's Hospital of Michigan (Detroit, MI), where he received a year of clinical pastoral formation within a pediatric setting. Accompanied by his puppet, "Terry the Dinosaur," Marquis drew upon his skills as a ventriloquist to entertain children being prepared for surgery. Needless to say, he was often called upon to arrange clinical visits from Santa Claus during the Christmas Season.

The Livonia Chamber of Commerce conferred its 2026 Legacy Award for his years of spiritual contributions to the community including: the creation of the Saint Nicholas Institute, 53 years as a professional Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus, clinical chaplaincy (pediatric and adult), creation of All Saints Shrine and Saint John Health Hospice Care.

Saint Nicholas’ radius bone from his upper right arm
shown in the color photo image, above.
The fragment measures 7” in length, beginning from
his elbow forward, as on the red highlighted
skeletal area on the chart, below.

To view a documentary and interview with Fr. Marquis about his journey to the priesthood which aired in 2018 on Shalom World Global Media