Also known as Notre
Dame du Cap, Our Lady of the Cape is located in the former city of Cap de la
Madeleine which has been absorbed into the city Les Trois Rivières, or Three
Rivers. In reality, there are only two rivers, the St. Maurice River and the
St. Lawrence but the existence of two long and narrow islands gave it the
appearance of branching off into three separate rivers when it was discovered
and settled by the French in the 1500s. Dedicated to the Rosary, the area was
consecrated to the Immaculate Conception by Jesuit missionaries around 1634.
Small shrines began popping up along the St. Maurice River, and it became a
tradition to travel to these different shrines by families or groups to pray to
the Virgin Mary. This devotion led to one of Canada’s first Confraternities of
the Holy Rosary in 1694, one that is still present in the shrine.
As the region
was settled, a small wooden church was built and dedicated to St. Mary
Magdalen, hence the name of the city Cap de la Madeleine. After the Jesuits
left, Fr. Paul Vachon took charge and built the shrine chapel in 1714 which
still stands today. Unfortunately, Canada fell upon hard times as control of
the country was handed over from the Catholic French to Protestant England. In
a time where the faith was extremely low, a statue was donated by Mr. Zephirin
Dorval in 1854 as he was leaving to participate in the gold rush. Designed by
an Italian sculptor, the statue was one of eleven made in Canada and depicted
Our Lady as she appeared to Catherine Labouré in Paris in the apparition of the
Miraculous Medal. The statue replaced an older one referred to as “The Golden
Virgin”, but that one was lost and has not been seen since.
Fr. Luc Desilets
was given the task in 1864 to revive the parish, of which there were only 10
active parishioners. It wasn’t until 2 years later that he was able to make a
change. One day, after waiting in vain for hours to hear a confession, he went
to the chapel and lament in front of the tabernacle in frustration. When he
entered the church though, he saw a pig next to the Lady Alter, grinding its
teeth on a rosary that had fallen to the floor. Blaming himself for the
desecration, he vowed to devote his life to the Rosary. The next day, Fr. Desilets
told the story to the congregation and, holding up the rosary, said, “The
people drop the Rosary and the pigs pick it up”. His zeal enlivened the church
which also instilled a devotion to the Rosary in the city.
A couple of
miracles are attributed to Our Lady of the Cape. When it became necessary to
build a larger church because the rise in active Catholics, the plan was to
tear down the old church and use its stone in the larger one. When all the
stone was ready on the opposite shore, the people waited for the St. Lawrence
to freeze over so they could transport it to the new location for construction.
That winter of 1878-79 was a particularly mild one though and by the time March
came around, any hope for a freeze was virtually non-existent. Fr. Desilets
prayed fervently to Our Lady, asking that if she produced a path across the
river to carry enough stone so they could build the new church up to the
windowsills, the old church would remain standing and be dedicated to her as a
shrine of the Holy Rosary. Miraculously, on March 15th, a strong
gale picked up and broke up the ice floes against the shore, pushing them
together to form a bridge. A few men braved the bridge, often walking only on
frozen snow in between the floes. It has become known as the Bridge of Rosaries
due to the rosaries said by Fr. Desilets and the men as they worked.
True to his
promise, Fr. Desilets renovated the old chapel and the statue of Our Lady of
the Cape was enshrined in a formal dedication on June 22nd, 1888. On
the evening of the dedication, Fr. Desilets, Fr. Frederick, who was a visiting
priest, and Pierre Lacrroix, a sick man the former were assisting, looked upon
the statue of Our Lady of the Cape. Her eyes were open, looking westward with
sorrow. All three men saw it but guarded against it in case it was an illusion.
When looking again, her eyes remained open “with a living glance of sweetness
and sorrow that impressed itself indelibly on each of their hearts”. The statue
was crowned by Pope St. Pius X in 1904 and the Plenary Council of Quebec made
Cap de la Madeleine a national shrine. Many people pilgrimage to the shrine for
Our Lady of the Cape’s blessings.
Shaw,
James G. Canada's Shrine to Mary: the
Story of Our Lady of the Cape. Editions Notre Dame Du Cap, 1984.
