Where’s that? In Canada’s Québec province.
Our Lady’s connection: Intercession in construction of a church.
In the 1870s, Fr Luc Desilets of Cap-de-la-Madeleine parish in Trois-Rivières in Canada’s Québec region, decided that the old church, built as a humble field chapel in 1720, needed replacing. But securing building materials for the construction of a new church was a serious challenge. The St Lawrence River cut off supply routes and bridges were still scarce.
The parish prayed fervently to Our Lady for help. The winter of 1879 was unusually mild, but during a brief cold spell an ice bridge formed over the river — just long enough for all the stones and timber to be hauled across. This remarkable event was taken as an answer to their prayers.
The new parish church was completed in 1888. The faithful, however, chose to preserve the original 1720 chapel where they had prayed for Mary’s intercession. It soon was the site of the “Miracle of the Eyes”, also in 1888. During an all-night vigil, several parishioners testified that the statue of Our Lady in the old chapel opened her eyes and looked upon them with maternal love. The little chapel, today known as the Old Shrine, soon became a place of pilgrimage.
In 1902, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate were entrusted with the care of the shrine. They installed a Way of the Rosary to guide pilgrims in prayer and devotion. Over time, the number of pilgrims increased dramatically.
The 1888 church was demolished in 1963 to make space for a plaza in front of the new basilica, completed the following year. The Old Shrine, however, still stands. As Canada’s oldest preserved church dedicated to Mary, it is a part of the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap, now Canada’s national shrine.
Published in the March 2026 issue of The Southern Cross Magazine
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