Our Lady of the Cape

Our Lady of the Cape (Notre-Dame-du-Cap in French) is a title given to Mary the Mother of God in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec Canada. The title pertains more specifically to a statue of the Blessed Mother which is currently located in the Old Shrine. Deep Marian Devotion existed in Cap-de-la-Madeleine since 1694 with the institution of the Brotherhood of the Rosary under Father Paul Vachon.^[1] There was a decline in devotion after the death of Fr. Vachon (1729) which lasted 115 years, until devotion to Mary was revived under Father Luc Desilets in 1867. After he had seen a pig holding a rosary in its mouth Fr. Desilets decided to consecrate himself to the Blessed Virgin and reinstate devotion to her.^[2]

The Miracle of the Ice Bridge

During Fr. Desilets' revival of Marian devotion the number of people attending the parish church began to increase until the church was no longer large enough to hold the parishioners. In 1878 it was decided that a larger church was needed and that it would be built with stones from the opposite side of the St. Lawrence River which is approximately 1 1/4 miles across at Cap-de-la-Madeleine. The decision was made to bring the stones across the river on sleds once it had frozen in the winter. Unfortunately the 1878-1879 winter was unusually mild and the St. Lawrence did not freeze over as planned. This seemed to hinder plans for construction of the new church.^[3] Fr. Desilets instructed his congregation to pray the rosary in order to obtain ice to cross the river, he also promised Mary that if she interceded he would dedicate the Old Church (then dedicated to Mary Magdalene) to her instead. In March 1879 pieces of ice floated downstream from Lake St-Pierre, forming a "bridge" across the St. Lawrence River, and this miracle was attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Mother.^[4] This bridge was called the Rosary Bridge due to its connection with the prayer of the same name. For several days the parishioners poured water on the ice pieces in order to thicken the ice and form a path, which they then used to transport the stones across the river.^[5] Fr. Desilets upheld his promise and renamed the old church.

Pilgrimages

There are many pilgrimages to the shrine, including hundreds by bus from Canada and the United States.

Participants in the Marie Reine Canada pilgrimage , established in 2003, travel 100 km on foot in three days from St.-Joseph-de-Lanoraie (Lanoraie, Quebec), through Maskinongé and Trois-Rivières, every Labour Day weekend.^[6]

The Marie Reine de la Paix pilgrims converge every year from several points in Quebec, arriving on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption.

References

External links

• Our Lady of the Cape Shrine - official site