Marian devotion
Canadian Marian Advocations: Provinces and Territories
From the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland to the Arctic of Nunavut, the Virgin Mary accompanies the peoples of Canada in its thirteen provinces and territories.
Canada has a Marian history among the richest on the American continent. The first European explorers and missionaries consecrated the territory under the protection of Mary since the 17th century. The Jesuit missions between the ferrets and Algonquins, the Atlantic Acadian settlements and the French-Canadian communities of Quebec built a network of shrines that persists to this day. Canada has the second largest Marian shrine in North America in the Notre-Dame-du-Cap Sanctuary.
Quebec
The Notre-Dame-du-Cap Sanctuary in Trois-Rivières is the second largest Marian sanctuary in North America and one of six national shrines in Canada. The first church was built in 1659. In 1879, Father Dugusta needed to transport materials across the Saint- Laurent River, which was inadequately frozen that unusually warm winter. After praying the Rosary, the river was miraculously frozen forming the Rosary Bridge, which lasted a whole week. On June 22, 1888, the parents Désilets and Janssoone, next to the lay Pierre Lacroix, witnessed how the eyes of the image of the Virgin - usually low - opened and looked directly at them for several minutes. Pope Pius X authorized canonical coronation in 1904. Every year more than 430,000 visitors come to this place.
Ontario
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace in Marylake, King City, is administered by the Agustino Recoletos Fathers on a 200-acre land. Ontario, the most populous province of Canada, has a large Catholic community of Irish, Italian, Portuguese, Filipino and Hispanic origin. The Martyrs Shrine in Midland, built in 1926 on the site of the martyrdom of Jesuits Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf and companions, is another great Marian pilgrimage center.
The parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Parkdale district of Toronto is the spiritual center of the growing Hispanic community of the city. Since its foundation, the parish has been a meeting point for immigrants from Mexico, Central America and South America who bring with them the Guadalupana devotion, one of the most rooted in the continent. The December 12 festival brings together thousands of faithful with masses, traditional dances and the renewal of the missionary commitment of San Juan Diego.
The parish of San Andrés Kim in Toronto is the center of the Korean Catholic community, one of the most growing in Canada. The Marian devotion of the Catholic Koreans is marked by the history of the Church in Korea: it was born from the martyrdom of the early lay evangelizers in the 19th century, who secretly prayed the Rosary. The Virgin Mary is venerated under the title "Mother of the Church of Korea," an advocation that connects the Korean diaspora of Toronto with its roots of martyr faith.
Nuevo Brunswick
Our Lady of the Assumption is the patron of the Acadian people, whose history is one of the most tragic and resilient in the continent. The acadians, descendants of the 17th century French colonizers, were massively deported by the British in 1755 (le Grand Dérangement). Many died; others found shelter in Louisiana where they became the cashiers. The Assumption is for the Acadians much more than a devotion: it is the symbol of their identity and survival. The Cathedral of Moncton was consecrated in 1940 and declared a National Historical Site in 2017. Every 15 August, the National Day of Acadia, a solemn mass is held at the Sainte- Anne- du-Bocage Sanctuary in Caraquet.
Scotland
Nova Scotia shares with Nuevo Brunswick the title to the Assumption, patron of the acadian people deported in 1755. The Diocese of Antigonish, founded in 1844, served the Scottish Catholic (highlanders) and Irish immigrants who repopulated the region. The Cathedral of Saint Ninian in Antigonish is the center of this faith that fuses the Galic and Acadian traditions.
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island, the smallest in the Canadian provinces, was one of the territories most affected by the acadian deportation of 1755. The surviving Acadian community and the later Irish community share the devotion to the Assumption. The small rural shrines distributed on the island, near the red cliffs of the Atlantic coast, keep this Marian tradition alive.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland was one of the first American territories visited by Europeans, and Portuguese, English and Irish fishermen who frequented their shores since the 15th century invoked Maria Estrella del Mar to protect themselves in the North Atlantic. The Irish community that emigrated massively during the Great Hunger (1845-1852) brought its Marian devotion. The Basilica - St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Saint Johns, consecrated in 1855, is one of the most important monuments on the Canadian Atlantic coast.
Alberta
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rocky in Canmore, Alberta, is the first Marian sanctuary of the Diocese of Calgary, opened in 2023 by Bishop William McGrattan. Innailed in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, it combines contemporary architecture and tradition. Alberta also has the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Girouxville and the Sanctuary of Santa Ana in Saint Albert, founded by Father Lacombe OMI, great missionary of the meadows.
Columbia Británica
British Columbia has an enormously diverse Catholic community: Filipinos, Italians, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Latin American and indigenous First Nations. The Oblate missionaries of Mary Immaculate evangelized the peoples of the interior in the 19th century under the protection of the Virgin. The new Shrine of the Diocese of Nelson, in the inner mountains, is one of Canada's most recent Marian projects.
The Chinese Catholic community of Vancouver, one of the most numerous in North America, keeps Marian devotion alive through the parish of San Francisco Javier. The Chinese Catholic immigrants brought with them a Marian tradition that dates back to the first Jesuit missionaries in China in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Rosary was one of the central devotions of the Church born in the Celestial Empire. Today, the Chinese community of Vancouver honors Mary as Mother of the universal Church, a bridge between East and West.
Saskatchewan
The shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Saint Laurent welcomes one of Canada's most unique pilgrimages: the Mass is held in English, French and believes, the language of First Nations. This liturgical tri- linguality symbolizes the history of Saskatchewan, where Oblate missionaries evangelized the beliefs and metis. The métis community - a descendant of the union of French trampers and women believes - has in Marian devotion one of its deepest ties of identity.
Manitoba
Manitoba has in the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Saint Malo its main Marian sanctuary. The south was colonized by Ukrainian Catholic communities of Eastern Greek rite, which brought a powerful Marian devotion of Byzantine tradition. The town of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, founded by French-Canadians, keeps the devotion alive. The coexistence of Latin and Eastern Ukrainian tradition creates a particularly rich Marian spirituality.
Northern and Arctic Territories
The Yukon was evangelized by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate from the 19th century, among the Athan-can, Tlingit and Han peoples. The church of Our Lady of Loreto in Whitehorse, the oldest in the territory, was built by the Oblates who came along the routes of the trampers and gold seekers.
The Northwest Territories were evangelized by the Oblates in the 19th century between the dene, inuit and northern metes. The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Yellowknife is the seat of the Bishop of Mackenzie- Fort Smith. Marian devotion is mixed with the spirituality of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic.
Nunavut, the youngest and most northern territory of Canada, created in 1999, has a Catholic community made up almost exclusively of Inuit evangelized by the Oblates in the 20th century. The small chapels of the remote Arctic communities are the center of a Marian faith adapted to Inuit culture. Our Lady of the Snow: white, silent, guarding a people at the end of the world.
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