Notre-Dame du Cap: the river he obeyed

The ice bridge and the eyes that opened · Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec · 1879 and 1888

Una iglesia imposible de construir

In 1879 the small parish of Cap-de-la-Madeleine, on the banks of the San Lorenzo River, urgently needed a new stone church. The problem was serious: the quarries were across the river, and the spring thawing had broken the usual bridges. The parish priest, Father Luc Désilets, resorted to prayer: he gathered his parishioners and promised the Virgin that, if the river frozen enough to cross it, it would keep the old chapel and consecrate it in her honor. For days the ice seemed insufficient; however, in the last week of March the ice fragments from Lake San Pedro formed a solid and compact bridge. For several days the parishes carried water on the ice to strengthen it, and by that improvised road they crossed over a hundred loads of stone. As soon as the last trip was completed, the bridge was undone.

The miracle of the eyes (June 22, 1888)

Nine years later, on the day of the solemn opening of the ancient chapel turned into a sanctuary, three men prayed together before the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary: Father Luc Désilets, the Franciscan friar Blessed Frédéric Janssoone - beatified by John Paul II in 1988 - and the secular Pierre Lacroix. The three, simultaneously and without agreement, warned that the eyes of the image, usually tilted down in contemplative attitude, were opened and stared at for five or ten minutes. The phenomenon was recorded in writing by the three witnesses independently. The sanctuary is now one of the most visited in Canada, with more than half a million pilgrims a year.

Recognition and pilgrimage

The sanctuary of Notre-Dame-du-Cap was raised to minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1904. The present great octagonal basilica, designed by Gérard Notebaert, was consecrated in 1964. The central figure of devotion is Our Lady of the Rosary, whose image presides over the main altar. The place attracts pilgrims from all over Canada, the United States and Europe every year, especially during the summer months.

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