Our Lady of the Cape

Religious fervor was  rekindled in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, after the new parish priest preached and promoted the rosary. One of the first Confraternities of the Holy Rosary in Canada had been started in the chapel two centuries before so it was appropriate that he rosary would be the cause of its revival. Soon it was decided that a larger church was needed. Stones for the new church would be brought over the frozen St. Lawrence River. Due to a very mild winter, the ice did not form as usual. After imploring Our Lady and promising to preserve the original church, an ice bridge was miraculously formed over the river. It remained from the feast of St. Joseph to the feast of the Annunciation, just long enough for the stones to be transferred.

As promised, the old stone church was formally dedicated to Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and the statue ceremoniously relocated above the altar. That evening two priests and a parishioner witnessed the statue with open eyes. Her previously serene expression passed between severe and sad for ten minutes.

In 1904, Pope St. Pius X ordered the crowning of Notre Dame du Cap and it remains the only crowned Madonna in Canada. Our Lady of the Cape Shrine is Canada's National Shrine to Our Blessed Mother.