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Day 13 of 40 Days of Catholic Resources–The Canadian Martyrs’ Shrine
By Sean | February 18, 2008
The other day, I talked with Zina Gomez Liss about the spiritual and cultural significance of places. Zina has been exploring the Catholic heritage of Boston in her videocast, Catholic City with Zina. My town of Midland also has a rich Catholic heritage. Our community is where some of the first Jesuit missionaries to Upper Canada lived and died. It was the home of Saints, St. Jean de Brebuf, St. Isaac Jogues, St. Gabriel Lalament, St. Antoine Daniel, St. Charles Garnier, St. Noel Chabanel, St. Rene Goupil, and St. Jean de LaLande.
The Canadian Martyrs’ Shrine now sits on a hill just outside of the town of Midland. It is the only national shrine in Canada outside of Quebec. People from all over the world come to the shrine on pilgrimage. Our family regularly makes the short pilgrimage (10 min) to the shrine in the summer time for masses. Besides the beauty of the shrine and its grounds, and its spiritual heritage, it is also helping us to teach our daughter about the universal church. Midland itself is a small town with a fairly homogeneous community, but at the shrine we encounter people from all races and nations– all a part of the Body of Christ. This summer we met a priest from Africa, who was fluent in about 6 languages including French, but came to the Martyr’s Shrine for about 6 weeks to learn English. Even in that short time, as he carefully read through the parts of the mass in English, we saw him growing in skill and confidence in the English language. What a gift he has, to be able to communicate The Good News in 7 languages!
Over this 40 Days of reflection on Catholic websites, resources, and media, I’d like to explore more special and sacred places, but I’d also like to hear about your sacred places. Send me your comments or email me at ductapeguy (at) hotmail (dot) com .
Topics: 40 Days, Ontario, Places of Pilgrimage, blog, midland, sacred spaces |
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February 18th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I’ve always loved the church in Formosa, ON. It’s a beautiful Gothic building, huge for such a small town, and perched on the top of a hill.
It’s gorgeous inside, too.
http://www.thealexandrian.org/old/Random/Formosa_Altar_small.jpg