The high altar of the Notre Dame Basilica of Montreal is seen brilliantly illumined during the pilgrims’ visit.Quebec City — Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron led 51 pilgrims to Montreal and Quebec on Aug. 13-17 to celebrate the 350th anniversary jubilee of the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame in the Archdiocese of Quebec.
The cathedral-basilica is known as the mother parish of all parishes in the U.S. and Canada, and the oldest parish in the Americas north of Mexico.
Besides visiting this historic site, the pilgrimage also visited a number of other holy places in the region, including the Basilica of Notre Dame du Cap de la Madeleine, the Museum du Bon Pasteur, the Museum of the Ursulines, the Shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupre and the Oratory of St. Joseph.
In a twist of providence, Archbishop Allen Vigneron encounters fellow pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Detroit who didn’t travel with the archbishop’s group, but bumped into the group while in Quebec.And for the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother on Aug. 15, Archbishop Vigneron concelebrated Mass with Cardinal Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, archbishop of Quebec, at the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame. The pilgrims also had the opportunity to greet Msgr. Denis Belanger, rector of the church.
“The jubilee in Quebec City has been called by (Cardinal Lacroix) as a way to invite his people to take hold of their future and go forward,” Archbishop Vigneron told The Michigan Catholic after his return from the pilgrimage.
“We, the Archdiocese of Detroit, were originally part of the diocese of Quebec and so it was a way for us as the ‘grandchildren’ of the Quebec diocese, to be with them, and do our own preparation for the New Evangelization,” the archbishop explained.
He said one of the most powerful experiences while there, for him personally, was the opportunity to help his fellow pilgrims enter through the “Holy Door” at the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame.
“The whole point of the door is to give a gesture signifying one’s commitment to head with Christ into the future,” he said. “It’s a practice that comes from the city of Rome and the jubilee there every 25 years.”
The Holy Door in Quebec is the first outside of Europe and only the seventh in the world. Opened on Dec. 18, 2013, it will remain open only during the jubilee year.
Archbishop Vigneron explained that when pilgrims enter one of the four major churches in Rome during the holy year, they “come in through the special door. And so the door is a portal for pilgrims, and the symbol is to come to Christ and walk with Christ into the future.”
The archbishop said he enjoyed visiting the cathedral-basilica and also the Shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupre, “which was an opportunity to rededicate our diocese to the patronage of St. Anne.”
He was also reminded of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s own Sacred Heart Major Seminary upon visiting the Oratory of St. Joseph, “because it was the center out of which so much of the apostolic work of our original mother diocese originated.”
Archbishop Vigneron said a very touching, personal, memento of the pilgrimage was a pectoral cross bearing the image of Jesus on the Holy Door, given to him by Cardinal Lacroix.
When Adrienne Garabino, parishioner of Immaculate Conception Parish in Lapeer, passed through the Holy Door, she told Jesus, “I’m going forward,” she said.
A pilgrim kneels in prayer while touching the hand of Jesus before entering through the Holy Door of the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Quebec while on pilgrimage with Archbishop Allen Vigneron.“I left behind all anxieties,” Garabino said. “That was important to me.”
Fellow pilgrim Rosa Silva, from St. Joan of Arc Parish in St. Clair Shores, said she was bringing something special back with her from the pilgrimage: “What I’m bringing back is to be more forgiving, (no matter) how much it hurts.”
Clinton Township’s St. Paul of Tarsus parishioners Daniel and Dorothy Marotta said they brought back some holy oil that St. Andre Bessette — who is buried at the Oratory of St. Joseph — used to heal the sick.
Daniel Marotta said they brought away “the acceptance of God’s will,” and his wife added, “a sense of appreciation for the history of the Archdiocese of Detroit, and the connection with Quebec.”
The pilgrimage was “beautifully inspiring,” for Elaine Garvin, a parishioner of St. Hugo of the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, and “made me proud to be Catholic.”
It was an especially inspiring journey for Thomas and Alma Goldner of St. Daniel Parish in Clarkston.
“I’m a new Catholic,” said Thomas Goldner. “I’ve only been Catholic for four years, even though I’ve been married to my wife for 52 years. I think I learned from the people, the sacrifices they made to get the Catholic Church where it is today.”
