The Winslow mail., 1900-11-22

ly blessed, especially one Louis Gui-
mont, who was cured by st. Anne of
a painful rheuma tism which incapaci-
tated him for hard work. After he had
placed three stones in the found ton,
he found himself instantly cured, to
the great consolation and admira ton
of his friends and neighbors. Owisg to
local conditions, the first chapel was
never completely finished, but in 1862
the second chapel was completed,
which was located nearer the hill than
the first. ST. Anne showed that this new
temple was no less pleasing to her than
the first; and granted every kind of
favor to those who venerated her. In
1876 third church, built of stone, was
dedicated 1t was twice restored, once
in 1894, and later in 1887. and was used
for public worship until 1876. The
present basilica is one of the finest
church structures in Canada. It's con-
struction was begun in 1872 and it's
formal blessing occurred in 1876. Ow-
ing to the ever-increasing number of
pilgrims this church was enlarged in
1886 and year later Pope Leo XIII.
raised it to the rank of basilica. The
new church contains numerous altars
of great artistic value, but it's most i'm
posing feature is pedestal supporting
a large statue of st. Anne and child.
This pedestal is cut out of an onyx
block and highly polished At the foot
of this statue the faithful pray for re.
lief from mental and bodily ills; and
the hundreds of crutches, bandages,
trusses, plaster casts and other evi-
dences of physical sufferings grouped
near the main entrance to the church
that petitions addressed to St. Anne
find gracious hearing.
Pilgrimages to the shrine of St. Anne
de Beaupre occur at frequent inter-
walls, and at times thousands of pil.
grims join in procession to do honor to
her revered name. Every pilgrim is
given an opportunity to venerate the
highly-prized relics belonging to the
church. The most valued of these is
fragment of a finger bone of St. Anne,
which was brought from Carcassone,
France, and which was exposed for the
first time March 5, 1870, and has not
ceased to be the object of fervent de-
votion. Letters attesting the authen-
ITCHY of the relic are hanging on the
walls of the sacristy In January.
1881, the chapter of Carcassone, after
protracted negotiations. divided into
two equal parts its valuab BILE relic of ST,
Anne, namely, the hand bones. and
shared it with the Canadian shrine,
Another highly-prized relic is a frag-
ment of rock extracted from the room
of St. Anne at Jerusalem, where the
mysteries of the immaculate conceD-
tion and birth of the Virgin Mary are
supposed to have taken place.
All of these relics, together with
few others of minor importance, are
kept in cases covered with glass and
exposed to the faithful whose venera-
ton consists in kissing the precious
fragments. 1t would be interesting TO
enter into a discussion of he agencies
by which the miraculous cures of St.
Anne de Beaupre are obtained. The
fact that hundreds of men and
women who seemed hopelessly lame
when they entered the church
walked out without crutches, erect
and strong; and that scores of deaf
worshipers heard the voices of priests
and the whispers of the congregation;
that drunkards became teetotaIers IS in
the tWinkling of an eye, cannot be de-
MED; and even the scoffer cannot leave
the basilica without being overcome by
reverence for power that passes hu.
man understanding.