St. Anne’s Shrine

When St. Dunstan’s was being rebuilt from 1913 to1919, trainloads of Island Catholics would make pilgrimage to Canada’s two most popular healing shrines: St. Anne de Beaupre near Quebec City and St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal.  Those who designed the Basilica honored these pilgrimage destinations by creating small shrines locally in the Island Cathedral.

According to Catholic tradition, St Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus.  Here, St. Anne is shown teaching the young Mary from a scroll which is inscribed with the 10 commandments.

The statue to the left depicts St. Margaret of Scotland who lived in the 11th century.  St. Margaret was a wife, mother, and queen who lived a life of extraordinary virtue.  She is the patron saint of Scotland. 

The small statue to the right depicts St. Rita of Cascia who lived in the12th century, in Italy.  Wife, widow and Augustinian nun, she bore a wound on her forehead of a mystical thorn from Christ’s crown of thorns.  She is known as the patron saint of impossible cases. 

Please go to the opposite side of the church from this station which is the south transept.