Taken from the Booklet,
Welcome to Notre Dame
by Thomas F. Murphy
Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1963


About the Author
Welcome
The Rosary Dominates
The Beginning of the Cape
The Long Night Begins
The Dark Night of the Cape
Origin of the Statue
The Coming of the Dawn
Disappointment
The Vow and Its Reward
The Building of the Bridge
The Start of the Shrine
A Crypt for Father Frederic
The Dedication
A Sign From Our Lady
The Witnesses
Founding of the Annals
The Arrival of the Oblates
First Crowning
Embellishment of the Grounds
A Perpetual Rosary
The Pilgrim Statue and Second Crowning
The Rosary Basilica
A Dream Fulfilled
Dedication Ceremonies
Devotions at the Cape
The Pilgrim Statue
The Story of Claudette
Favors and Prayers

About the Author

This is the new edition of the brochure: "Welcome to 'Notre-Dame du Cap'". I wish to dedicate it to the memory of Thomas Murphy; it was he who wrote it originally and revised it a few months before his death, September 21, 1972.

Tom was born in Ireland. He lived there as a youth, went to primary and secondary school there, and graduated from the University of Dublin. He left his native land and came to live in the United States a few years after his marriage. He loved to go back to Ireland to visit his relatives and friends . . . but he was always happy to return to America [Richmond Hill, New York], his new homeland.

He and his wife came to the Shrine for the first time in 1960. This visit made a lasting impression upon him. Peace-------serenity-------beauty-------prayer: all joined to win him over and make him a staunch friend of Our Lady of the Cape, a zealous promoter of her devotion.

Upon returning home, he began to lecture with slides to various groups in the New York and New Jersey areas. He spoke to several groups belonging to different associations: the Catholic Daughters of America, the Rosary Society, the Holy Name Society, the Knights of Columbus, and so on.

He continued these lectures up to the month of April, 1972, when his health prevented him from giving any more. All monies which he received from these lectures plus the money collected from the sale of his booklet were sent to the Shrine at Cap-de-la-Madeleine. In the words of his wife: "Tom always loved to give these slide-lectures and thus spread the devotion to the Blessed Mother".


His devotion to Mary was profound-------balanced-------and it made him a dedicated Christian. To meet him and to know him was a pleasurable and rewarding experience. Each year brought him back to the Shrine with his wife. We welcomed him with sincere joy as a true friend, and he himself was always happy to return to Her whom he loved so deeply and whose devotion he promoted so zealously.

Sometime during his prolonged and fatal illness (cancer of the bone marrow), his wife, who knew of and shared his devotion to Mary, offered to accompany him on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. Tom answered: "My Lourdes is the Shrine of Our Lady of the Cape".  . . .

Father Noel Poisson, O.M.I. Director of Pilgrimages
 
Welcome

"Cead Mille Failte!"-------"A hundred thousand welcomes!" is the way the Irish people greet you when you visit with them.

Our Lady, too, says a hundred thousand welcomes to you as you visit Her at the Cape. As a pilgrim you have given up a good deal to come here. Perhaps you could not really afford this pilgrimage but you felt you had to come to satisfy that inner voice which has been urging you to make this trip. And now you are here-------here at the National Marian Shrine of Canada and the center of a Rosary Confraternity over 2 1/2 centuries old, and you are amazed how relaxed you are and how peaceful and serene everything seems.

Have you noticed how easy it is to pray at the foot of the Miraculous Statue? How easy it is to pour out all your troubles to Our Lady? How everything seems sane and orderly again.

You see, there is no need to put out the "welcome" mat here, because Our Lady has Her arms wide open in loving welcome to one and all, to the able-bodied and the infirm, to the rich and the poor, to the Saint and the sinner. But no matter who you are, She is glad to welcome you and glad that you came here to Her Shrine. You need have no fear, because Our Lady will place Her cloak around you and yours.
 
But there is too much French spoken here, you will say. Of course there is French spoken here because almost everyone around this area has been raised and nurtured on French. That does not mean that you are lost, because quite a few speak English and anyhow the universal language of love for Our Blessed Mother seems to smooth our paths. Besides, all the notices are bilingual and most of the Oblate Fathers speak English as well. So relax and enjoy your Pilgrimage! Enjoy a pilgrimage? Yes. You see, Our Lady, I think, likes to look upon us all as Her Children and even as our earthly mother loved us more when we were smiling, so, too, our Heavenly Mother likes to see us visit Her with a smile on our lips. She knows the anguish and aches that grip our hearts and the sorrows and worries that gnaw away never-endingly. How much more She will love us when She sees how bravely we bear our crosses. So as I said, enjoy your pilgrimage and relax. After all, it has been a sacrifice to come here, and now don't spoil it all by being morose. Remember how you worried whether the pilgrimage leader would make it interesting and whether you would like the rest of the group or even enjoy the trip? Well, she did, you did, and you do like the group! In fact, right now you are probably wondering how it is that everything goes so smoothly. That's a story which would fill a book if I were to give you the details. So again, I repeat, relax both mentally and physically.
 
Since the beginning of the 19th century, Our Lady has made more visits to Her earthly children than in any other period in the history of the Catholic Church. She has given Her messages to us at very many places and in many different ways but you may have noticed that underlying all these messages is the message of penance and prayer. Penance for the terrible sins that man commits against His Maker, those terrible sins. that are calling out for vengeance and of which this modern world seems to take no heed. Prayer for the salvation of the sinners and the conversion of Russia from the horrors of Communism. Again and again She has stressed how important it is to recite the Rosary and how much pleasure She gets from a Rosary well prayed. Time and again She has warned against impending disasters to all mankind unless we heed Her pleas. But like an indulgent mother, how graciously She rewards our smallest efforts. How beautiful it must sound to our Blessed Mother to hear the Angel's salutation repeated often and so lovingly by Her earthly children. "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee" was the way the Angel Gabriel greeted Her so many, many years ago and Her heart responded to that message and made Her our Co-Redeemer. Therefore, can we marvel at the powers of a Rosary well said when we repeat again and again that same salutation?

The Rosary Dominates

Have you noticed here at the Cape that the Rosary has been given so much prominence and tremendous emphasis? It is one of the few Shrines where the Rosary receives such honour. At Fatima, people are concerned with the Rosary as a secondary feature; at Lourdes, I think you see that the Baths and the Blessing of the Sick seem to project to the front; at La Salette the mountain and the Message of penance seem to dominate the picture. So it is at most places. But not here at the Cape because the whole Shrine is permeated with devotion to the Rosary and with constant reminders to keep you aware that this is the Shrine of Our Lady of the Cape, dedicated to Her Most Holy Rosary. Maybe now you are sitting on a bench by the St. Lawrence river and you can hear from the little Shrine the murmur of the people's voices as they recite the Perpetual Rosary. Or perhaps you are walking towards the Shrine Chapel and you notice that the Rosary Bridge has huge iron and wood beads representing the Rosary. Even as you go over the Bridge, on either side are the beautiful replicas in bronze of the Mysteries of the Rosary. Still another reminder is the Rosary design on the banks of St. Mary's lake. But above all, the greatest reminder you will have is the Rosary n the hands of the pilgrims as they pass through the grounds. Yes, this is truly the Rosary Shrine!

At La Salette and at Fatima, Our Lady requested prayers against impending disasters, and She said "If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace". It is just that simple. We, you and I, hold the balance of peace in our hands. Forget altogether the gatherings of the diplomats and the policy-makers; forget the threats and counter-threats that are hurled back and forth; forget the puny and infantile efforts that man is making to save the world. But never forget for one moment that it is you and I who can save the world. Because unless all nations pray and heed our Blessed Mother's call, impending disaster will come and nothing will stop it because the arm of Her Son got too heavy for our Mother to hold. So you see, your coming here had a purpose and Our Lady has called you to visit Her Shrine so that you can help avert the coming disaster. All that has happened in this century could have been averted had mankind heeded Her messages. And even today there are too few who are aware of the lateness of the hour. It would seem that the forces of good and evil are locked in a deadly struggle and we find hard to see who is winning. But we know who is going to win. The result is inevitable because our Lady has never lost a fight to Satan. "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for His heel." (Gen. 3, 15). This is the message that the Holy Spirit has left for us but even so, we cannot relax for a moment if we do want to see the Age of Mary flourish because, for that Age to flourish, we must help promote devotion to Her and through Her, to Her Divine Son.

What message did She leave here at the Shrine? How many times did Our Lady appear here and to whom? Why does the Rosary get such prominence? These and many more questions are plaguing you right now and you deserve an honest answer. The best way to answer you is by outlining briefly the history and story of the Cape.

To write to the Shrine:

Sanctuaire
Notre-Dame du Cap
626 rue Notre-Dame Est
Trois Rivières, Québec, Canada
G8T 4G9

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