Quebec church honours the sea

Traditional 214-year-old stone church houses dramatic paintings

Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde – May 24

- Photo by Ted Fitzgerald This 1893 painting of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde hangs above the main altar in the Cap Blanc Church.

By TED FITZGERALD
Special to the WCR
Quebec City, Quebec

Travellers crossing the St. Lawrence River by ferry from Levis to Quebec City will see a barely discernible church tower far upstream on the Quebec side.

Curiosity aroused, they might disembark, ride the city's famous funicular to the Upper Town and inquire at the busy Infotourist Centre on rue Sainte-Anne about the church. They'll discover this is the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. To get there, staff suggest a route directly up popular rue Saint-Louis, through its familiar city gate, to the Battlefields Park Discovery Pavilion.

Plains of Abraham

There, extremely helpful staffers will direct visitors to a route across the Plains of Abraham, where Canada's fate was decided almost 250 years ago and where you descend the hundreds of steps of the half-hidden Escalier de Cap Blanc.

After enjoying changing vistas of the St. Lawrence on the way down the shrubbery-bordered stairs, the travellers will be in Cap-Blanc, a one-street neighbour-hood squeezed between the river and Quebec's 80-metre high cliffs, arranged along a half kilometre of sinuous rue Champlain.

The church, at the community's west end, is not far downstream from Anse au Foulon, where Wolfe landed his troops to ascend the cliffs and face Montcalm on a fateful September morning in 1759.

Completed in 1892, Notre Dame has always been closely associated with the maritime world, was actually built on a former wharf and rested at the water's edge until the river was filled to accommodate major Blvd. Champlain, an important connector between the city's Lower Town and the Quebec bridges upstream.

Traditional design

The little stone church is of traditional design, with three large windows above three doorways in the plain east-facing façade beneath a single wooden bell tower.

- Photo by Ted Fitzgerald The stone Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde Church includes a wooden bell tower.

Inside, the overriding theme of the décor of the off-white, gold trimmed nave is the divine protection of seafarers, particularly through the intercession of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. She is prominently portrayed in an 1893 painting by Sister of Charity Marie-de-l'Eucharistie above the main altar, standing, a serpent beneath her feet, holding the Christ Child who in twin supports a long, cross-topped staff.

Another painting, on the south wall, shows a crowned, seated Mary holding a royal sceptre with Jesus on her lap. Elsewhere, statues of Our Lady occupy places of honour in the church, one with the Christ Child holding a ship's anchor.

Doubting Peter

On the north nave wall, a dramatic painting depicts a familiar biblical story, the saving of a doubting Peter by Christ when he begins to sink beneath the waters of the Sea of Galilee.

Since its beginnings, Notre-Dame has been part of a three-church group that includes the Basilique-Cathedrale Notre-Dame-de-Quebec and historic Lower Town Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, sharing some activities and a parish bulletin with them.

Masses are celebrated weekday afternoons or evenings including Saturday, and at 8:30 and 11 a.m. on Sundays.

Today, tiny Cap Blanc still retains its physical connections with the sea as evidenced by the landing facilities here for the largest cruise ships, the Queen Mary in 2005, for example, at the Chantier Maritime, the old customs docks, just west of the church.

After taking advantage of the quiet of the picturesque church between river and cliff for a few moments of prayer and meditation, visitors are ready to return to the constant activity of Quebec's Lower Town Quartier Petit-Champlain, a two-kilometre riverside walk along rue Champlain and Champlain Blvd, a much more efficient but definitely less scenic route to the colourful church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde.

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