In June of 1925, Father John M. Filion, then Provincial Superior of English speaking Jesuits across Canada, felt the need for a larger shrine that would be closer both to pure spring water and to the Sainte-Marie mission. Filion purchased the Standin brothers’ farm on the hill across the road…
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On June 26, 1926 in advance of Fr. Filion’s deadline, the church was finally built. It was a long fall and winter season for Fr. Filion and the tradesmen battling the Canadian weather to erect the Shrine church in time. On the following day, June 27, the weather turned warm…
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Nearly four years to the day later, on June 29, 1930, as Pope Pius XI was canonizing the eight Canadian Martyrs in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, another vast congregation gathered in front of the altar at the 12th Station of the Cross on the hill overlooking Georgian Bay. Once…
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At the end of the Depression, it took three years of appeals for director, Fr. Lally to collect the $4,000 purchase price of the Sainte-Marie property from a local businessman. It was a top priority. With the site now finally back in Jesuit hands in 1940, Fr. Lally wanted archaeologists…
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In 1964 the Jesuits negotiated an agreement between the Upper Canadian Province of Jesuits and the Government of Ontario whereby the historic site of Sainte-Marie and adjoining land on the south side of highway 12 were leased to the Provincial Government for 100 years for a consideration of one dollar.…
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