Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/247

Rh publication to make known the cures. The bandages, sticks, and crutches piled in rows speak for themselves, as also the ex voto paintings, one or two by Lebrun, representing the saint in the act of delivering clients from perils by sea and land; American flags, bracelets, wax flowers, guns, knives, tobacco pouches, etc., are gifts from poorer clients who have experienced her kindness. Persons unable to visit the shrine, owing to bodily infirmity or any other restraining cause, may be represented by substitutes or may forward letters containing their requests to the saint; these are deposited beneath the statue in front of the main altar and prayers are said for a favorable answer through her intercession. The number of pilgrims exceeds one hundred thousand a year.

Nature has furnished an admirable setting for the shrine. The St. Lawrence at this point is four miles wide. Directly opposite Beaupré is the Isle of Orleans; behind it, the Saint Anne Mountain and the Laurentian Hills clad with pine, maple, and balm of Gilead. Cap Tourmente lies to the eastward; there the river begins to widen till at Tadousac, where the Saguenay joins it, it is thirty-five miles from shore to shore. To the west are the farmhouses and uplands of Château Richer, the Falls of Montmorency, from their bellowing and white foam called the Vache, Beauport and the valley of the St. Charles, Quebec and the historic rock. On summer evenings the old Breton hymn peals over the waters:

 O sainte Anne, ô Mère chérie! Garde au coeur des Bretons la foi des anciens jours; En tends du haut du ciel le cri de la patrie— Catholique et Breton toujours!"

Even in winter, when the snow lies level with the fences and the St. Lawrence is gorged with ice, Beaupré attracts an occasional devotee. The height of the pilgrim season is from June to the middle of September.

Miracles are wrought for the most part in the new church, though the old one is still favored. Some find no immediate relief, but are cured on reaching home. At the ordinary services the officiating priest marches down from the high altar to some unhappy creature gasping at the rails, and, after a few preliminaries, applies one of the relics, incased in crystal with gold bands, to the part affected, reciting meanwhile the litany of Saint Anne: "Grandmother of our Saviour, Mother of Mary, Ark of Noah, Root of Jesse, Light of the Blind, Tongue of the Dumb." The other sufferers struggle to their feet and watch the process with breathless interest. The dying consumptive bares his breast that the relic may be placed directly over his lungs, then sinks to his knees at the foot of the statue; having finished the litany, the priest turns to the Gospel of Saint Anne; the thurifers surround