The Sainte-Anne Nave

The front part of the Sainte-Anne nave is dedicated to praying and worshipping. Visitors are welcome to enter for purposes of quiet contemplation.  Limited movement please.

Faithful recite the Rosary on a daily basis. Members of the Confrérie de la Sainte-Famille come to pray on the third Wednesday of each month. Apart from these collective activities, parishioners and believers also come there to pray and/or meditate individually.

When the light is on, the lamp of the shrine indicates the location of the holy presence of Jesus (in the form of holy wafers during the masse, stored at the tabernacle).

This lamp of the shrine was made of silver around 1830 by Laurent Amiot, silversmith from Québec (1764-1839). He learned his trade from François Renvoyzé (1739-1819), renowned silversmith of Québec, as well as from European masters. This gorgeous lamp measures 27 cm high by 30 cm in diameter.

This great painting was done after the original work from Italian painter Paolo Gaidano (1861-1917). We can see Mary, as a child, kneeling next to her mother, Saint Anne, and her father, Saint Joachim. The dove dominating the scene symbolizes the Holy Spirit.

The painting was done in 1927 by Célina Fréchette (1853-1942). Known under the name of sister Saint-Jean-Berchmans, she was a nun at the Bon Pasteur de Québec and was one of the first women painters in the region to have exercised her craft professionally.