Canada: Celebrations mark 350th anniversary of Notre Dame Basilica in Quebec

Celebrations to mark 350th anniversary of Notre Dame Basilica in Quebec City begin this Friday, 11 July, with a special Mass, celebrated by His Excellence Luigi Bonazzi, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada.

Consecrated on 11 July 1555, Notre-Dame de Québec was the first parish to be established in the New Word north of Mexico. The Basilica Cathedral has the only Holy Door outside of Europe. It was enlarged and rebuilt after fires in 1759 and 1922.

Pope Leon XII had an altar built in his name in the Basilica Cathedral while Saint John XXIII gave the community a chalice bearing his coat of arms. The first thing Saint John Paul II did when arriving in Canada was to pray in Notre Dame of Québec.

The Basilica Cathedral has the only Holy Door outside of Europe. The crypt contains the graves of nearly one thousand people who, for the most part, lived during the French Regime, including four governors and almost all Québec City Bishops.

An Exhibition: 'Le Trésor de Notre-Dame; includes gold and silver sacred vases, paintings and sculptures as well as archives and old maps.

For more information on the 350th anniversary program, see the Facebook page Notre-Dame de Québec and the website www.notredamedequebec.org/fetes-du-350e.