This image of Notre-Dame de Lourdes church in Timmins, Ontario appears on a postcard that was printed to celebrate the parish’s 50th anniversary in 1986. My aunt Joan sent me the postcard with other family memorabilia about 25 years ago.
I have fond memories of Notre-Dame de Lourdes. It’s where my family worshipped when I was a young girl, where family members were baptised, made their First Communion and Confirmation, and later, married.
Notre-Dame de Lourdes church was under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, who appeared in miraculous visions to Sainte Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 in Lourdes, France. The priests assigned to our church belonged to the Ordre des Frères Mineurs Capucins. These Franciscan friars wore distinctive clothing: a full-length, hooded habit of heavy-weight plain, dark brown fabric, open-toed sandals (which the priests wore even in the midst of cold Timmins winters), a thick cord around their waist serving as a belt, and a long, wooden rosary draped round their waist.
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| Stained glass window over the main entrance. |
Notre-Dame de Lourdes church and its buildings (the presbytère [church office and priest’s residence], windmill, and grotto) sat on a large piece of property at the corner of Commercial Avenue and Cameron Street. After the Diocese restructured its many churches (I’m not sure when, but certainly after 1986), Notre-Dame de Lourdes’ name was changed to Notre-Dame- de-la-Paix.
Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff
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