THE BASILICA OF SAINT ANNE OF BEAUPRÉ

The first church dedicated to Saint Anne, was built in 1658 and the present Basilica which was inaugurated officially in 1976, is a place of pilgrimage, the most important of which takes place on the 26 July, the occasion of the feast of Saint Anne, who is both the ecclesiastical and civil patron of Quebec. The Basilica was designated by the Canadian Bishops’ Conference as one of the five national shrines of the country.

On the 6th June, 2008, a painting of Dina Belanger, the work of Mr Marius Dubois, was placed in the crypt of the Basilica, in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception, on the occasion of the International Eucharistic Congress which marked the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Quebec. This painting is to be found among those of the Founders, the Beatified and the Saints of the Canadian Church. Furthermore, there is a photo of Dina, at the entrance to the crypt, a reproduction of the same picture together with a brief of her life in English and French. 

Given the importance of this Basilica, which welcomes more than one and a half million pilgrims each year, Blessed Dina Belanger can thus become known by many more people. Pictures and leaflets in four languages, which tell the story of her life, are available on the counter beneath the painting. Books and brochures can also be obtained in the Basilica bookshop.

The church of Our Lady of Jaques Cartier, known for its leaning tower, was founded in 1851. It is situated at the heart of the old town of Quebec and is the oldest church in the city. It was Dina’s parish church and where she made her first Holy Communion.

On the 24th of March, 1994, the first anniversary of the Beatification of Dina Belanger, was the occasion for the celebration of a Mass during which a large photograph of Dina as a student, the work of the celebrated photographer  Eugene Kdil, was unveiled and placed on the front of the organ loft.

On the 25th of April, 2001, the day before the 104th anniversary of Dina’s birthday, Father Robert Sylvain blessed a statue of Blessed Dina, the work of Mr Andrew Pelletier and the gift of Mrs Gertrude Maheux, a parishioner and god-child of Mr and Mrs Octave Belanger, Dina’s parents.

In 1998, this church was joined to the parish of Saint Roch and is now known as Our Lady of Saint Roch. In January 2011, on the iniciative of the Saint Roch Foundation, it became the Benevolent Cooperative of Our Lady of Saint Roch, perpetuating, in this way,  the work of social assistance carried  out by the clergy over many years.

The Sanctuary Dina Belanger in the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus at Chicoutimi

The church of the Holy Name of Jesus is in the district of Chicoutimi, in the sector Riviere-duMoulin, in the municipality of Saguenay. In the middle of the 20^th century the rapid demographic development of Chicoutimi which, by then, was a flourishing industrial town, required the creation of several new parishes in order to respond to the needs of the increasing population. This was the context in which, in 1950, the parish of the Holy Name of Jesus was established.

On Sunday, the 18^th June, 1995, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, four religious of Jesus and Mary, travelled to Chicoutimi. In the afternoon,  during a celebration presided over by the parish priest, a picture of Blessed Dina Bélanger was blessed and placed on the wall of the church. A lamp was then set before it which will shine in this simple sanctuary and invite prayer and thanksgiving. At the end of the celebration everyone was  invited to venerate the relic of Dina by an act  faith,  entrusting to Our Lord, through the intercession of Dina, the personal intentions and the needs of our brothers and sisters throughout the world.

SHRINE DINA BÉLANGER IN HEBERTVILLE, CANADA

In 1994, a group of 48 pilgrims from Herbertville, from the Region of Lake St-Jean, accompanied by Mme. Thérèse Richard, a great friend of Dina and sister of one of our Religious, came to pray at the tomb of Blessed Dina in Sillery, Quebec. 

Father Jean Bassard, Parish priest of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Herbertville, a parish erected in 1968, encourages very much the initiative to make known and to pray to Blessed Dina, and he himself went to Sillery to pray to her. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the Movement of Christian women, the people of Herbertville began immediately to prepare the welcome and reception that they wanted to give Blessed Dina.

On April 19 and 20, 1997, the centenary year of the birth of Dina, on the invitation of Father Brassard, four Religious of Jesus and Mary went to the Church of Hebertville for the inauguration of a shrine in honor of Blessed Dina Bélanger.  This shrine, like any other shrine is not important because of its installation, but it is important because of the place that the parishioners keep in their hearts for the one that they have learnt to love.  They try to make her known and all the Region of Lake St-Jean benefits from this.

After the inauguration of the modest shrine, they pray to Dina with great fervor and the favors multiply for the joy of all.  Did she not promise that from Heaven she would give us joy?  She gives courage, consolation and peace to those who pray to her. 

A lamp burns always at the side of her picture and it is a privilege to be able to pay for it.

 

SHRINE DINA BELANGER IN THE PARISH OF ST ROCH, QUEBEC,CANADA

Saint Roch located on the lower part of the city of Quebec, before it was, par excellence, the French speaking and popular neighborhood is now the more ancient working suburb of the city and the living witness of four centuries of history of the city of Quebec.

In this neighborhood, where the Belanger family lived, is where on April 30, 1897 Blessed Dina Bélanger was born at number 168 of Street Notre Dame des Anges, receiving the same day Baptism in the de Saint Roch, which was erected in 1829.  The present Church inaugurated in 1920 and reconstructed on the same place as the first one built in 1811, is the largest Church of Quebec and one of the more beautiful temples of the city.

On September 4, 1993, first feast of Dina Bélanger as “Blessed”, with the assistance of more than two-thousand five hundred persons, Mgr. Clement Fecteau, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Quebec, celebrated the solemn Mass, concelebrated by about twenty priests among which Father Pierre-André Fournier, the Parish priest of Saint Roch and Father Marcel Dion, Parish priest of Notre-Dame-de-Jacques-Cartier, the Parish of Dina.

At the moment of the “Gloria” there was the unveiling of the maxi-photo which served in the Basilica of St. Peter of Rome, for the beatification of Dina Bélanger by Pope John Paul II and that now is exposed in this Church in the Shrine Dina Belanger situated on the left side of the central nave.

On the square of this Church, which is the center of the life of the neighborhood and where numerous events take place throughout the whole year, before the celebration there was half an hour of animation by 20 musicians in honor of Dina.

At present, this Shrine in the heart of old Quebec, is visited by numerous persons, who sure of the protection of their ancient citizen, Blessed Dina Belanger, entrust to her their projects and needs.         

SHRINE DINA BÉLANGER IN LAMÈQUE, NB, CANADA

In 1993, a short time after the Beatification of Dina Bélanger, Father Léon Robichaud, a great friend of Dina, sent a letter to Sister Jeanne Yvette Rioux, Superior at the Convent of Petite-Rivière-de-l’Ile, NB. asking  her to make Dina Bélanger “visible” since on September 4, 1939 she had obtained a great miracle, approved by the Church, during a Novena made by the family, asking for the cure of a small child nine months old, André-Jude Chiasson, suffering from incurable hydrocephalus.  This child was born in the Parish of Lamèque, Nouveau Brunswick.  This petition of Father Robichaud gave Sister Jeanne-Yvette the courage to carry out this beautiful initiative.  Without waiting, she formed the “Committee Shrine Dina” with former pupils of Jesus and Mary to carry out this project.

The Committee met several times to prepare everything. In the first place, it was necessary to find a corner in the Church and then all the work that had to be done.  After some time, over a year, the Shrine was finished.  On one of the walls was placed a large picture, copy of the picture which in Rome, in the Basilica of St. Peter, had presided over in the beatification, and on the left side was placed the relic of Dina.

The blessing of the Shrine by Father Claude Pinet, parish priest of the Parish, before a large assistance, took place on Sunday April 30, 1995, on the feast of the birthdate of Blessed Dina.  In 1999 two stained glass windows were placed in the Shrine. These windows show the symbols of the devotion of Dina, the Host and the Star.

The novenas to Blessed Dina began in the year 1995, from August 26 to September 4, the feast of her entrance to Heaven and continue every year with good participation. On September 25, 2003, the Parish priest of Shippagan, N-B., supported by other Parish priests, proposed that this Novena become an event of the Vicariate of Shippagan which consists of a group of nine Parishes. The organization of the novenas is entrusted to the Committee of the Shrine.  Every day there is a Eucharistic celebration with preaching. The last one in 2016, the celebrant and preacher was Mons. Valèry Vienneau, Archbishop of Moncton.  Before the Mass there is 10 minute reflection on the life of Blessed Dina and at the end the veneration of the relic.

During the novena there is also the blessing of the sick, the possibility for confession and adoration to the Saint Sacrament.  Many favors are obtained through the intercession of Blessed Dina.  People trust Dina and she does them good. The Committee is very faithful in having a Mass celebrated every second Wednesday of the month for the intentions of the friends of Dina.  The desire of the religious is that of Dina: “To take souls to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus”. 

SHRINE DINA BÉLANGER IN SAINT-MICHEL DE BELLECHASSE, CANADA

Dina Bélanger lived at three different times in the community of the Religious of Jesus and Mary at St-Michel: September-October 1923; February-April 1924 and July 1926.  Every time she had to go back to Sillery because of illness.  In March 1924, it was in St-Michel, that out of obedience to her Superiors, she began to write her Autobiography.

After the beatification of Dina Bélanger by Pope John Paul II, on March 20, 1993, the Christian community of St-Michel, on September 4, 1994, proceeded with great pride, to the inauguration, in her Parish Church of a Shrine dedicated to Blessed Dina.  The initiative was from the Parish Priest, Father Roger Lacasse, supported by the Religious and by a group of parishioners, in order to honor this ancient member of the Parish. A relic of Blessed Dina was placed, to be venerated, under her picture, a copy of that which in Rome, in the Basilica of St. Peter, presided over in the ceremony of the Beatification.

For the inauguration of that Shrine, besides the Religious from different houses and of numerous parishioners, several representatives arrived from the Association Family of Jesus and Mary from New-Brunswick, from Trois Pistoles, Lauzon, Sillery, Beauceville and St-Gervais, to join the members of St-Michel. 

On May 4, 1997, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Dina Bélanger, a granite plaque was unveiled on the exterior of the Church, indicating the Shrine of Dina.

The numerous persons who visit this mini Shrine can deposit, in a special box, their personal prayers.  The community of the Religious of Jesus and Mary has a Mass celebrated every month for the intentions which, with faith, have been entrusted to Dina.

During the time that Dina lived in St-Michel, her room was part of the present community room.  Today the Religious have arranged there a small corner in order that those who wish can pray to Dina.  Some pupils from the School do it frequently.