Grotte de Fatima

326, rue du Couvent, Maniwaki, QC J9E 1H4

Phone : 819 449-2800
Courriel : maniwaki@ville.maniwaki.qc.ca
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Description

A few years ago, around 1942, during the reign of Father Castonguay as parish priest, the parish of Maniwaki was endowed with a religious monument of some importance, erected in honor of the apparition of Mary in the city of Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The land was chosen: a steep hill, planted with pine trees, where the volunteer arms immediately went to work.

From the very first strokes of the shovel, a very old string was discovered in the ground, imprisoned under the roots of a tree. Everyone wanted their share of the strange relic.

The work was completed. Came the day of the solemn inauguration, where members of the Algonquin community had been invited. A good old woman, Herméline Watagan, was pleasantly surprised when she saw the chosen place.

It was precisely the one where, as a little orphan, she came to secretly recite the rosary with a companion, Marie Hébert, also an orphan and later a nun.

Herméline told:
We had started saying the rosary on the mountain. A nun, knowing it, gave us a statuette of the Virgin. After some research, we found at the foot of the mountain a cavity in the rock. We lined it with moss and small flowers.

We placed the statuette there and, every day in May, after class, we would both recite the rosary. One day, someone threw stones at us, but we continued to come anyway.”

The mysterious chaplet was thus explained and at the same time revealed the true initiators of the Marian hill of Maniwaki.

This place was heavily modified afterwards, but its history shows that very important gatherings were held there. In 1951, during the regional Eucharistic Congress, thousands of faithful were able to join.