One sometimes notes these crosses, shrines and chapels in the heart of towns but usually they stand beside country roads in coastal, agricultural and mountain sections. It is country-folk who set up these rich milestones of the highway, in old Quebec. And whenever they appear in the heart of town or village it means either that some old-timer caused them to be so placed or that they were before the town, and that the latter encroached.
Such a case as this is to be seen in two little wayside chapels to bonne Saint Anne in Levis. Modern town life has encroached upon them to such an extent it is extremely difficult to get even a picture of them clear of telegraph poles, wires, etc., yet these little chapels, built one in 1789, the other in 1822, before electricity was heard of for power and light, are still in use for the feast of good Sainte Anne.
What a cyclorama of Canadian history these little chapels could sketch for the pilgrims of to-day, looking out from their doorways upon the bosom of the Saint Lawrence. How many a vivid chapter of the olden days was read by these little wayside shrines before it happened. Through what stirring times has the little red light before the altar not pointed the way of hope to men along the road of life? We hope that Levis will never grow so big but she will have a place for these wayside chapels that belong by right of the years and the things they have seen, to all Canada.
But to the highway voyager of to-day it is their size that points a revelation. How few, he thinks, must have been the people of this parish at the time these chapels were built, if all went to mass at the same hour. It is a tradition in Quebec that “at first wayside crosses were set up at points where mass was said in the open air and later these little chapels were built.” If this be so, here on this spot missionary priests of pioneer times caused “a wayside cross” to be set up long years before the foundation stone of these chapels was laid or Levis as a town thought of—another reason why the sacred land should never be absorbed by the town.
One reads much and hears much in Quebec of the landing of the great sea-adventurers of the French discovery, who invariably brought with them missionary priests. No tale in history appeals more to the imagination than the landing of the Recollet Fathers at Percé and the setting up of the cross on the bluff headland opposite Percé Rock. If you go to Percé to-day—like “the weathered skeleton of time”, the cross with its extended arms silhouetted against the sky, still stands on the same spot chosen in 1535. A similar wealth of tradition gathers about the head of the little wayside chapel at Tadousac. To the visitor, much of the charm of Tadousac centres in this chapel dedicated to “la patronice du Canada”—bonne Sainte Anne—and out of use these fifty years except on special occasions, chief of which is naturally the fete day of good
LA CROIX, THE AGE-OLD MILESTONE
OF THE QUEBEC HIGHWAY.
LA CALVAIRE.