A Forgotten Shrine

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 15, 19 April 1923, Page 13

A Forgotten Shrine

With great frequency (says the Ave Maria the Catholic past of our country is revealed by the discovery of quaint little memorials that should not fail to interest and inspire. Recently, while working for a railroad company among the bluffs which crown the lower Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, a labourer came accidentally upon a hitherto undetected shrine of the Blessed Virgin, set in a niche upon the crest of a cliff. Surprised, he climbed to it and found a charming statue together with a wallet containing a document. This he removed, read the date, "1786,” and then felt the ancient paper crumble to dust in his hands. Near-by Catholics hastened with him to the spot, and Protected the statue from possible Vandalage by means of an iron grille, behind which it has since been viewed by hundreds of persons. The date makes it seem very probable that the statue was placed there by a French traveller, in all likelihood a missionary. The surrounding country was then populated by Indians, the Black Hawk war being fought near-by. Indeed, we can fancy how some priest or explorer wished to place the lonely stream up and down which he paddled under the dominion of his Heavenly Mother. Ought we not to prize them highly, these testimonials to a faith we love to entertain in our more comfortableif not always more comfortingdays?