Artwork,
Statuary &
Liturgical
Elements
The Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Rockies
2 Silvertip Trail, Canmore, Alberta, T1W 2Z7 © 2020 by The Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Rockies
All rights reserved. Written by Father Nathan Siray Layout and design by Kim Hoang
Photography by Orange Girl and Father Nathan Siray
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Table of Contents
16
Death of St. Joseph, with Mary and Jesus
06
Marble Relief
Sculptures
12
St. Catherine of Siena20
Jesus Greeting Holy Souls in Purgatory
08
The Altar Crucifix, St. John and Mary
14
Three Church Bells
22
Stations of the Cross and Wooden Statues Stained GlassStained Glass Window:
Our Lady of the Rockies
The clouds at the top of the window appear in shapes that resemble angelic beings. These clouds appeared in the sky during the groundbreaking outdoor Mass and cere-mony of the new site.
The mountains at the top of the window are the iconic Three Sisters. In the pioneer days of Canmore, The Three Sisters were known as Faith, Hope and Charity, which are known in the Catholic Tradition as the Three Theolog-ical Virtues, infused into the soul at Baptism. The Virgin Mary lived these virtues with grace and elegance. The presence of the Three Sisters in this window reminds us that like Mary, the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity are to be foremost in our Christian lives. The mine shaft at the left centre of the window honours the coal mining heritage of Canmore. One can also see in this empty mine shaft a sign of the Empty Tomb of Jesus Christ and the truth of His Resurrection. The two deer on the right centre of the window celebrate the natural beauty of the Bow Valley. The deer drinking from the stream
is also a symbol of Christian Baptism. In the ancient world, it was believed that when a stag was approaching the end of its life, it would eat a poisonous snake to cause it to have a terrible thirst and then drink a great amount of water to revitalize itself. Just as the stag looked to quench its thirst from the poison it consumed, so too at Baptism do we partake of the waters of salvation to drown out the evil of sin and be revitalized in the grace of the Holy Spirit.
At the centre of the window, Our Lady is seated upon a throne. Her crown, regal vesture, and placement upon a throne is meant to show that she is truly the Queen of Heaven and Earth. It is under the patronage of the Queenship of Mary that our shrine celebrates its annual feast day on August 22nd.
Finally, Our Lord Jesus Christ is depicted as a young child, safely held in the arms of His Mother. This depiction shows the beautiful innocence and purity of Our Saviour and the tender affection that Our Lady has for her Son.
Statue of Holy Mary,
Queen of Heaven &
Earth in the East
Transept:
Meditation of Motherhood of Mary
This marble sculpture of Our Lady and the Christ Child reminds us that Mary is the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven and Earth. Yet she is also the Mother of the Church, given by her Son upon the Cross to St. John as a sign that she was now to be Mother of all the brothers and sisters of Christ whom He redeemed by the Wood of the Cross.
It is before this image that we can entrust ourselves to her motherly love and ask for her maternal guidance in drawing closer to the Sacred Heart of her Son and her own Immaculate Heart.
It is before this image that families are encouraged to pray, most especially for those who are struggling to conceive, those expe-riencing difficulties in their homes and for those whose family members suffer from any form of illness.
Statue of the Death of St.
Joseph in the company
of Jesus and Mary:
Meditation and Prayers for a Holy Death
While the Holy Gospels tell us nothing of the death of St. Joseph, countless artists have sought to imagine what this heartbreaking yet hopeful scene might have looked like in the family home of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The expression upon St. Joseph’s face shows a man at the threshold of death, having lived as a good and faithful servant of God, and now prepared for the reward his adopted Son would bestow upon him for faithfully abiding in the Will of the Heavenly Father.
Our Lady stays close to her husband, loving him until his last breath, consoling him as he prepared to give up his spirit onto eternity.
Our Lord extends His hand over St. Joseph in blessing, honouring His adopted father for having cared for Him and His mother with such devotion and affection, and assuring that his soul would be kept safe from the snares of Hades.
It is before this image that we too can pray for the gift of a holy death and of final perse-verance, remaining faithful to Jesus to the bitter end, assured of greeting St. Joseph and being counted among the company of God’s holy ones.
Marble reliefs depicting
the Childhood of Jesus
in the Rosary Chapel:
Meditations on the Life of Jesus
Within the shrine is a small chapel space dedicated to praying the Holy Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy. On either side of the chapel are marble reliefs, formally the frontals of altars, that depict scenes which are meditated upon in the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.
They include The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation and (while not one of the Joyful Mysteries), the life of Jesus in Nazareth, which one can see as a conclusion of the Joyful Mystery of the Finding of Jesus in the
Temple, of which St. Luke tells us that when Jesus returned to Nazareth, He spent many years there being obedient to His parents and growing in the wisdom and favour of both God and Man.
As you look at these beautiful scenes of Our Lord’s Infancy and Childhood, try to imagine yourself in the scenes, watching with joy as these mysteries unfold before your eyes and then look to form a resolution to bring this joy to those who do not know the love of Jesus Christ.
Statue of St. Catherine of
Siena in the Rosary Chapel:
Prayers for Reform in the life of the Holy Catholic Church
At the centre of the Rosary Chapel is a statue of St. Catherine of Siena. She is one of four female Doctors of the Church and is remembered for her life of holiness and courageous efforts to reform the Church in the 14th century AD.
She even had the courage and humble audacity to command the Pope in those days to end his exile in Avignon, France and return to Rome where the Pope was meant to reside! Let us ask St. Catherine’s intercession for ongoing reform in our Church and for the courage to bring healing and justice to all who have been wounded by the sinful actions of some of the Church’s leadership.
Statue of Jesus
Greeting the Holy Souls
in Purgatory in the
Columbarium:
Praying for the Dead, Meditations on Purgatory, The Value of Christian Burial
As you enter the columbarium, you will see an incredible marble statue of Our Lord Jesus Christ greeting the holy souls in Purgatory. The soul of the young woman whom Jesus is crowning with a wreathe of flowers represents a soul who has been purified in Purgatory and is now ready to gaze upon the Face of God in heaven.
The soul of the young woman whose lower torso is still in the flames of Purgatory is seen being comforted by an angel. She represents a soul that still needs further purification in Purgatory and is being assisted by the prayers of both the Church on earth and the saints and angels in heaven.
The woman kneeling beside Jesus is the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom we ask in the Hail Mary Prayer to pray for us both now and at the hour of our death.
Mary’s intercession allows us to persevere in being faithful to Christ to the end of our days, but she also intercedes on our behalf if we require time in Purgatory to purify our souls and make them immaculate, just as she is the Immaculate Conception and never touched by the stain of sin.
It is within this columbarium that we thank God for the gift of the lives of those who are safely buried in this sacred space. It is here we also pray for them, that if they are not yet already in heaven, that our prayers will help to purify their souls in Purgatory and bring them closer to the glory of the Father’s House.
Finally, it is here that we can pray for ourselves, remembering that we too will one day pass away from this world and must now be diligent in living as true disciples of Christ and so be made ready to reign with Him forever.
The Altar Crucifix,
Statues of John
and Mary and the
Sanctuary Gate:
The Significance of the Sanctuary Gate as representing the veil between heaven and earth
Behind the main altar is a majestic black wrought iron gate, hand crafted by a local blacksmith in the Bow Valley.
You will notice on the top portion of each of the 4 gates are the images of a Divine Man, A Lion, An Ox and An Eagle. They represent the 4 Gospels of Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
St. Matthew’s symbol is a divine man because his Gospel highlights Jesus’ entry into the world, first by his family lineage as a Son of David and His Incarnation and miraculous birth as the Son of God.
St. Mark’s symbol is the Lion because his Gospel begins with Jesus crying out like a mighty lion, calling people to repentance and belief in the Good News of Salvation.
St. Luke’s symbol is the ox because his Gospel begins and ends in the city of Jeru-salem where oxen were regularly sacrificed in the Jerusalem Temple as to foreshadow the sacrifice of the Cross that would take place near Jerusalem.
St. John’s symbol is the eagle because the prologue of his Gospel is meant to rise you up into the heavenly realms to ponder the great mysteries of God.
Above the Sanctuary Gate is a large beam header that have inscribed upon it the words Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, or Holy, Holy, Holy. The thrice Holy reminds us that behind these gates are the Holy of Holies, the tabernacle that contains the Sacred Body and Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The crucifix that stands at the top of the Sanc-tuary Gate is the one that resided in Sacred Heart Church for many years and has found a new home within the Shrine Church. Beside our crucified Lord are the statues of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. John. These three stat-ues are not mere decoration in the Shrine Church but are icons to remind us that during every celebration of the Holy Mass, we are making present once again the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross, to which both Holy Mary and St. John stood beside our Lord through His death and burial.
In the Jerusalem Temple, there was a curtain that used to separate the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant resided, from the rest of the Temple. In a similar way, this
gate marks a separation between the major-ity of the nave and sanctuary and the place where the tabernacle, the true Holy of Holies, resides.
To step through these gates is to walk on holy ground and to be in the presence of a tabernacle that is much greater the Ark of the Covenant. Here we encounter the living Christ, hidden but substantially present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
May we always approach the tabernacle with reverence and love, and like the two angel statues who adore Him on bended knee, be willing to kneel in His Awesome presence and know that God is near.
The Altar Crucifix,
Statues of John
and Mary and the
Sanctuary Gate:
The Three Church Bells:
Frassati, Kateri and Montjoux-Immaculata
Three bells reside within the bell tower of the Shrine Church. There is a long standing tradi-tion of bestowing names upon church bells. The bell at the top of the bell tower is named in honour of Blessed Pier Giorgio Fras-sati and so is named “FrasFras-sati”. This 20th century Italian saint was known for his love of the mountains. A motto attributed to him is “Verso l’alto”, meaning “to the top.” As this bell resides at the top of our bell tower, it reminds us to always strive for the greatest summit: the mountain top we call the King-dom of Heaven. This bell was newly cast in the Netherlands in the early 2000’s. It is the largest of the three bells and is known as a tolling bell.
The middle bell is named in honour of St. Kateri Tekakwitha and so is named “Kateri”. This 17th century Canadian saint is the first canonized saint for the First Nations people of Canada and the United States. As the bell bearing her name is rung, we ask St. Kateri to pray for the First Nations peoples upon whose ancestral land our Shrine Church resides. May her bell also be a call for ongoing heal-ing and reconciliation for the First Nations of our country and around the world. This bell
was originally in St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Quincy, Illinois. It was cast in the late 1800’s and is of exceptional tonal quality and craftsmanship.
The third bell of our bell tower is named in honour of St. Bernard of Montjoux and Our Lady, under the title of Maria Immaculata, and so is named “Montjoux-Immaculata.” St. Bernard of Montjoux was a 10th century monk and priest and is the patron saint of alpinists, skiers, snowboarders, and the Alps. He built hospices in the Alps and was a missionary there for four decades. In the Alps there are what are known as the Great and Little St. Bernard Passes. St. Bernard of Mont-joux was also the name of the former parish in Exshaw, AB and so this bell is a tribute to our Catholic neighbours in the Bow Valley. This bell was originally at former Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Canmore. It was cast in the late 1800’s and blessed by Venerable Vital Grandin OMI, who bestowed upon it the name Maria Immaculata in honour of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception. The ringing of the bell Montjoux-Immaculata will ask the Lord, Our Holy Mother and St. Bernard of Montjoux to watch over everyone who spends time in the mountains of the Bow Valley for
Stations of the Cross and Wooden Statues of the
Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary:
Our Past and Future United
The 14 Stations of the Cross in the Shrine Church depict the traditional ordering of this beloved devotion that follows the path of Jesus from His condemnation at the hands of Pontius Pilate to His burial.
This version of the Stations of the Cross draws its inspiration from both Holy Scripture and pious traditions that have been passed down by Christians from the earliest days of the Church.
The wooden carvings of the Stations were once housed in Sacred Heart Church and have a new home in the Shrine Church. The black wrought iron frames for each Station were hand made by the local black- smith here in the Bow Valley.
As you meditate on the Passion of Our Lord, call to mind the Cross that Our Lord has asked you carry. Ask for the strength to carry it squarely on your shoulders while also asking that the Lord will provide your own Simon of Cyrene if you require assistance to bear the Cross, knowing that Our Lord too required the charity of another to arrive at the summit of Golgotha.
The two statues of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary, also carved near Torino, Italy formerly resided within Sacred Heart Catholic Church. They are now placed on a custom made wooden table, made by a local woodmaker, that also features a Book of Recognition that honours all of our finan-cial contributors for the building of the Shrine Church.
