Discovering hidden gems is one of the greatest joys of a pilgrimage. Just two days into their week-long journey through the Normandy region of France, a group of 12 Canadian Catholic priests and spiritual travel influencers has already experienced this gift.

Fr. Harrison Ayre, the pastor of St. Peter’s Parish in Nanaimo, B.C., came away from the Notre-Dame de Montligeon Sanctuary in La-Chapelle-Montligeon, France, on Feb. 4 with that sense of wonder. The Fraternity of Our Lady of Montligeon at the basilica and shrine undertakes a special vocation to pray for the souls of the deceased.

“There is something about the hiddenness of this place,” said Ayre. “Not knowing it just made it all wrap together in a way that said, ‘this is a place that does a good thing, and the Church needs places like this.’ ”

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Ayre, currently on a sabbatical, appreciated how the shrine is integrated as “it does the spiritual work and also the human work. It prays for those who have died, but it also helps to minister to people here tomorrow morning.

There is a dedicated prayer space for the little souls who passed away due to miscarriage. Poignantly, Ayre wrote down an intention and offered a prayer for friends in the U.S. who experienced a miscarriage a year ago. He informed the couple — the wife currently pregnant — of the sanctuary’s list of intentions. He did not yet know the couple had a doctor's checkup later that day. 

“The wife was so nervous because she thought she might have a breakdown because that's where she found she miscarried her last child,” said Ayre. “And she didn't. She goes, and that was like a couple hours after I sent a prayer there. That is a reveal.”

The thoughtfully planned nature of the Notre-Dame de Montligeon Sanctuary was also exemplified through the stained-glass windows. Every saint depicted artistically told the story of someone whom they prayed for to convert near death.

Fr. Alarey Abella of St. Alphonsus Parish in Toronto also determinedly looked for the registry to write the names of his deceased loved ones, including his mother. He, too, was moved by the mission of this place.

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“Wow, there is a big basilica where the ministry is about praying for the deceased, most particularly the deceased people who are forgotten,” said Abella. “It is a visit I will treasure, and maybe one day I will come back.”

Day two of the sojourn was dedicated to touring the birthplace of St. Thérèse of Lisieux in Alençon in 1873 to Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie (Zélie) Guérin, a watchmaker and jeweller. The Little Flower was canonized in 1925, and 90 years later, in 2015, both of her parents became saints.

The pilgrims were guided through the family home of Thérèse and her four siblings, who survived childhood. The family modelled resiliency as four of the children born to Louis and Zélie died in infancy.

Abella, born in the Philippines, “always loved Thérèse” and cherishes that the first parish he belonged to upon coming to Canada was St Theresa's Shrine of the Little Flower in Toronto's east end. He cherishes how Thérèse spoke about how “holiness can be reached by doing little ordinary things.”

Abella considers that “as a motto of life” — “bigger things start with little things.”

Ayre had the pleasure of visiting the family home with a pilgrimage group last year, and he personally was moved by how the religious sister and priest remembered him from the previous visit.

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“The fact that I was here for a couple of hours, and they remembered me, tells you the attention and care they take for the visitors,” said Ayre.

He added that what was poignant about this visit was how the Martin family worked hard to care for the less advantaged, and also how the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which has a large Canadian presence, greatly impacted how the Martins lived at home.