Today’s The World
Around Us will be
presented in French,
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Chinese, English, French,
German, Hungarian,
Indonesian, Japanese,
Korean, Malay, Persian,
Portuguese, Russian,
Spanish, and Thai.
The magnificence
of pilgrimage places
in the world
has always reflected
our earnest gratitude
of God’s grace.
Today, we will visit the
awe-inspiring Shrine of
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
in Canada,
a spectacular sanctuary
dedicated to Sainte Anne,
mother of the Virgin Mary,
and known as
the “Land of Miracles.”
Together with
Sainte-Anne d’Aurey
in France and
Sainte-Anne-de-Jerusalem,
Shrine of
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
is one of just
three existing sanctuaries
devoted to Saint Anne.
Now an astonishing
Basilica at the outskirts
of Quebec City, the
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
Shrine has been a place
of prayer
for the past 350 years.
About 1.5 million visitors
from all over the world
come annually
to uphold their faith
in Saint Anne.
Why is there
such great devotion
to Sainte Anne?
One answer lies in
the affinity between
the spiritual traditions
that met in Canada,
between the beliefs
of the French pioneers
and the culture
of the First Nations.
Father Guy Pilote,
rector of the Basilica of
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré,
guides us
through the sanctuary.
Sainte-Anne, of course
is the mother
of Virgin Mary,
the grand-mother of Jesus.
We don't talk about
Sainte-Anne in the Bible,
but one thing is sure,
that is Virgin Mary had
a mother, and the mother
of the Virgin was
certainly someone nice.
It was
our French ancestors
who came from France,
and who already
had this grand devotion.
We know that in Brittany,
where the majority
of our ancestors came,
there's a Saint Anne
sanctuary in Auray.
We consider it
a little bit like
the mother sanctuary of
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.
So our ancestors came
here with this devotion
and the sailors
who crossed the ocean.
It was always risky,
so these people
had great devotion,
They would pray to
the blessed Sainte-Anne,
especially to cross
Cap Tourmente, where
it was more difficult,
more dangerous.
And they also
made promises
to Saint Anne.
The First Nations,
the Indians,
they join wholeheartedly
in this devotion
because in their culture,
a grandmother plays
an important role.
Saint Anne,
being a grand-mother,
they adopted her
right away!
And they always
come to the sanctuary.
From the beginning,
the Indians were always
very present here
at the sanctuary.
Another, perhaps more
important explanation
to the wide devotion
to Saint Anne is found
in the few dozens
of recorded miracles that
took place at the sanctuary.
“There,
the paralytics walk,
the blind can see,
and the sick are healed
of every kind of illness”
– wrote an Ursuline nun
Marie de L’Incarnation
in the 17th century.
In 1658 when
they started to build,
there's a commemorative
plate exactly where
the first chapel was.
It’s the decisions
of the inhabitants.
They were
about 20 families
living around here
and they were the ones
who wanted to
have a chapel,
a place of worship
dedicated to Saint Anne.
And one of the inhabitants
was very sick; he had
a bad kidney sickness.
He couldn’t work
but he wanted to help
with the construction.
He came symbolically
to throw a few rocks
into the foundation
and that's how
he was cured instantly.
It was the first miracle
of Saint Anne, let’s say,
which was notified here.
Just like that of
Virgin Mary,
the life of Saint Anne
contained a miraculous
story of birth-giving.
An ordinary
spiritual Jewish woman,
she had married
for 20 years
without having a child.
Following the indication
of an angel, however,
Saint Anne met
her husband again
at the Golden Gate
of Jerusalem and
soon gave birth to Mary.
Originally built by
a French architect
Maxime Roisin
and a Quebec architect
Louis-Napoléon Audet
de Sherbrooke,
the interior of the shrine
displays the life
and virtue of Saint Anne.
The big mosaic of the vault
narrates to us
the life of Saint Anne.
Her life is told
in the central part and
in the two crossed arms.
The basilica is
in a cross shape, isn’t it?
And at the crossing,
in the middle, you have
the virtues of Saint Anne
and besides,
just above the high altar,
you have the glorification
of Saint Anne.
So Saint Anne’s life
is recalled in this way.
Three pieces
of Saint Anne’s relics
are placed in the Shrine,
including
the important piece
given to the Shrine
by Pope John XXIII
in 1960.
We will continue
our visit to the Shrine of
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
when we return.
Please stay tuned to
Supreme Master
Television.
Halo, joyful viewers,
welcome back to
The World Around Us
featuring the Shrine of
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
near Quebec City,
Canada.
Representing a sanctuary
of 350 years of history,
the grand basilica has been
in constant renewal
and expansion ever since
it was built in 1923.
Starting from
the outer hall of the shrine,
Father Guy Pilote
began to show us
the intricate designs
of the basilica.
You have the columns,
which are in the color
of water, because
at baptism you have water
that gives you birth
into a new life.
The little sculptures
above the columns, with
all kind of fishes.
These are symbols,
it is life
coming out of the water
and the symbols
of the new life
you receive at baptism,
like the seashells
on the vault or the algae
on the sculpted arch.
So all these symbols
remind us of the richness
of the new life we receive
at the time of baptism.
You have a big mosaic
at the back in two parts,
the baptism of Christ
in the Jordan,
the baptism in spirit.
And from one side to
the other of the portico,
you have at the other end,
it will be death.
You have birth here and
at the other end, death.
And in between
we have a period of time
given to us,
a period of time
to discover, to live.
It's the lifetime.
We don't know
how long it will last.
It's a precious time
and it was given to us
to discover God;
God reveals Himself to us.
You have mosaics
above the door.
This one, the central one
and the other door,
where God is represented
on the father, the son
and the spirit;
and God entrusted to men
the care of the creation.
It's God revealing
Himself in nature.
This nature is invoked
in the arch with
all the plants,
all the animals,
all in the same size to
show that the small one is
as important
as the big one.
Father Guy Pilote further
explained the relation
between God’s creation
and the appearance
of time.
Time was evoked here
in the portico in a
very, very obvious way.
First,
you have the Creator
here in the center,
with the solar system
above the vault
in mosaics.
And just above us here
at the entrance, you have
the sun in the center
with the 24 hours
of day and night.
The vault is divided
in four sections
evoking the four seasons
with a little scenery
for each season,
which is our way
of organizing time.
As we have
divided the year
into twelve months,
so the twelve months are
recalled in twelve
little arches,
six on each side
with the zodiac signs.
When we come in,
the first thing
the people see
is a couple dancing
on the floor; so dance is
an expression of joy.
As we entered
the main hall, we see that
the altar of Saint Anne
is next to the main altar
of celebrating
of the mass.
You also have,
just in the middle,
in the stained glass above
the high altar in red,
the personality of Christ.
He is in the center
and He is surrounded
by other stained glasses
of patriarchs
and prophets
in the Old Testament,
who had announced Him.
And in the second series
of stained glass,
behind the columns,
we don't see them well
from here,
the apostles of Jesus Christ
are represented.
I just want to signal
one important thing
in the basilica, it is the
sculpture of the capitals.
You see the sculptures
above at the top
of the round columns.
These capitals were made
by a Quebecer,
a very famous sculptor
of Quebec,
Mr. Emile Brunet,
and they narrate the life
of Christ.
So we have
the life of Saint Anne,
we have the life of Christ.
You have all the stained
glasses that we see there.
The ones on top
we don't see, but
they are magnificent also.
Those we see
are all the places where
there are sanctuaries
for Saint Anne.
You have animals
sculpted on every bench.
There are 260 benches
so 260 animals.
Look,
they are all different.
What do these animals
represent?
It's nature,
it’s the creation of God,
which is a great richness,
a great variety.
You also have a plant,
they all look the same
but they are all different.
So the fauna and flora
are represented
in a discreet way,
but they are there.
And the seashell is
the symbol of the pilgrim.
It is also in the central altar
that the sacred bond
between Saint Anne,
the Virgin Mary
and Jesus Christ
is represented.
Here we can see very well,
above the high altar,
in the big mosaic,
Saint Anne
with the Virgin Mary
and child Jesus.
And we see
the good Saint Anne
gives Jesus a fruit.
It's not only a treat
from a grandmother, but
a symbol of his mission
that she presents to him.
And his mission is to be
the Savior of the world,
to come to redeem
the world, to repair
the original mistake,
which is evoked here
in the tree of Genesis,
the fault of Adam and Eve.
So there's a link
between the two –
the mission of Jesus.
Finally, Father Guy Pilote
discussed the arts
and techniques
invented for sanctuaries
as we approached
the Immaculate
Conception Chapel.
It is dedicated
to the Virgin Mary, the
Immaculate Conception.
That's why
there is a statue of
her amidst the organs,
right in the middle,
a statue of the
Immaculate Conception.
That's why all the colors
of the chapel are
in different tints of blue,
of various kinds,
in the mosaic,
in the paintings also.
It's the Marian color
par excellence.
This chapel was made in
the beginning of the 80's,
the wall-covering,
the finishing.
Another particularity
of the Immaculate chapel
is the small mosaics.
We can see on top
of the small columns,
there are 176
of these small mosaics.
They are all butterflies,
birds, flowers;
they are magnificent.
May the blessed
Shrine of
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
continue to help
bring its visitors
closer to God.
Thank you for
being with us on today’s
The World Around Us.
Coming up next is
Words of Wisdom,
after Noteworthy News,
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May Heaven shower you
with miracles
each and every day.
Come along on a visit
to the ancient city of
Hebron in the West Bank
of Palestine.
Hebron is also
well known for the
traditional industries,
part of it is the textile,
and part of it
is blowing glass.
And in the religious aspect,
we have
the fourth holiest site
for Muslims.
Supreme Master
Television’s
exclusive tour begins
this Wednesday, August 5, on
The World Around Us.
What does science say
about the difference
between having
a constructive or
negative mindset in life?
In a negative state where
you are more fixated
on a narrow area
of your visual field,
it leaves you less able
to integrate other pieces
of information
in your visual world.
For instance,
if you were navigating
through a crowd,
looking for somebody,
that could be an example
of where you would want
to have more access
to the full extent
of your visual field.
Please be sure to watch
“How We Think
Determines What We See
- An Interview with
Taylor Schmitz” on
Science & Spirituality
this Monday, August 3.