Village of Ste. Rose du Lac, Manitoba

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Reason for Building:

Father Desautels, the Pastor of Ste. Rose de Lima Parish, wanted to build a replica of the Notre Dame de Lourdes Grotto in France to commemorate the Centennial of the apparitions at Lourdes in 1858.

Additional Information:

Apparently Father Desautels insisted on one thing: it had to be "Big", the biggest grotto in Manitoba.

There are more stones underground than above in order to have a firm foundation. Four hundred loads of rocks were brought in.

The total cost of the project, including machinery, cement, 5 statues and labour was $8,000.

Best anecdote about this monument deals with the amount of time it took to complete it. Apparently there was a young poplar sapling that grew near the site. The people building it would say "we'll go as high as the poplar sapling and then we'll quit." Over the years they realized the tree was growing faster than they could keep up with.

Information Source: Village of Ste. Rose du Lac and handout Ste. Rose Grotto

Picture Source: Roger F. Morin