Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is a town in La Côte-de-Beaupré Regional County Municipality, Quebec[4], Canada, along the Saint Lawrence River, 35 kilometers (22 mi) north-east of the Quebec City. The population was 2,803 according to the Canada 2006 Census. The Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is located in the town.
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré stands in a rolling agricultural country, with the foothills of the Laurentian Mountains in the background. The first church was built by sailors who would often become ship-wrecked off Ile-Oeuf on their way to Quebec City. Saint Anne is the patron saint of sailors.
The Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is a major Roman Catholic place of pilgrimage and has a copy of Michelangelo's Pietà[1] (the original is in the Vatican City). The basilica is also known as a place of miracles. One of the builders of the original church, Louis Guimont, helped build the church despite having severe scoliosis and needing the aid of a crutch. When the church was complete, he was able to walk independently. Subsequent visitors to the church who have prayed have left their canes, crutches and walking aides behind as testament to their healing. The main wall when you first walk into the basilica is now completely covered with crutches.
In addition to the basilica, the town contains numerous religious edifices, the chief being the Scala Santa[2], built in imitation of the Holy Stairs in Rome.


[1] Michelangelo's St. Peter's Pietà. The Pietà (pl. same; Italian for pity) is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture.



[2]The Scala Sancta (English: Holy Stairs, Italian: Scala Santa) are, according to the Christian tradition, the steps that led up to the praetorium[3] of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem, which Jesus Christ stood on during his Passion on his way to trial.
[3]The term praetorium, also spelled prœtorium or pretorium, was originally used to identify the general’s tent within a Roman castra, castellum, or encampment.

[4]Quebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level. Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay and Hudson Bay, to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. It is bordered on the south by the US states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.