Walking in the Steps of our Ancestors:
Our Visit Home to the Gatineau Valley
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PUBLISHER of The Celtic Connection Maura McCay with her husband Jose De Freitas at the reunion in Venosta, Quebec. |
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BANNERS celebrating the 150th Anniversary Low Homecoming depict a log driver and a leprechaun which honours both the French Canadian and the Irish heritage of the region. |
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THE MAGNIFICENT 12-foot Celtic cross in the Martindale Pioneer Cemetery which depicts the voyage across the Atlantic on the coffins ships to Quebec.
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CHRISTINE AND JOE BURKE are shown above with their three children Jude, Frankie, and Stephen with Catholine Butler at the Venosta picnic.
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ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH at Martindale, Quebec was one of the stops on our journey. |
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CATHOLINE BUTLER at the Martindale Pioneer Cemetery, standing beside the triple cenotaph for which she researched the names on the front and back of the stones. Catholine, along with Martin Brown and Eddie McLaughlin of Venosta, Quebec, were responsible for raising the funds for the cenotaph and the12-foot high Celtic cross. More info: www.celtic-connection.com and click on the link "Gatineau". |
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THE ENTRANCE FOYER of Les Filles du Roy in the Hotel Pierre du Calvert in Old Montreal. |
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ST. JOSEPH'S ORATORY in Montreal where so many pilgrims seek consolation. |
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STAFF at the Embassy of Ireland in Ottawa (L-R) [Back Row] Karl Gardner, Gurpreet Bajwa, Virginie Proskurniak, David Keating, Alain Tassé. [Front Row] Siobhan Doran, Declan Kelly, Debbie Earwalker. |
Dear Readers:
After a flying visit to Ottawa and Montreal, with a trip up the Gatineau Valley tucked in between, Catholine and I have been working overtime to publish this issue of The Celtic Connection, which is our combined July/August issue for the summer.
Although the trip was only five days, it was like stepping back into another era for a short period. In fact, the whole journey was more like a pilgrimage than anything as we spent so much time visiting sacred spaces.
Among these was the little church at St. Martin's Parish in Martindale, Quebec, where I spent my childhood years. Along with my mother Catholine, my husband José, and my uncle Keith McCambley, we walked together through the church graveyard across the road and it was like visiting old friends.
So many of our family have found their final resting place there, two brothers, my grandmother and grandfather, great grandmother, my uncle and most recently, my beloved aunt Faye - Keith's wife. In fact, we're related to most buried in that small cemetery through extended family connections.
Although one cannot live in the past, it felt important that we should revisit our loved ones and reconnect with them. There was a tremendous sense of peace just walking over that familiar ground.
Another very powerful experience for me was on the night of our arrival. Although we were staying in Wakefield, Quebec, I felt a strong urge to return to the site of our farm on the Martindale Road, just north of the church.
Despite having travelled all day and darkness drawing in, I wanted to drive up the old highway and get a sense of the place I once knew so well. We drove through the village of Low, then up the Martindale Road. Soon we were in darkness and all around I could only hear the sounds of the crickets and bullfrogs echoing in the night as the silence descended on us.
The evening was hot and humid as we drove past all those familiar houses and farms. Past the church and onto the gravel road up toward the farm where my grandparents once lived. Then over the hill and on to the land where our farm once stood.
We stopped and I got out of the car and felt overwhelmed with the closeness of the spirits of those I had known from the past. I was drawn in to walk in the long overgrown grasses and to my amazement the whole night lit up as I became aware of fireflies flickering all around me. It felt enchanted and I remembered how magic the summer nights could be.
We spent the following day in Ottawa where we made a visit to the Embassy of Ireland and were warmly received by the Irish Ambassador Declan Kelly, First Secretary Karl Gardner, and Second Secretary David Keating.
Afterwards, we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch at the majestic Chateau Laurier Hotel, followed by a boat tour on the Ottawa River and a quick visit to the Bytown Museum. This area has such historical importance to Canada and it is also where so many Irish died while helping to build this great country.
Inside the museum there is a commemoration for all the Irish navvies who fell ill and died
while digging the famous Rideau Canal. It was here that the Irish died by the hundreds as they dug out the waterway in the early 1800s.
A new footbridge was recently opened to pedestrians and cyclists crossing the Canal between Somerset Street West and the University of Ottawa. It has been named the Corktown Bridge in honour of those who died while building the Canal.
It is believed to be near the former site of Corktown, a rough settlement of huts that once housed about 6,000 Irish navvies and their families, including many from Ireland's County Cork.
The workers helped pick and shovel out the Rideau Canal between 1826 and 1832. In the process, half fell ill - many with malaria - and about 1,000 died. Their settlement was dismantled after they completed the canal.
Across from the Bytown Museum stands a Celtic cross memorial at the entrance locks of the Canal. The cross was erected in June 2004 to remember the hundreds of Irish workers who died during the building of the famous waterway.
Our journey continued with a close family gathering in Ottawa. It was wonderful to see my aunts and so many of my cousins and their children. We reminisced about our childhood together spent up on the farm with my grandparents and how fortunate we were to have those wonderful memories.
The next day we headed back up the Gatineau to Venosta, Quebec for the church picnic which would kick off the Low Homecoming 2008 celebrations. Held in "the most Irish part of the Gatineau," the event covered the communities of Low, Venosta, Fieldville, Brennan's Hill, and the Manitou (Martindale).
Organizers are to be commended for all their hard work in putting together the four-day festival along with a beautiful commemorative book and CD featuring local musicians. Michael Francis, the Mayor of Low, opens the compilation with an introduction and a great history of the region.
Despite showers and inclement weather, several hundred turned out for the event which featured local musicians onstage, a square dancing demonstration, horseshoe competitions, watermelon eating contests for the kids, and lots of socializing.
We met so many old friends and relations but the one meeting that stands out is the one with Joe and Christine Burke and their three children Jude, Frankie and Stephen, who we know from Vancouver. Christine continues to work on graphic design for all the advertising with The Celtic Connection from her new home in Buckingham, Quebec.
There was a delicious meal served in the afternoon, followed by Mass at the little church at Venosta. It was interesting that the priest, Father John Dourley, chose to speak about the significance of the Celtic Cross in his homily as it spoke directly to the heart of my mother Catholine and myself.
My mother, along with Martin Brown and Eddie McLaughlin of Venosta, were directly responsible for erecting an enormous 12-foot high Celtic cross in the Pioneer Cemetery at Martindale. This is where so many survivors of the Irish Famine found a final burial place in the New World. These people were our ancestors and they found a peaceful home in the green hills of the Gatineau Valley.
Following the Venosta picnic we had one more leg of our journey left as we headed off for one night in Montreal.
As we drove along, I read excerpts from Brian Doyle's evocative novel The Low Life: Five Great Tales from Up and Down the River to my captive audience in the car. I found the story fascinating since it opens in Bytown, around the late 1800s and travels so much of the territory we had just covered.
So many of the characters and situations are based on actual people and history from around the Martindale area, I felt such a strong sense of familiarity, as though I had met some of these people along the way.
It was a wonderful sunny drive and along the way we decided to stop for a short break at the Trappist Monastery at Oka, Quebec which is renown for their famous cheeses.
Then, onward to Montreal where we arrived in late afternoon. We decided to make the most of the visit, so we headed out for dinner in Old Montreal at a traditional French-Canadian restaurant called 'Les Filles du Roi.'
What an incredible meal in such an exquisite setting surrounded by the most sumptuous period furnishings. The history of the name of this restaurant is also most interesting as it represents the young women who were sent out by King Louis XIV of France to marry soldiers stationed in New France.
Most of the millions of people of French Canadian descent today, both in Quebec and the rest of Canada and the U.S. are descendants of these courageous women of the Seventeenth Century.
Afterwards, we walked for hours through the old quarter, just savouring the rich cultural atmosphere and magnificent architecture. Finally, at 2 AM, we enjoyed poutine at a café on a bustling Ste. Catherine Street, still filled with lively music and entertainment.
The final touch and the pinnacle in so many ways, was our closing visit to the great basilica at St. Joseph's Oratory at Côte-des-Neiges near Notre Dame in Montreal. This is the most important sanctuary in the world dedicated to Saint Joseph.
A real spiritual presence permeates this massive granite structure where millions of people have come since 1904 to pray and to search for peace and consolation. This sacred place has brought comfort to so many visitors, regardless of origin, language or faith.
Many have found healing and the innumerable canes and crutches left inside in the Votive Chapel - which contains 10,000 lights and candles - are a testament to that faith. Often pilgrims will mount the 283 entrance stairs on their knees and the centre section is reserved for those who choose this method.
We were actually overcome with the powerful emotions we felt at this site. It was an experience we will remember and hold dear and it felt like a fitting farewell as we prepared for our homeward journey to Vancouver.
Until next month,
Maura,
[For more information about the Martindale Pioneer Cemetery, visit our website at: www.celtic-connection and click on the "Gatineau" link.]
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