Closing of Holy Door at Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral Basilica

Monday, January 12, 2015

On the Feast of the Holy Family and at the end of the celebrations marking the 350th anniversary of the Notre-Dame de Québec parish, His Eminence Gérald Cyprien Cardinal Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec and Primate of the Church in Canada, on December 28, 2014, officially closed the Cathedral’s Holy Door. Inaugurated on December 8, 2013, the Holy Door, which is a gift from the Holy See, is the first outside Europe and the seventh in the world. There are four in Rome (at the Papal Basilicas of Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter, Saint Paul outside the Walls, and Saint Mary Major), as well as one in Ars-sur-Formans, France (at the shrine of Saint John Vianney, Curé of Ars), and one in Santiago de Compostela, Spain (at the pilgrimage shrine dedicated to Saint James).

After the closing of the Holy Door, Cardinal Lacroix presided at First Vespers for the Feast of the Holy Family, at which a number of families and other faithful from the Archdiocese of Québec participated, as well as civil and religious authorities. Among other Bishops present were His Eminence Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, who is also Archbishop Emeritus of Quebec City; the Most Reverend Maurice Couture, S.V., Archbishop Emeritus of Québec; the Most Reverend Jean Gagnon, Bishop of Gaspé; the Most Reverend Paul Lortie, Bishop of Mont-Laurier; the Most Reverend Eugène Tremblay, Bishop Emeritus of Amos; the Most Reverend Laurent Noël, Bishop Emeritus of Trois-Rivières; the Most Reverend Gaétan Proulx, O.S.M., Auxiliary Bishop of Québec; and the Most Reverend Denis Grondin, Auxiliary Bishop of Québec.

The closing of the Holy Door was the last event of the Jubilee celebrations for the 350th anniversary of Notre-Dame de Québec parish, the first Catholic parish canonically erected in North America outside Spanish territories, which is today Quebec City’s cathedral parish. The Jubilee Year was also blessed by Pope Francis declaring François de Laval, the first Bishop of Québec, and Mother Marie of the Incarnation, both of whom are founders of Québec, as Saints of the Universal Church.

Link to the video archives of the celebration
Link to the website for the 350th anniversary of Notre-Dame de Québec

Photos:
Daniel Abel | Photographe 
Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec.