Our lady of Maples

Our-lady of maples in hard maple sugar.

Our lady of maples
(by Jean Simard)

A small statuette of Our Lady of the Maples, 9 inches in height (23 cm), was manufactured in 5,000 copies by the Petrucci & Carli House of Montreal. The legend is that Our Lady of the Maples would protect the maple grove and the sugar-shack from any disaster at all times. These statuettes were given to all the Québec Maple-Syrup Producers who wished to have one. At the request of the Quebec Maple-Syrup Producers, His Eminence Cardinal Paul-Emile Léger went to Rome on November, 11th, 1957, and obtained from Pope Pius XII the authorization to invoke Our Lady of the Maples. "…I have exposed to the Holy Pope your wishes concerning your devotion to Our Lady of the Maples. He received my demand with kindness…".

As a result, an image of Our Lady of the Maples was printed and its invocation gives 300 days of indulgencies! The model has been given by Albert Chartier, a French sculptor. The original is a marble statuette, made out of Italian marble, and can be seen see at the Maple-Syrup Producers Cooperative, in Plessisville, Québec. However, some say that the French sculptor, Albert Chartier, could have been inspired by a wooden statue called Our Lady of the Maple Grove, which was carved before 1885 by Léandre Parent for J.O. Brousseau who erected the sculpture in his wood grove, in St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Québec.

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Moulded Church in hard maple sugar.