September’s prime time for the Martyrs’ Shrine

Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario, is one hundred years old this year, and the Canadian Martyrs feast day is just around the corner on September 26. If you’ve never gone to this magnificent sanctuary with expansive grounds (lots for kids to see and enjoy) and a fully reconstructed settlement across the street (Ste.-Marie Among the Hurons)—you are a deprived Catholic. 

Ste-Marie is an archaeological collaboration of the Ontario government and Society of Jesus, completed in 1967. It features an excellent, interactive, educational museum. In fact, there’s so much to take in, you can’t really do it justice all in one day. Some people spend most of the day at the Shrine and have no idea what awaits across the street (or vice versa) and then realize they’ll need to come back again. 

The shrine/settlement are places you would do well to read up on before you visit (an excellent start is the Catholic Register special edition magazine Missions and Martyrs – the Editor.) The 17th century Jesuits wrote to their superiors regularly and kept journals. You can find a very condensed version of the details of their day-to-day lives at the mission in a small book: The Jesuit Relations. The history of this hallowed locale is rich, beginning with the history of the Huron people.

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Make use of a guide, a Shrine enthusiast, or take a guided tour (at both locations). Join one of the many pilgrimages (some them ethnic or walking pilgrimages). Enjoy the natural and man-made beauty of the surroundings.

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The grey stone and gleaming aluminum steeples are as striking as the vistas you will be treated to in this hilly region of the Southern Georgian Bay. Plan to go to Mass and Confession while you’re there and receive a blessing with the martyrs’ relics and venerate the skull of St. Jean de Brébeuf. Bring a picnic or patronize the eater(ies). Visit the gift shop (Don’t forget to pick up a copy of the Catholic Register special edition magazine Missions and Martyrs in the gift shop– the Editor.) Roam the campus and pray the outdoor Stations of the Cross and Rosary walk. You can also take a shortcut to Ste.-Marie Among the Hurons by the waterway if you just want to visit the graves of two of the martyrs, Frs. Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant). There’s also a small cemetery where Huron Catholics, priests and donnés who died of natural causes were laid to rest. True devotees can visit Saint-Louis and Saint-Ignace, the actual spots where Brébeuf and Lalemant were captured, then tortured and killed by the Iroquois, about 13 kilometres east of the Shrine.

Never heard of Joseph Chiwatenhwa? Look for his magnificent statue behind the shrine. He and his wife, Marie Aonnetta, were Catholic converts, and theirs was the first Catholic wedding in Huronia. He was of tremendous help to the Jesuits in translating prayers and hymns, and served as a catechist to his people. Joseph, hungry for the true God, did the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (after purportedly telling the priests not to keep these treasures from him!). I once met Bishop Gary Gordon, Bishop of Victoria, who quizzed me: “If you’re from Ontario, who are Joseph and Ekon?” Thankfully, I knew: Chiwatenhwa and Brébeuf. The native people nicknamed Brébeuf “Ekon,” which means “tree,” due to his great stature and strength.

This might sound strange, but some of my strongest memories of a profound concrete religious experience tied to a physical location centre around the Martyrs’ Shrine. (I have visited umpteen times, and the nuns have heard me say umpteen times: “Bury me at Midland!”) How can a place that commemorates (among other things) such incredible hostility, be a place of unmatched celebratory joy and fervour today? Because the Cross is always victorious. The French Jesuits and their little flock gave their lives to and for Jesus. Wars, whether world-size or tribal skirmish-size, never truly end the lives they take. “The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and no torment shall touch them.” (Wisdom 3:1) “For your faithful, Lord, life is changed, not ended. The good accomplished, by the grace of God, flows on, and the blood of the martyrs are the seeds of the future Church.

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Things are always changing at the Shrine, so check the website to see what’s new: martyrs-shrine.com. But make haste! The season is a short one and everything usually closes up by mid-October. 

Holy Canadian Martyrs, priez pour nous!

(Sr. Helena Raphael Burns, FSP, is a Daughter of St. Paul. She holds a Masters in Media Literacy Education and studied screenwriting at UCLA. HellBurns.com Twitter: @srhelenaburns #medianuns)

A version of this article appeared in the September 06, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "September’s prime time for the Martyrs’ Shrine"