Lac Ste Anne

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Lac La Biche

Rocky
Mountain House

Lac Ste. Anne

St. Albert

Our Lady of
Peace Mission

Lesser
Slave Lake

Dunvegan

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In 1861 Father Lacombe refocused his efforts and began a new mission closer to Fort Edmonton. A number of the Lac Ste. Anne residents accompanied him to the new site-St. Albert-and within two years the Grey Nuns also relocated. The Lac Ste. Anne mission, consequently, declined in importance.

While Lac Ste. Anne continued to function as a base for area missionaries, by 1886 the church was in disrepair and the mission's future uncertain. It was only when Oblate Joseph Lestanc was inspired by a vision to build a shrine and a new church at the site that the destiny of Lac Ste. Anne changed. On June 6, 1889, the first pilgrimage to the shrine was held on June 6, 1889 and attended by 170 people. By the time of the second pilgrimage only weeks later, participation had grown to roughly 400.

The annual pilgrimage continued to grow. At the turn of the 20th century more than 1000 attended, a figure that rose to 4,500 in 1925. The Aboriginal community was and continues to have a significant presence in this pilgrimage, the event happening during a gathering traditional time. Today as many as 40,000 devotees visit the shrine on the feast day of Ste Anne (July 26) for spiritual healing and an affirmation of faith, bathing in the lake, which is believed to hold curative powers.

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