Following a page of the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel

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QUESTION: Over the entrance doors of the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel (chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, “Our Lady of Good Help”), a church in Montreal, Quebec, is an inscription: “Si l’amour de Marie / Dans ton cœur est gravé / En passant ne t’oublie / de lui dire un Ave. If Mary’s love / Is engraved in your heart / As you pass by, don’t forget / to say a Hail Mary to her. We know that the text came from the Pont-Joubert Chapel, a small Catholic place of prayer located on a medieval bridge in Poitiers, but who decided to have it over the door in Montreal, Marguerite Bourgeoys or someone else?  

ANSWER: While St. Marguerite Bourgeoys originally founded the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel in 1855 and rebuilt it in 1875, she did not decide to place that famous inscription over the entrance.

The decision belongs to Monseigneur Ignace Bourget, the highly influential second Bishop of Montreal, during a major mid-19th-century restoration of the chapel (around 1848).

Here is how a medieval Poitiers quatrain made its way onto a Montreal church facade:

The Montfortian Connection

The text originally adorned the Pont-Joubert Chapel in Poitiers, France. In the early 1700s, St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort—a famous French missionary who spent significant time preaching in Poitiers—frequently used this exact four-line poem (quatrain) during his missions to encourage passersby to pray. He even had it engraved on other ancient structures he restored, such as the Temple Saint-Jean in Poitiers.

Bishop Bourget’s Vision

Fast forward to the 1840s:

• The Rediscovery: In 1842, St. Louis-Marie de Montfort’s theological writings on total devotion to Mary were rediscovered in France and swept through the Catholic world.
• The Inspiration: Bishop Ignace Bourget became deeply moved by this Montfortian Marian spirituality. At the same time, the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel in Montreal had fallen into neglect after structural damage and political upheaval.
• The Restoration: Bourget set out to revive the chapel as a grand pilgrimage site. In 1848, as part of his massive revitalization and beautification of the sanctuary, he borrowed the Poitiers/Montfortian quatrain and ordered it inscribed over the entrance doors to invite Montrealers and passing sailors to pause and pray.

“Si l’amour de Marie / Dans ton cœur est gravé / En passant ne t’oublie / de lui dire un Ave.”

Whenever you see this inscription on the door today, you are looking at a physical footprint of Bishop Bourget’s 19th-century religious revival, deeply inspired by the spiritual traditions of western France.

Connection: No coincidence, they say and everything is connected to everything.

• Always interested in Holy Mary, Brother Eric (me), received the call to be consacrated to Mary by the Heralds of the Gospel on November 11, 2023, using the way of Louis Marie Montfort

• Attracted by Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
• I discovered an inscription that spoke deeply to me: “If the love of Mary / Is engraved in your heart / As you pass by, do not forget / to say a Hail Mary to her.”
• How had that inscription been added to the chapel? Monseigneur Ignace Bourget, the highly influential second Bishop of Montreal, during a major mid-19th-century restoration of the chapel (around 1848)
• Monseigneur Ignace Bourget, like myself, Bishop Ignace Bourget, became deeply moved by this Montfortian Marian spirituality
• When Ignace Bourget took possession of the diocese of Montreal, it was immense. It included not only the Montreal region but also the Montérégie, Estrie, Lanaudière, the Laurentides (where I presently live), and the Outaouais regions. (I am a native of Gatineau), and, to the north, it extended to Hudson Bay.
• During the 1840s and 1850s, Bishop Ignace Bourget made his first three trips to Europe (he would make seven in total). With clergy and religious still few in number in the Canadas, he went there to seek reinforcements. He needed personnel to carry out his plans for the Church in Montreal and for the Church as a whole. In France, his efforts were fruitful. He succeeded in bringing the Jesuits back (1842). He also convinced the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (1841) (My Parish Our Lady of Grace), the Holy Cross (1847), the Clerics of Saint Viator (1847), the Ladies of the Sacred Heart (1842), and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd (1844) to cross the ocean. In Ireland, he recruited several English-speaking priests. In Montreal itself, he persuaded, often under pressure, Émilie Gamelin-Tavernier, Marie-Rose Durocher, Rosalie Cadron-Jetté, and Esther Blondin to found new congregations: the Sisters of Providence (1843), the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (1844), the Sisters of Mercy (1846), and the Sisters of Saint Anne (1850). Vocations began to increase significantly. Numerous benefactors, including the Berthelet brothers and sisters, endowed the Montreal congregations with land and buildings to help them establish themselves.

• Marie Anne Blondin, Burial site, Saint-Jérôme Cathedral, (my Cathedral), Saint-Jérôme

• Franciscan Ecumenical since 2020, A long walk with St Francis
• History of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend. The Indiana area was part of the French colony of New France during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century. It was explored by French fur traders and missionaries under the auspices of the Bishop of Quebec. I was born in Quebec and descend from French settlers who immigrated to New France in 1640 (Pierre Gagnon, my ancestor)
• I am an Affiliate member of the Confraternity of Penitents in the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend
• The Confraternity of Penitents was refounded in 2023 in honour of Mary’s Queenship.

• The following obligations must be fulfilled for Affiliate CFP status: Being consecrated to Our Lady and praying a daily Marian Consecration prayer of their choice.
• I am the common point of the connection of this list of places or events and the Roman Catholic Church