Our Lady of the Island: Our Lady of Lourdes grotto reproduction and use in two Newfoundland communities ...

• Main Author: Kiigemagi, Cynthia A.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2023
• Subjects: Newfoundland; Canada; Marian; Grotto; Flatrock
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48336/pw9c-7s43; https://research.library.mun.ca/15948/

Replicated Catholic grottos are local religious shrines fashioned after famous Catholic sites. Many of these reproduced shrines are dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and are designed after global Marian apparition sites, such as Our Lady of Lourdes in southwestern France. Replicated grottos play a part in Catholic communities through collective identity, religious narrative, and individual and communal devotions. Researching the replication of Lourdes's shrines can offer insight into the religious practices of groups and communities and the spiritual nuances of vernacular belief. This thesis examines two replicated Our Lady of Lourdes grottos in Renews and Flatrock, Newfoundland, and Labrador, Canada, by locating how these communities creatively negotiate local devotional sites. The central focus of this thesis lies in both the material context of these grottos and the oral narratives which have developed around them. These memetic edifices developed as a form of “creative theology” by the people and ...