Every Monday we share an image on the Essex on Lake Champlain Facebook page and invite our viewers to play some Vintage Essex Trivia.
Do you recognize this? Where is it? What can you tell us about it? Have you seen this postcard before?
Here’s some of what the community had to say:
Glenn Estus: Oblate Fathers?
Lorraine Townsend Faherty: St Joseph’s?
Mark Kupperman: Beggs For Mercy Point?
Heather Lamb: Oblate fathers of Our Lady of Hope
Melissa Otis: Looks as though the wording under the Madonna is German or similar.
Heather Lamb: Could be, Melissa. An apparition of the Virgin Mary is credited with halting an advance of the Prussian army in Pontmain, France in 1871.
The back of the postcard definitively identifies the site and the date that the photograph used on the postcard was taken. The text identifies the site as the Madonna of the Crucifix, Our Lady of Hope Shrine, Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Essex, NY. The date it was published was 1959.
Doing a little research I was able to discover a little more information about the shrine’s location and origins:
“In 1910 [St. Joseph’s Parish] became a mission of St. Philip’s Church in Willsboro and 25 years later it was placed under the care of the Oblate Fathers. […] The Shrine of Our Lady of Hope was located in a natural setting on a 600-acre plot of land just to the north of the Church. The alter was made of stone granite surmounted by a unique statue imported from France. The statue ‘portrays the Blessed Virgin as she appeared as the Mother of Hope in the little French village of Pontmain on January 17, 1871.’ The property, formerly known as the Fulton Estate, was purchased in 1934 and was renamed the Dontenwill Novitiate. It offered summer training for the Scholastic Brotherhood of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. It was later sold to [a private owner.]” (Source: Essex, New York: An Early History, 80-81)
Do any of you ever remember seeing the shrine in person? Do you know if it still exists? The text above implies it is no longer present.
Share your knowledge and thoughts in the comment section below!
Share Your Essex Artifacts
If you want to share your old photos of Essex (or brochures; postcards; menus; tickets; any artifact) on the blog please email us at editor [AT] essexonlakechamplain [DOT] com.
- Vintage Photo: Steamer Vermont (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Vintage Postcard: Split Rock Lighthouse (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Vintage Photo: Ticonderoga Steam Ship (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Vintage Postcard: Sherwood Inn Waterfront (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Vintage Photo: Gas Dock (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Vintage Postcard: Aerial View of Willsboro Point (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
We loved this beautiful shrine and visited it often when I was a young child (born 1962). Our family was saddened when it closed. I grew up in the Plattsburgh NY area and remember how exciting it was when our parents would announce that we were going “to Essex”. The shrine had beautiful outdoor grounds, an amazing chapel, rosary walk, gift shop, picnic tables… the chapel was particularly lovely as it had a dome ceiling decorated to look like the image of Our Lady of Pontmain, hovering in a night sky covered with stars, just as the apparition took place in the 1800s. I wonder what happened to that chapel after the property was sold…
I just came across a small pamphlet titled Our Lady of Hope Novena Prayers from 1952 by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Eastern Province.
It is from the Shrine of Our Lady of Hope Essex, NY. It think the pamphlet belonged to my NYC Grandmother who died in 1982. The novena contains beautiful prayers and on the pamphlet’s cover is a wonderful picture of The Madonna of the Crucifix. How I wish the shrine was in existence !
I rode up there in 1963 and stopped by to see the shrine and brought home a statue there was a young priest there i dont remember his name
My family and I visited there in 1966 it’s one of the oldest memories I have of my life. we came from ogdensburg that day. I was three and a half years old.
My mother went with a group of women from St Aloysius parish in Montreal-May 1963. The following Sunday the family went back. We continued going to Essex till the Shrine closed in 71. I became an Oblate Priest because of the influence of the OMI’s at the Shrine.
What a beautiful and lasting gift to the Church, that you received the guidance to your vocation at that holy place, Father Michael. Thank you for sharing this here and for your ministry as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate.
Mike!
What a magical place it was. I just found this. I often think about those times, and the Fitzpatricks still speak of those summer visits fondly.
I did not know that it closed the year after our last visit, when Uncle Bob took his final vows there.
I have a Holy Card OUR LADY OF HOPE NOVENA PRAYERS i HAVE BEEN PRAYING DATED 1952 BY THE OBLATES OF MARY IMMACULATE, EASTERN PROV. There is on the cover a photo of the Madonna of the Crucifix and the history of this devotion. Imprimi Potest: Raymond J. Hunt, O.M.J. Provential, Nihil Obstat: Geo. T. Donnelly, S.T.D., Censor Librorum, Imprimatur: Bryan J. McEntegart, D.D., Bishop of Ogdensburg, Ogdensburg, N.Y., April @, 1952 SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF HOPE ESSEX, NEW YORK. I went on line to see where I could receive a color photo to hang in my home because she is so beautiful, simple and calm. Patricia Ashker. I don’t do that facebook stuff. Sorry if I bothered you.
Patricia,
I hope my comment finds you well. I have been researching for weeks trying to come across some sort of lead in my prayer search and was graciously lead to your comment on this post!
My grandmother had two pages from some sort of prayer book, pages 4 and 5, that she kept in a plastic sleeve. However, the pages have a lot of wear and tear on them, and are ripped in 3 places, a long with being ripped in half (at no fault of her own). She used to pray these prayers daily. She is not doing so well, and I know she doesn’t remember the prayers. I so desperately wanted to type up these prayers and make them larger text and give them to her. I haven’t been able to find the exact wording online to the prayers…it’s hard when words are missing. Is there any possible way we can connect? Is there any way you could reply to my comment with the prayers/all the words on pages 4 and 5? You could even email me pictures at jcobb21@kent.edu. I’m willing to pay for the love of everything…I just want to surprise her for Christmas. I would be forever in your debt, and eternally grateful. Thank you in advance for your time. God bless you and yours.