Why new generations are continuing to visit a secluded century-old grotto in Vanier

CBC

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It's a 24-hour venue, located in the heart of Ottawa's busy Vanier neighbourhood, but this outdoor site is a space for peaceful prayer and contemplation, drawing thousands of pilgrims from different religious backgrounds each year, particularly in mid-August for the Feast of the Assumption.
Abdul Farooq, 25, says he discovered the century-old Grotte Notre Dame de Lourdes when he moved to the neighbourhood in 2022, after studying French literature and translation at the University of Ottawa.
He says he felt attracted by the feeling of calm he discovered there.
"It struck me as something very exceptional, especially since I didn't grow up with spaces like that in the suburbs in the GTA," said Farooq, referring to the Greater Toronto Area.
Though not Catholic himself, Farooq — who grew up in a religious Muslim family — says he immediately felt at home at the grotto.
"Certain aspects of the grotto felt very familiar ... that focus on quiet contemplation," said Farooq, who has noticed other young people gravitating toward the peaceful space.
Farooq teamed up with co-creator Gavin Lanteigne and multimedia storyteller Kevin Acquah to learn more about this sanctuary and the people who worship there for a video for CBC Ottawa's Creator network.
"It felt like a way of getting back in touch with that aspect of my upbringing, but in different terms," he explained.
WATCH | Experience the calm of Vanier's grotto in this Creator Network piece:
This historic sanctuary draws visitors 24 hours a day, and not all are Catholic
4 minutes ago
Nestled in busy Vanier, the leafy Grotte Notre Dame de Lourdes caught the attention of 25-year-old storyteller Abdul Farooq, who teamed up with Gavin Lanteigne and Kevin Acquah to tell the story of the century-old outdoor religious site and its enduring appeal in this CBC Ottawa Creator Network piece.
Familiar outdoor worship
Visiting the grotto has been a way for Marita El-Kadi to connect with her family's Lebanese roots.
"A lot of Lebanese people before immigrating to Canada would go pray outdoors," El-Kadi said in the film, explaining that her parents brought her to the space as she was growing up in Ottawa.
Now 25, El-Kadi says the grotto is a place for her to feel close to her late mother Claudia El-Kadi.
"My Mom had a steadfast kind of faith," said El-Kadi. "No matter at what stage of her diagnosis, she still believed," adding "it was still able to bring her comfort at the end of the day."
In her mom's final days, El-Kadi said her mother's friends visited the grotto as a means of caring for her.
"They would pray for her there specifically because it is a place of healing," said El-Kadi. When Claudia died in 2021, El-Kadi said she lost some of that connection with the space.
But lately, she's felt a renewed desire to stop by for a sense of peace, solace and community which can be hard to find for young people in the city.
"People are still looking for this connection with others," she explained.
A century of solace
The grotto's history in Vanier dates back to 1908, when a group of Montfortain seminarian students recreated a celebrated grotto in Lourdes, France, where it is said the Virgin Mary appeared a number of times to a young girl named Bernadette.
There are other such spaces around the world and Canada, usually built in rock, and featuring a statue of the Virgin Mary as well as an altar area and outdoor seating for masses.
In Vanier, before today's stone structures were built, the cave and altar were created out of snow.
"As kids we built snow castles, so we took that idea and looked at photos from France and they built something like that," recalled president of the Grotto Volunteers Committee Jean Laporte, who has been a parishioner there since he was born.
"When I was young — seven, eight, nine years old — we'd go there and have picnics on Sunday afternoons with my family," he said, recalling an era when the Catholic Church played a central role in the lives of French Canadians families like his.
"It was a different time," said Laporte. "The church was the heart of the community, and the grotto was a place where people came together to pray, to celebrate, and to find comfort."
In particular, he said it was a place for sick people to come and pray, where the healed would leave their crutches behind. He remembers tour busses of worshippers arriving from across North America decades back.
Although attendance has dwindled since it first opened, he said the site remains busy, with 10,000 people visiting annually for organized events, and an estimated 10,000 more who stop by at other times. It's especially packed in mid-August for the Feast of Assumption, with its torchlight procession and other events, including the mass with blessing for the sick.
"It's not just for Catholics, we have people from across religions who come to sit and meditate, maybe to get away from the noise of the city," explained Laporte.
After a fire at the church in 1973, Laporte said the grotto site was sold to the parish and now the outdoor space is entirely volunteer-run. Laporte's father was a longtime volunteer and two years ago Laporte junior took over as caretaker.
"We see different generations of people volunteering to help keep it going," said Laporte, adding that today many of the volunteers who help clear snow, organize candle sales, and plan events are new to Canada.
He's met people from Portuguese, Haitian, African and Lebanese backgrounds who tell him the grotto reminds them of similar spaces back home.
But for Laporte, what sets this place apart is that it welcomes people year-round, 24 hours a day.
"It's always been open. We've never had a fence or a gate. So people can just come," he said. "I've been there all times of day — even in the middle of the night people come."
A new grotto in Ottawa's south
Vanier is no longer Ottawa's only Catholic grotto, thanks to the opening of a new Catholic sanctuary this June in the city's south end, said Barry Devine, director of the newly formed Stewards of the Grotto at St. Patrick's Parish in Fallowfield.
Dreamed up by longtime parishioner Charles Tierney as a means of honouring his late wife Bernadette, Devine said the Grotto of Our Lady of the Fields, which is located in the church's cemetery, took two years to build and they are still awaiting the altar and sound system to host outdoor masses.
In the context of waning number of Catholic faithful, Devine said he knows it's unusual to hear of a new sanctuary. But he said his parish is thriving as the church undergoes restoration, as well as a cemetery expansion and he's been happy to hear the positive feedback over the new outdoor sanctuary, which welcomes all.
"It's new, it's open, and it's for people to come and and use as a place of refuge and prayer and inspiration and [they are] encouraged to do so... I think that that's just the bottom line," said Devine.
Open to all
For Farooq, that sense of quiet welcome is also what makes Vanier's space special.
"You're outside, you're among people, and it doesn't feel closed off," he said, adding that he decided to make a film about it because he feels it's important to share lesser-known parts of the city with a wider audience.
"When people say the word 'Ottawa', they're just talking about a couple of buildings: Parliament, Senate, courts, and so on," said Farooq.
"But this is an aspect of the city's history that is important to a lot of people."