June 19, 2024

By John Ryan
Knights of Columbus

On Sunday, July 14, Knights of Columbus Councils from throughout the Diocese of Ogdensburg will participate in their 76th annual pilgrimage to St. Anne’s Shrine in Isle LaMotte, Vermont.

Bishop Terry A. LaValley will celebrate Mass at the shrine at 12:15 p.m. Following Mass, the Peru K of C Council will serve a luncheon on the shrine’s grounds.

The site’s religious history dates to 1666 when the French erected a fort and chapel there. Dedicated to St. Anne, the mother of Mary, the chapel was blessed in 1893, and a beautiful statue of St. Anne was erected.

Later, in 1893, nearly 2,000 people attended the shrine’s first organized pilgrimage, with several people traveling there by steamboat.

Today, knights and their families look forward to the Mass, the music, the picnic, and the friendships made and renewed on Lake Champlain’s shores. 

The Society of Saint Edmund, the founders of St. Michael’s College, has developed and maintained the shrine for over 100 years. Father Brian Cummings, SSE, is its current spiritual director.

For more information, please call Pilgrimage Coordinator Gordon Burdo at 518-563-2796.