To visit places like the chapel of the Maison de la Congrégation is to let history tell fascinating stories. Like this one: beneath the altar of the Virgin, in the chapel, lies the wax recumbent of a martyr, Saint Justine, protector of children, whose remains were brought here from Rome in 1856. The recumbent statue contains the real bones of the young saint.
The story goes that a family named Lacoste, whose eldest daughter was seriously ill, came to pray before the recumbent statue to ask Saint Justine to save the child, promising to name their next daughter after her in exchange for a miracle. The miracle happened, and the family’s sixth child, a girl, grew up to become Justine Lacoste-Beaubien. And who is Justine Lacoste-Beaubien? The co-founder of Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal. A place that, in turn, works miracles to save young children.