A Tour of the Madonna House Training Centre

The Island Chapel and Our Lady of Combermere

In anticipation of the Second Vatican Council, Catherine Doherty asked the men of Madonna House to build a Russian style shrine which would be a place of prayer for the renewal of the Church. On the day of its blessing, a light was lit and has remained burning without interruption ever since, imploring the Holy Spirit to descend on the Church, both East and West, and for vocations to this new way of life at Madonna House. Nothing less than a new way of life could prepare the way for the Third Millennium — a life of returning to the absolute simplicity of the Gospel.

The island was to emerge as a place set apart for prayer. In 1972, the chapel of Our Lady of the Woods was built on the island by the men of Madonna House and some local friends using discarded logs from 100-year-old barns in this part of Canada. Shaped in the form of a cross, it is a bi-ritual chapel where Mass is celebrated in both Latin and Byzantine rites. Morning and evening prayers also take place at the island chapel.

“At Mass and Communion we find inevitable union with God, food for the way, a renewal of strength, and courage to go on,” Catherine Doherty said. We go “from the Christ on the altar, from the Christ in our heart, to the Christ in our neighbour. This slowly became the face of our apostolate... From this centre, our life in Combermere flows.”

The island where the chapel is located is dotted with poustinias, which are places set apart for prayer and fasting in the Russian tradition. (We shall speak of poustinias later on our tour.)

Now, let us return to the mainland via a causeway from the island. We move quickly past the main house to the bronze sculpture of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Our statue and shrine of Our Lady of Combermere was blessed on June 8,1960. This marked the beginning of a new era for Madonna House. She has become the path leading all of us to a deeper living of the Gospel.

Reflecting back a few years later, Catherine wrote: “Were someone to ask what I consider the most outstanding fact, the most extraordinary grace in our apostolate, I would answer that it is this gift of Our Lady and her Divine Son: the gift of priests.”

Our Lady of Combermere's statue is seldom found alone. It is situated in the trees a few hundred yards from the main house along a well-worn path which usually has someone on it on the way to or from a visit to her. Her arms are outstretched to embrace Madonna House, the valley and the world. Devotion to her has quietly spread to many corners of the world.

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