Praise to you, Lord, through Sister Water of the ‘Trois-Rivières River’. Where does the name “Trois-Rivières” come from? This name was first used in 1599 by Sieur De Pont Gravé, a geographer who worked for Samuel de Champlain, and was also used during the seventeenth century. Brother Sagard, a Recollect historian, wrote in 1623: “The [...]

Praise to you, Lord, through Sister Water of Lac Saint-Pierre, which is located at the heart of the St. Lawrence, between Sorel and Trois-Rivières. The lake was named by Samuel de Champlain after he passed through it on June 29, 1603, the feast of St. Peter.[1] Champlain observed about this lake, “The water is almost [...]

Praise to you, Lord, through Sister Water of the islands of Montreal. In 1935, Brother Marie-Victorin named these islands the Hochelaga archipelago, using one of the oldest names for Montreal. The Hochelaga archipelago, also known as the Montreal Islands, is a group of islands at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa in the [...]

Praise to you, Lord, through Sister Water of Lac Saint-François and Lac Saint-Louis. Between the Thousand Islands and Montreal, in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, lies open water with areas large enough for them to be considered lakes, but whose flow is typical of a river. Moving downstream, we find Lac Saint-François and [...]

After praising the Lord through Sister Water of the Great Lakes, it is good to continue our praise through Sister Water of the “Laurentiques” – the waters of the mighty St. Lawrence River and massive Gulf of St. Lawrence that empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Praise to you, Lord, through Sister Water of the “Laurentiques” [...]

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water of Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls! Lake Ontario is limited to the north and the south west by the Province of Ontario and to the south by the State of New York. Ontario, the most populated Canadian province, was named after this lake. In the Huron language [...]

«Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water » of Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. The word Erie comes from the Erie Amerindians who lived by this great lake. Measuring 388 kilometres in length, from west to east, with 92 kilometres from north to south, Lake Erie spans 25,700 square kilometres, with 1,377 kilometres [...]

« Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water » of Lake Michigan. This is the only one of the Great Lakes that is situated entirely in the United States, the others being shared with Canada. The word ‘Michigan’ was initially used to designate the lake itself and if, as we believe, it is of [...]

If Francis of Assisi had lived in North America, he would have undoubtedly marveled at the beauty of the Great Lakes! « Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water » of Lake Huron. This lake, also called ‘fresh water sea’, is situated at the centre of the chain of the Great Lakes. It is [...]

The people of Eastern Canada, that is, of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces and, of course, the people of the United States living in the region of the Great Lakes, have many reasons to sing this simple stanza of the ‘Canticle of Brother Sun’ of Francis of Assisi: « Praised be You, my Lord, [...]