Our Lady of Laventille

 “When yuh reach Picton Road corner turn left yuh can’t miss it”. The directions were accurate, you couldn’t miss the church that towered over Picton Hill beckoning you to come. Like the guardian on the hills, “Our Lady of Laventille” R. C. church stands in glory, surveying all around it.

For this our second collaboration, I invited the other group members (Joanna, Trudy and Shanice), all of whom were introduced in the Gasparee Caves post. to enjoy a view from the hills where we visited "Our Lady of Laventille" and met with Fr. Dwight Merrick.

As you enter the gates, a stone arch resting on two stone pillars creates an ethereal view. You could almost hear the angels singing as you pass under. After walking up a short incline a stairway, that lead not to heaven but the stone building of the church, greets you. This church is truly a rustic beauty. One hundred and thirty years old, its structure dates all the way back to 1886.

At the top of the stairs, left to the entrance of the main doors of the church is the National Shrine of “Our Lady of Fatima”. In times past, The Shrine on the Hill was once “a rallying point for Trinidad’s Catholics, with various church societies and groups making days of devotion and pilgrimage on the Hill. Most gathered at the foot of Laventille Road and martched up reciting the chaplet.” Today, only the Way of the Cross procession continues. Starting, as in times past, at the foot of Laventille Road, pilgrims make the Stations of the Cross on the hillside, and spend the day in prayer and quiet at the church on the hill.

Back in1878, the church, then a humble structure, received a 30ft. Blessed Mary from France. This statue was christened the statue “Our Lady of Laventille”, Notre Dame de Laventile. It was in honour of this Blessed Lady that the church derived its name.

Though, pilgrimages to the church and its shrine has severely dwindled, it still acts as protector of the hills, and Trinidad, with its weekly prayer sessions conducted by members of “Our Lady of Laventille” prayer group.

 

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF LAVENTILLE

O Immaculate Mother of the Son of God from the summit of that hill of Laventille, on which thou hast designed to choose sanctuary, cast down thy maternal glance on thy children of Trinidad on all who beseech thee; bless them, remove far from them all spiritual and temporal evil that threaten them, and lead them to the heaven of eternal bliss. Amen.