NEWS worthy Clips (3/3)

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Fascinating, Frosty Montreal

The bus became so hot that it was a relief to get out at viewpoints and at some of Montreal’s grand churches, evidence of the of the Catholic Church on Montrealers and all of Quebec province. That changed with the “Quiet Revolution” of the 1960s, as Quebec turned more secular and more multicultural.

The faithful still flock, however, to St. Joseph’s Oratory, a massive hilltop church by Mont-Royal Park. Started as a tiny shrine in 1904 by a , Brother Andre, it expanded into an imposing, ornate church with an almost 200-foot-tall dome. Outdoor stairways climb steeply to the church. Pilgrims still struggle up them on their knees, imploring for the healing miracles for which Brother Andre was renowned.

Sacred beauty

I led my daughter into Notre Dame Basilica in Vieux Montreal, tucked between the broad (and icy) St. Lawrence River and the downtown high-rises.
We whispered as we entered the ornate Catholic Church, with its soaring Gothic-style nave, stained-glass windows and a vaulted blue ceiling that gold stars.

There was only a handful of tourists, dwarfed by the vastness of the church, which, while it looks almost medieval, was built in the 1820s. It was a place to sit quietly, to think of the religion and cultures intertwined here. Montreal is where the Iroquoian natives roamed for thousands of years, where French explorers landed in the 1500s, followed by fur traders, settlers and eventually the British. Now waves of immigrants arrive from all over the world.

In a Notre Dame Side chapel, schoolchildren finished their . They filed out into the street, barelegged and laughing in their gray-and-navy uniforms, skipping along the snowy sidewalk.

They didn’t give Montreal’s winter cold a second thought.

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Vocabulary Focus

imposing (adj) ---having an appearance which looks important or causes admiration

renowned (adj) ---being famous

intertwine (v) ---to connect so as to be difficult to separate

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Specialized terms

nave (n)--- 教堂的中殿或中廊 the long central part of a church, often with aisles on both sides

vaulted (adj)--- 拱頂?shù)?related to a type of arch which supports a roof or ceiling

Iroquoian (adj)--- （印第安人）伊洛魁族的 relating to a North American people group native to the eastern part of Canada and the northern United States