One of the first Catholic missionaries to venture into the wilds of central Canada, Father Jean-Edouard Darveau, met his martyrdom here.

The young diocesan priest had paddled 2,000 miles from Quebec in a birch-bark canoe only to be murdered by the natives he had come to help. They mistook him for a practitioner of black magic.

That was in 1844. Thankfully, the aboriginal people around Duck Bay, on Manitoba's majestic Lake Winnipegosis, would be kinder to succeeding Catholic missionaries.

Father Joseph Charles Camper, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, arrived in the 1860s. He gathered together some natives and began a small parish in what was then called Pine Creek. In 1894, the Oblates began construction of a residential school for the native children. Built with the aid of Scottish stonema-sons, the school opened in 1897. The town, now called Camperville in the first Oblate's honor, soon became a hub of worship and education. The school was staffed first by Franciscan sisters, then by Oblate sisters.

When Quebec Archbishop Adelard Langevin visited in 1906, he remarked that a larger church ought to be built to serve the population, now some 500 strong. So it was that this strapping edifice rose stone by stone from 1906 to 1910. The Oblates designed it and the parishioners helped them build it. Together they formally dedicated their new church to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in 1912.

Thanks to its patron, souls hardy enough to brave the Canadian winter will find it a perfect place to visit the first week of Lent.

Cathedral of the North

The church, known to many as the Cathedral of the North, was built with classical lines and in cruciform shape. And, fortunately, it was built to last. In 1930, a troubled child set fire underneath the steps. The ensuing conflagration consumed the interior. The stone exterior stood up to the heat and survived intact, except for the steeple atop the 130-foot bell tower. Originally two-tiered, the steeple was rebuilt with a single tier.

The original bell was destroyed by the fire. Its maker, a foundry in France, was commissioned to cast its replacement. This was blessed on Dec. 15, 1935, by Archbishop Alfred Sinnott of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg.

Because the fire struck during the Depression, refurbishment of the interior was modest — at least, compared with the original design. For example, the vaulted ceiling in the nave, which featured original paintings of biblical scenes, was replaced by a lower, flat ceiling.

But that doesn't mean the refurbishers sacrificed anything on reverence.

A glassed alcove on the wall behind the altar displays a replica of Michelangelo's Pieta — Our Lady of Seven Sorrows. She cradles her deceased son at the foot of a commanding, dark cross.

The tabernacle is front and center behind the altar. Above it, a statue of Jesus, arms upraised and Sacred Heart radiating love, rises to welcome pilgrims and parishioners alike. When I visited, the altarpiece bearing the tabernacle and Sacred Heart statue was adorned with beautiful floral arrangements.

The altar itself is something of a work of art. Supported by faux Doric columns of rich wood grain, it presents a brilliant reproduction of Da Vinci's Last Supper — a helpful reminder to communicants of what happens on the altar surface at each Mass.

To the left of the altar is a 30-foot wall painting of the Ascension of Christ. The apostles surround the Lord. The painting, I learned, was crafted by Msgr. Charles Maillard of Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, who painted many such works in churches throughout the area.

To the far left of the main altar is a side altar to St. Joseph. To the far right is a statue of the Blessed Mother. There are also two statues of the Blessed Mother in the sanctuary area. Also to the right of the sanctuary is a baptismal font of hand-carved maple. The small Stations of the Cross along the walls, plaster statuettes mounted on wood crosses, are simple and evocative.

Nice Pipes

Looking overhead, I noted that the choir loft is mounted above the main doors; it rests below the rose window in the tower. All of the wood, I learned, was carved by a Belgian carpenter. He fashioned the loft in a scalloped design and suspended it with a staircase each on the north and south sides.

The historic pipe organ was handmade by a Brother Sylvestre of the Oblates of the Immaculate Heart and donated by Sacred Heart Parish in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1957. Now it's just a lavish adornment — no one locally is able to play it. A smaller, electric organ is played during Mass.

Our Lady of Seven Sorrows is one of only a few remaining early Catholic mission churches built for the native populations of Manitoba. It is also the largest of all the Catholic churches built during that missionary era. It was designated a provincial heritage-building site in 1991.

Today's parish roll includes natives, Metis (people of mixed blood, native and non-native) and a good number of Ukrainians who have immigrated to the area.

Stepping back outside to admire the exterior, which was refurbished between 1988 and 1991, visitors can pause by a small Lady of Lourdes grotto on the grounds. Many a wedding picture has been taken with this as a backdrop.

From there it would be good to finish the pilgrimage with a reflection at the memorial to Father Darveau, now known simply as the Martyr of Manitoba.

How marvelously God has used that selfless priest's dangerous trek into the unknown. How fitting that the Lord turned his servant's evangelical sacrifice into something lasting, beautiful and, for many, life-changing. Surely our Sorrowful Mother is consoled.

Joseph Albino writes from Syracuse, New York.