The Celtic Cross

The Celtic Cross, made of grey Stanstead granite and standing on Telegraph Hill of the Grosse Island (Grosse Ile) is 46 feet all. It stands 140 feet about the water. It faces St. Lawrence which brought so many to the shores of Quebec. The cross was in 1909 to commemorate the thousands of Irish who ended their pilgrimage to America here, on Grosse Island.

The inscriptions on the cross are in Gaelic (Irish), French and English. During the 1840ies "fever ships" riddled with typhus, brought the dying and the dead here in great numbers. The 1847 saw the most burials.

The Celtic Cross was built, when the Ancient Order of Hibernians asked that every person of Irish descent in North America contribute one penny for the monument. In fact, there are many cemeteries on the Grosse Ile.

Unmarked crosses in the famine graveyards bear witness to thousands who were laid to rest in the trenches. In all, more than 6,000 people, mostly Irish, are buried on the island. Many unfortunate died and were buried there.

The lucky ones survived to be employed as manual workers, factory workers, loggers and so on.

The Celtic Cross