The Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré appears as both a temporary shelter for a nation’s displaced heritage and a place of private religious consultation. Its two roles are distinct: the Polish treasures were kept there as part of a wartime effort to protect them, while Clémentine later visited to seek guidance about whether to remain in her longtime home.

A refuge for Poland’s treasures

In 1940, the Polish government in exile in London sent the country’s treasures to Canada for safekeeping. After they had remained in Ottawa for some time, Canada’s recognition of the pro-Soviet government in Warsaw made that location seem less secure. The collection was therefore moved secretly to Quebec, first into the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré’s crypt and later into the vaults of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec.

When Poland demanded the return of the treasures in 1948, the hospital’s superior appealed to Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis. A fervent Catholic, Duplessis arranged for the crates to be transferred under guard to the Provincial Museum. They contained tapestries, medieval armor, and manuscripts by Chopin. The Basilica was thus one stage in a sequence of relocations shaped by political mistrust and the search for secure custody.

A site of national symbolism

The treasures’ stay in Quebec acquired meaning beyond their physical protection. In Poland, petitions, demonstrations, and protests called for the return of the Wawel Castle treasures; in Quebec, their retention became almost a symbol of national resistance to communism. Ottawa could not compel their return, and they were not sent back to Poland until 1962, under the government of Jean Lesage. The Basilica’s crypt belongs to this history as the first concealed refuge in Quebec, though the account places the political dispute across several institutions and does not present the Basilica itself as its decision-maker.

A personal act of devotion

Decades later, Clémentine discreetly made a novena at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré to help decide whether she should remain in the house on Grande-Allée. She returned resolved to stay until the end in the home that had been hers for more than sixty years. The visit connects the Basilica not only to the public history of protected treasures but also to a private act of religious discernment: Clémentine’s decision concerned the place where she belonged and wished to remain.