Shrine of St. Therese, Juneau Shrine of St. Therese, Juneau Shrine of St. Therese of Lisieux overlooks the Lynn Canal in Juneau, Alaska, US. Situated on 46 acres, the site contains a stone chapel, crypt, labyrinth, columbarium, lodge, cabin, and retreat. In 1925, St. Therese was named the patroness of Alaska. In the 1930s, the Jesuit priest, Father William LeVasseur came up with the idea of a retreat center in her name. Bishop Joseph Raphael John Crimont provided support for its establishment. Thousands of stones were used to construct the chapel and other structures, which were gathered by volunteers. The first mass was held in
Juneau, Alaska ships between the months of May and September. The city is named after a gold prospector from Quebec, Joe Juneau, though the place was for a time called "Rockwell" and then "Harrisburg" (after Juneau's co-prospector, Richard Harris). The Tlingit name of the town is ("Base of the Flounder’s River," ‘flounder,’ ‘base,’ ‘river’), and Auke Bay just north of Juneau proper is called ("Little lake," ‘lake,’ ‘diminutive’) in Tlingit. The Taku River, just south of Juneau, was named after the cold wind, which occasionally blows down from the mountains. Juneau is unusual among U.S. capitals (except Honolulu, Hawaii) in that there