This section brings together the approximately 700 objects and photographs used in Canada's Naval History. Use this section to directly access objects and photographs grouped by type, as shown below, or use the search function above to search through them by title.

Chaplain James Harold Graven's Pyx

James Harold Graven, a Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) chaplain, carried this pyx on D-Day. It holds consecrated bread and wine for Christian services.

Graven joined the RCN in 1941 as a naval chaplain and was posted overseas in 1943. Appointed chaplain for the RCN's three flotillas of Landing Craft Infantry (Large), he accompanied them into action on 6 June 1944. One newspaper article described him as the "Royal Canadian Navy's invasion padre, although he looks more like a Commando than an apostle of God." Graven also obtained a motorcycle so that he could travel between bases in England to administer to the wounded returning from Normandy.

Pyx
CWM 20080085-001