By Writing Cahors
Published on
Since the dawn of our history, the people of France have set out under the protection of the Mother of God. Everywhere, the Virgin has been revered and implored in our country. Historically, France has always been considered the eldest daughter of the Church after the conversion of Clovis and the Pact of Tolbiac.
The dehumanization of society provoked a renewed interest in Marian pilgrimages. A phenomenon that should not be over-interpreted or overlooked.
Is there a privileged link between France and the Virgin Mary?
Everywhere, men and women believed in his (sometimes miraculous) intervention in tragic situations. The variety of titles granted to her speaks volumes: Our Lady of Good Help, of Sorrows, of Graces, of Aids, of Deliverance.
No country has as many places of piety to Mary as France
In the middle of summer, thousands of faithful will go to the many churches and shrines of France to pray or simply invoke the Virgin Mary.
No country has as many places of piety to Mary as France, even Italy and Spain. It is an immense mantle that the Virgin extends over our lands. That is nearly 3,000 active places of devotion in his honor. In our diocese, 66 parish churches (out of 403) are dedicated to her: 45 at the Assumption, 14 at the Nativity, 3 at the Annunciation, 2 at the Immaculate Conception, one at the Compassion and one at “Mary”.
Many places in the diocese are dedicated to the Virgin
In the Lot, first in Rocamadour, pilgrims flock each year in large numbers around the Virgin of the Rock in a torchlight procession the day before the Feast of the Assumption, and the following day, in the solemn mass on the heights of the sanctuary.
That same day, the Virgins from Velles to Vers, from Verdale to Latouille-Lentillac, from the island to Luzech, from Portail to Souceyrac, from Mas du Noyer to Faycelles, from Puy to Figeac, from Rocher to Meyronne, from Roc- Traucat in Sauliac-sur-Célé, Saint Cirq-Lapopie and Dégagnazés are honored “to allow themselves to be transformed by this encounter with Marie” in the words of theBishop of Cahors, Mgr Laurent Camiade.
Some of these pilgrimages that fell into disuse in the 1970s are being reborn.
Others, contemporary, such as mountain biking pilgrimages for high school students, have multiplied since the year 2000.
What do we celebrate on August 15?
August 15 is the Assumption, a great feast of Christian life which celebrates the glory of Mary with God at the end of her life on earth. No text of the New Testament mentions the end of the earthly life of the Virgin. But very early on, the new Christian communities had the presentiment that the Mother of God could not end her life like everyone else.
This August 15 feast celebrates the death, resurrection and entry into heaven of the Virgin Mary.
Where are the sanctuaries or chapels dedicated to Mary?
In the rural France of yesteryear, the populations turned to Heaven to implore a better life (coming of rain for crops in times of drought, protection of crops against meteorological cataclysms, protection of animals essential for food and field work).
There, a sanctuary was born from a danger from which we want to protect ourselves like the whims of a river. Thus, along the banks of the Lot, many chapels are spread out where the sailors came, before leaving for Bordeaux, to implore him to avoid shipwrecks.
For centuries, illnesses, numerous, were explained, even experienced as a sanction resulting from a punishment. Even if the Greek philosopher Hippocrates considered from Antiquity that “diseases have a natural and not supernatural cause that can be studied and understood”.
Some therefore saw themselves as innocent victims of the devil, hence the search for comfort in prayer towards Mary.
Thus, in the Middle Ages, Marian shrines became the privileged places for requests for human healing. Often, a place of Marian worship is established following an exceptional event, “an apparition” or the passage of a saint who makes the link with the Beyond.
In Rocamadour, it was the presence of Amadour that quickly attracted crowds of pilgrims from all over Europe. When we read the testimonials of these places, we are surprised to see the number of grateful people. A whole people holds by processions, to express its gratitude after a passage of painful moments. The many ex-votos of the sanctuary of Rocamadour reflect the improvements, remissions of illness, even cures even if the materiality of the facts is not necessarily proven.
Mary in the hearts of the French
So why is Mary still in the hearts of the French when religious practice is collapsing?
The vitality of places of Marian devotion is a sign: one does not move if one does not believe in Her. Marian piety is visceral. Mary is the mother of Christians.
A mother, we respect her, we listen to her, we need her, we love her. In churches, people spontaneously place themselves at the foot of the statue of the Virgin when they come to pray.
Nowadays, where does this renewed interest in these sanctuaries and pilgrimages come from? Many sanctuaries are reborn and the best known are always full. This piety is not only carried by the elderly. “I came to Rocamadour this year as a volunteer to help the sanctuary and to say that believing in God and Mary is always possible and that there are still young people in the Church” testified in July 2020, Malo Hirel 20 years old, from Créteil.
Searching for Spiritual Connections
This piety is not either, a phenomenon of mode to be stored in the large current spiritual catch-all. In part, no doubt, this enthusiasm stems from the dehumanization of society and the weakening of human relations, leading to the search for links with others, transcendence and spirituality.
More and more often, the priests in their parish are proposing new approaches to fraternity, to respite, so that the pilgrims may commune in fervor and peaceful joy. “Serenity, inner peace, renewed strength” in the face of illness or the painful vagaries of life are described by those who go to these places of spirituality. The invocation of the Virgin Mary is certainly a source of comfort and hope.
As Saint said John Paul II“Marian shrines are like oases in the desert”.
ANDRE DECUP
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