Our Lady of Peyragude

The fury of the heretics against this sacred place was such that the bishops who came to visit it after this time of sacrilege found only ruins. In 1632, a few stones scattered on the ground were the only indication of the site of the former oratory. What several of these pontiffs attempted successively to raise up, public piety completed. Here is the occasion: « At a time when the plague was devastating the town of Penne and its surroundings (1653), many prayers were offered; but the scourge continued its ravages. Finally, the Confraternity of Penitents, which was t Confrérie des pénitents A group of devout men who took a vow to rebuild the church to end the plague. hen composed of the most respectable men of the town and the surrounding area, made a vow to rebuild the church of Notre-Dame de Peyragude, and to go there in procession, barefoot, on the days of Christmas, Easter, Corpus Christi, Saint John's Day, and All Saints' Day, and this, in perpetuity. The procession set off in this disposition. Scarcely had it arrived at the site of Notre-Dame, where the *Sancta Maria* was intoned, than the plague-stricken felt themselves healed. This procession took place until the Revolution, with the only difference being that only the one who carried the cross was barefoot ».

The penitents ratified and exceeded with such zeal the conditions of this vow that a new church was promptly built. In 1796, the church was sold at auction and demolished. Some families still keep, like relics, tabernacle doors, altar wood, images, and ribbons of Our Lady, saved from the rubble. The sacred stone of the high altar was also removed by a pious person, and another gave shelter to the statue in their home. This holy image, after remaining there ignored, guarded by a pious jealousy that shared its deposit with no one, was finally returned to public veneration in the church of Notre-Dame du Mercadiel. As long as it inhabited this temporary refuge, pilgrimages and tributes of all kinds did not fail it. But could one forget that, from the top of its rock, it had long dominated and blessed the region? This memory, suddenly awakened in hearts, moved the diocese. Alms flowed in; a new edifice emerged, not from the old foundations, but from the very property of Our Lady and the ground covered by the funerary chapel of Our Lady of Pity. On May 31, 1843, Mgr de Vézins solemnly carried the ancient statue back into the begun sanctuary, amidst the enthusiasm of the popula tion. At the Mgr de Vézins Bishop who presided over the translation of the statue in 1843. feet of this Mother of Sorrows, holding on her knees the inanimate body of her divine Son, graces abound: one gathers there, on the five principal feasts of the Blessed Virgin, plenary indulgences granted by H.H. Gregory XVI, and others attached to the simple visit one makes there. The wonders are perpetuated and constitute a marvelous heritage, which author Grégoire XVI Pope who established the liturgical feast of the blessed. izes all confidence; thus, pilgrims of all conditions flock to Our Lady of Peyragude.

Taken from a Notice on Penne and on Notre-Dame de Peyragude, Age Agen City of the martyrdom and center of the cult of Saint Faith. n, 1844; and from Notre-Dame de France, by H. the parish priest of Saint-Sulpice.