Our Lady of Loreto

The second chapel of Loreto, much more famous than the first, was founded by the Elector of Cologne, Jose ph-Clement, at Joseph-Clément Elector of Cologne and founder of the second Chapel of Loreto in Lille. the convent of the Abbiette. This prince, finding the humble chapel where the Blessed Virgin had been honored for two centuries unworthy of her, conceived the project of replacing it with a more decent one, for which he laid the first stone on February 9, 1708. In this construction, he neglected nothing to make his new chapel a faithful copy of the Santa Casa, venerated at Loreto in Ita Lorette en Italie Pilgrimage site in Italy where Olier was healed. ly; and, at the end of June, the building being finished, he went, in great solemnity, to fetch from the Dominican nuns' convent the statue from the old chapel that he had had deposited there. On July 1, he consecrated this new sanctuary; on the 2nd of the same month, he celebrated Mass there, and Féne lon cam Fénelon French prelate and writer who visited the sanctuary. e in the afternoon to offer his prayers. The following days, the octave of the chapel's consecration was celebrated very solemnly. Every one of these days, there was a high mass: the first day by the Dominicans; the second, by the clergy of Saint-Étienne, accompanied by the magistrates in a body and in their robes, offering a golden heart with this inscription: Votum populorum, the vow of the people, and above it, the arms of the city; the following days, by the chapter of Saint-Pierre, by the parishes of Saint-Sauveur and Saint-Maurice, and by the mendicant orders. As long as the Elector remained in Lille, he had the rosary recited every day in the chapel of Loreto and attended it; and since then, this holy practice has always been maintained there.

Some time later, the city having been taken by the heretics, the inhabitants dared, in their presence, to manifest, as before, their devotion to Our Lady of Loreto. Every morning, they came to hear Mass or to offer their prayers, in such great numbers that it was difficult to find a place; every evening, they returned to sing the litanies of Our Lady of Loreto; and hearts of gold and silver, paintings, and candles offered at the altar attested to the piety of the faithful for the Mother of God.

From the year following the construction of the new sanctuary, unexpected healings took place there; and as word of this spread far and wide, the grand vicars of Tournai Tournai City associated with the Diocese of Noyon. deemed it appropriate to proceed with an investigation into this matter. The investigation, begun on February 6, 1710, confirmed several miraculous healings, as well as two resurrections, which allowed for the administration of baptism to two children who had died at birth; and the depositions of witnesses, the certificates issued by medical professionals, as well as the registers where these miraculous facts were recorded, were preserved until the Revolution in the monastery of the nuns of the Abbiette.

The precious image, having fortunately escaped the spirit of destructio n 93 Period during which the saint's relics were hidden and lost. of '93, is now venerated among the nuns of the Sa int-Sauveur hospital. hôpital Saint-Sauveur Current location of the statue of the Virgin.

*Notre-Dame de France*, by the parish priest of Saint-Sulpice.