Our Lady of the Treille

The canons honored Our Lady of the Treille with exemplary piety, as well as with incomparable zeal for the magnificence of her altar and the splendor of her feasts. Some made her their universal heir by testament; others established foundations there suitable for enhancing the glory of her cult; and when, in 1214, Philip Augustus, victor at Bouvines, had reduced Lille to ashes, the chapter, despite the calamities of which it was one of the first victims, undertook the reconstruction of Saint-Pierre. When, in 1344, another fire destroyed the constructions that had been started, the chapter, without becoming discouraged, set back to work; it pursued it with constancy throughout the century required for the completion of the edifice.

This devotion of the chapter to Our Lady of the Treille attracted illustrious visitors. Saint Thomas of Canterbury came to pray to her during the days of his exile saint Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux and spiritual master of Raoul. ; Saint Bernard, who accompanied Innocent III, a refugee in France, came to greet her with that filial piety which is one of his most beautiful characteristics, and there is no doubt that his powerful and sympathetic words kindled in the hearts of the people of Lille that tender love for the Blessed Virgin, which has always been one of their greatest religious glories. Also, in 1234, a famous time in the history of Our Lady of the Treille, Mary manifested her power and goodness toward a people who showed her such devotion. On June 2, the octave of Trinity, an extreme influx of pilgrims surrounded the holy image, asking for the healing of ailments deemed incurable, when suddenly the blind, the lame, the deaf, and the paralyzed were all healed in an instant. Immediately, cries of joy erupted from all sides, the praises of Mary were repeated in every part of the city, and they were celebrated with a feast known as the new festivity. This was, however, only the beginning; the wonders continued almost every day; and a mysterious power seemed, from that time on, to be attached to the holy image. This power, which has been preserved throughout the centuries, is guaranteed by the most irrefutable evidence. The Bishop of Tournai, after an in vestigation conduct L’évêque de Tournai City associated with the Diocese of Noyon. ed according to the rules of the Church, which is so severe and judicious in such matters, confirmed fifty-three wonders.

To perpetuate the memory of the miracles that began, in 1254, to illustrate Our Lady of the Treille, an annual procession was instituted within the precincts of the collegiate church; but in the month of February 1269, Countess Margaret instituted, by letters patent, the procession around the city.

Each following year saw the splendor of this procession increase; and luxury, growing with the ages, added new ornaments to the previous solemnity. The procession of 1749 was remarkable above all others: one admired above all a troupe of angels that opened the march, carrying, on banners, these words: Who is like God? Quis ut Deus? soldiers and priests in Hebrew costume, some carrying the scepter, the sword, the crown of Solomon, a figure of Jesus Christ, others the spoils of Goliath and the book of the law; the prophet Nathan, with a chariot representing the coronation of Solomon, surrounded by the Virtues and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, people came to these festivals from all parts of Flanders; and the immense basilica of Saint-Pierre was barely enough to contain the incessant flow of people who came to venerate the miraculous image. They prayed until a very late hour of the night; and, from dawn, new pilgrims besieged the doors of Saint-Pierre. They poured out their souls for long hours before Our Lady, and when the procession began to move, they followed it, most of them carrying small flags adorned with the image or the cipher of Mary.

The love for Our Lady of the Treille inspired the people of Lille, as early as the year 1237, with the thought of erecting a confraternity in her honor, under the name of the Charity of Our Lady. Psalters, hours, and other prayer books were distributed to the associates, so precious at a time when, printing not yet being invented, one could only have these things in manuscript. They loved each other more Christianly as children of the same mother; and each house seemed a temple dedicated to Mary, of which the father of the family was the pontiff: it was already a beautiful beginning for the confraternity; but it lacked the sanction of the Holy See, without which the children of the Church cannot constitute anything lasting or regular. This sanction did not take long to arrive. In 1254, a year so famous in the annals of Our Lady of the Treille, letters arrived from Pope Alexander IV, who canonically erect pape Alexandre IV Pope who summoned Albert to Rome. ed the confraternity. Then a register was opened; and Countess Margaret and her son Guy of Dampierre were the first to be inscribed in it. After them, the canons of Saint-Pierre, all the great families of the region, and all the people, who saw in this register something like another book of life, inscribed themselves. Parents had their newborns inscribed there, the betrothed renewed their enrollment there to consecrate the new household to Mary, and, at the moment of death, all resorted to her as a patroness and a mother.

From Flanders, the fame of the confraternity soon spread throughout Europe. From the ends of France, Italy, and Germany, people asked to be inscribed in the register of associates. The Montmorencys, the Croys, the de Lannoys, the d'Humières, the princes of the imperial family of Austria, the most famous universities, centers of science and light, entire cities, represented by their magistrates, Bishops and Popes, Charles V and Philip II, asked that their names appear in these holy annals, mingled with the most obscure names, with all professions and all ages.

Among these names, there are two that shine with a very particular brilliance: the first is Saint Louis, King of France, who, in 1235, made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Treille, of which the annals of the time have faithfully kept the memory; the second is Philip the Good Philippe le Bon Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, protector of John. , Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders. This prince, as wise in council as he was brave in battle, of a piety as gentle as it was firm, was especially fond of Our Lady of the Treille. He contributed, with princely generosity, to the completion of the collegiate church of Saint-Pierre, and especially of the chapel that was to receive the miraculous image. Behind the high altar, he had the reliquary containing the relics of the Blessed Virgin placed in an elevated position, from where all eyes could see it. In the chapel that occupied the left transept, he erected two altars; one, surrounded by white stone obelisks, was an altar of Our Lady, above which one could see the holy image standing out gracefully against a background of azure sown with golden stars; the other was an altar of Saint Anne, which he had placed there to associate the mother with the homage received by her blessed daughter.

Philip did not stop there: he had the walls of the chapel covered with carved woodwork; and on the gilded wooden altar table, he had the mysteries of the Blessed Virgin represented. When he created the Order of ordre de la Toison d'or Order of chivalry placed under the patronage of Our Lady of the Treille. the Golden Fleece, that famous order which counted only thirty-one knights, but all without reproach and of the most illustrious, all bound by oath never to leave the battlefield unless victorious, or dead, or prisoners, he placed it under the patronage of Our Lady of the Treille; he even wished to hold its first chapter in his chapel; after the divine service, pompously celebrated, the sovereign and the knights went to the canons' stalls; and there they heard from the mouth of the clerk the reading of the statutes of the Order, of those statutes, the most beautiful code of honor and chivalric virtues, which prescribed to all fidelity towards the holy Church, the integrity of the Catholic faith, loyalty to the sovereign, friendship between the knights, and honor in arms. The prince then had his herald-at-arms read a document in which he said that he dedicated himself to God and to the most holy Virgin, and that he urged all the knights to do the same. They responded wholeheartedly to this invitation: one of them, the Lord of Pons, even made the singular vow not to stay in any city until he had found a Saracen whom he could fight hand-to-hand with the help of Our Lady, for the love of whom he would never sleep in a bed on Saturdays before the full accomplishment of his vow; and, before separating, all suspended the shields of their arms around the altar, as a perpetual homage of their feelings towards the Blessed Virgin. Thus ended the first chapter of the Golden Fleece, of that illustrious order which, in the course of two centuries, was to count in its ranks one hundred and four crowned heads.

To perpetuate the memory of his consecration, the prince founded two masses per day at the altar of Our Lady of the Treille, and furthermore, every Saturday, a mass sung by a canon of Saint-Pierre. He then obtained from Eugene IV new indulgences for all those who would come to pray before the holy image; and, in 1450, he had the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows placed next to the altar; the canons of Saint-Pierre were authorized to celebrate the office, which subsequently extended to the whole Church. Later, the seven sorrowful stations of the Blessed Virgin were erected there, with the approval of the Bishop of Tournai, who attached indulgences to them.

Surrounded by all these testimonies of honor, Our Lady of the Treille manifested her power more and more; and miracles multiplied, especially from 1519 to 1527, and from 1634 to 1638. At the sight of these ever-renewing wonders, the piety of the people of Lille seemed to take on a new momentum; the whole city breathed only devotion to Mary; her image shone everywhere: it was seen at street corners, where the poor woman, saving from her wages, placed a candle or a bouquet of flowers at her feet; it was seen above the city gates, where she seemed to watch over the protection of the citizens; it was seen at the town hall, where there was a chapel in her honor. Some wore medals with her effigy, others rings where she was represented. In the midst of this universal zeal for the honor of Mary, a pious lady conceived the design of decorating the altar of the venerated Virgin more splendidly. With this in view, she obtained from the chapter of Saint-Pierre permission to move the holy image for a time; but the work finished, the chapter believed, before replacing it on its throne, that it should award it a magnificent triumph, through a general procession and the solemn consecration of the whole city to its beloved patroness. This idea delighted all hearts, and, on October 28, 1634, this touching ceremony took place. It was a beautiful day, that one. From the morning, the cannon thundered on the ramparts, the bells rang at full peal, the city had donned its festive attire; everywhere elegant hangings, everywhere flowers, everywhere the purest joy. At nine o'clock, the aldermen left the town hall, in red robes, preceded by the herald holding a labarum, one side of which bore these words: *The magistrate and the people consecrate Lille to Our Lady of the Treille*, and the other offered the sweet image of Mary, fixing her benevolent gaze on the city of Lille depicted at the bottom of the labarum with these words under the effigy of the city: *Dicet habitator insulæ hujus : Hæc est spes nostra*; "The inhabitant of this island shall say: This is our hope". They thus proceeded to the church of Saint-Pierre, magnificently decorated with draperies intertwined with fresh garlands of greenery; at the back, the altar appeared surrounded by a halo of candles; and waves of incense surrounded the statue with moving clouds.

In the midst of these splendors, which made one think of those of heaven, the solemn mass began. At the offertory, the chants fell silent, a sublime silence ensued. Then the head of the aldermen advanced, holding the labarum in one hand, and the keys of the city in the other; he handed them to the officiant, who placed them on the altar; then, before all this prostrate people, he pronounced the formula of consecration of the city to Our Lady of the Treille. In the evening, a general illumination reproduced the scene of the morning; on all sides, one saw on the transparencies these words dear to all hearts: *Insula, civitas Virginis*; "Lille, city of Mary".

The following year, the bishop of Tournai came to Lille to consecrate himself with his entire diocese to Our Lady of the Treille; Ferdinand II, Emperor of Austria, consecrated his diadem to her and had himself inscribed in the confraternity. In 1659, the entire city of Tournai came in procession to consecrate itself to such a good patroness, and renewed this act every year until 1792. Several times, there were nearly five thousand pilgrims there.

In 1667, wh en the ci Louis XIV King of France during the ministry of Olier. ty, besieged by Louis XIV, was reduced to capitulating, it demanded that the king swear, before Our Lady of the Treille, to maintain the Catholic faith within its walls, to send neither governor, nor officers, nor Protestant soldiers there, to respect its franchises, and to leave it its administration. Louis XIV swore it with his hand on the Gospel. And when, forty years later, in 1708, the city was besieged by Prince Eugene, at the head of an almost entirely Protestant army, it promised, if it were preserved from pillage, to hold a special procession to thank Our Lady of the Treille for it. After this promise, the miraculous statue was exposed in the middle of the church of Saint-Pierre, which was riddled with cannonballs; and, a wonderful thing, at the end of three months of siege, forced to capitulate again, it obtained at least the most honorable conditions with complete freedom for Catholic worship. Such was even the incredible benevolence of the enemies, most of them ardent Protestants, that on the very evening of their triumphal entry, the people pushed their confidence to the point of publicly singing the litanies of the Virgin before her images that adorned the houses; on other evenings, they gathered in the streets for the same purpose; and, on June 2, the general procession was held, as if there were no enemy army in the city. Some Protestants indeed tried to pervert the faith of the inhabitants, but far from succeeding, several were won over to the true belief, and became Catholics.

Such a visible protection from Mary attached all hearts to her more and more; and, when the five-hundredth anniversary of the first miracles of 1254 arrived in 1754, a magnificence greater than ever was displayed. The program of the feast bore the title of Triumph of the Blessed Virgin, and it fully justified its title. Fame opened the march, carrying on the banner of her trumpet these words: Audite, omnes, et attendite, populi de longe; angels surrounded her, with the name of Mary on their oriflamme. Then came four floats: the first carried the six sibyls who had announced, in prophetic terms, the principal glories of the Mother of the Incarnate Word; in the second was Moses, represented on Mount Horeb; in the third, the effigies of the monarchs who had come, at various times, to pay homage to Our Lady; in the fourth, the Popes, cardinals, and bishops, protectors of the confraternity. Groups of angels followed, carrying the book of the confraternity of Our Lady, with the coats of arms and names of the cities or provinces consecrated to the Virgin of Lille. The pilgrims of Tournai were represented on an elegant float; another float entirely covered in lilies offered the double emblem of the French monarchy and the spotless Virgin; then came the historical figures of Margaret of Flanders, Guy of Dampierre, Philip the Good, and the principal knights of the Golden Fleece, all dressed in costumes as rich as they were accurate, all surrounded by angels, and followed by the magistrates of the city, the banners of the city and the chapter, and the labarum offered in 1654. One then saw angels carrying bunches of roses and lilies before the float, where the holy image was, surrounded by a trellis.

This procession, which was renewed for nine days in the midst of an immense crowd, was the last brilliance cast by this famous cult. The disastrous days of the revolution arrived; and the ancient collegiate church of Saint-Pierre was, in '9 1, first closed as a usele collégiale de Saint-Pierre Former principal sanctuary housing the statue before the Revolution. ss building, then handed over to the public as a warehouse; in '92, ceded to the war commissioners as a sheep pen; in '93, sold to greedy speculators, and soon demolished. Among the rubble that littered the ground, the miraculous statue was thrown; but fortunately, a generous Christian, Alain Gambier, having recognized it, bough t it for mone Alain Gambier A Christian from Lille who saved the statue from revolutionary destruction. y from the guardian of the ruins and carried it home as a treasure. Upon the restoration of Catholic worship, he gave it to the church of Sainte-Catherine, which the revolution had left standing as a building of no importance.

In this new sanctuary, Our Lady was long without honor, sometimes at the bottom of the church in the chapel of the deceased, sometimes behind the high altar: so much had the new generation broken the thread of ancient traditions and pious sentiments! But, in 1842, the parish priest of Sainte-Catherine having dedicated the entire month of Mary to Our Lady of the Treille, the dormant piety seemed to awaken. Shortly after, the exercises of a jubilee g ranted by Gr Grégoire XVI Pope who established the liturgical feast of the blessed. egory XVI having been placed under the auspices of Our Lady of the Treille, the success was complete: the name of Our Lady of the Treille, so long forgotten, returned to every lip; and her cult, so long neglected, resumed its place in every heart. The miraculous statue was transported to the altar of the Blessed Virgin; medals of Our Lady of the Treille were struck; and everyone wanted to have one. In imitation of what is practiced at Our Lady of Victories in Paris, a special benediction was established under the name of the benediction of Our Lady of the Treille; the ancient confraternity was revived by a rescript of Gregory XVI; near the sanctuary of Mary, a congregation of nuns known as Our Lady was formed, with the goal of fostering the development of her cult, providing voices to sing her praises, and devoting themselves to the care of the poor sick, the instruction of poor children, and various works of charity: for the cult of Mary, when well understood, inclines one to all forms of devotion. Finally, the feast and procession of Our Lady of the Treille began again on June 9, 1834, within the precincts of the Church. Unexpected conversions, unforeseen healings, and sudden consolations brought to ailments that seemed without remedy, reminding everyone of the power of Our Lady of the Treille, increased the ancient devotion to the holy image year by year. Finally, in 1853, the devotion reached such a point that it could no longer be endured that such a venerated image should have only a borrowed sanctuary. All, with one voice, declared that they wished to replace the ancient church destroyed in days of vertigo, and to raise a monumental church to the patroness of Lille. All, passing immediately from enthusiasm to action, pledged, through voluntary subscriptions, to contribute to it according to their means.

Such was the general disposition of minds when 1854 arrived, the six-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the wonders of Our Lady of the Treille. — To heighten as much as possible the splendor of this traditional feast, the Archbishop of Cambrai, after having obtained from the Holy See the favor of a jubilee attached to the church of Sainte-Catherine, gathered the leading preachers of the era to preach its exercises, and summoned as many cardinals, archbishops, and bishops as he could for the great ceremonies that were to take place. The whole city, for its part, set to work to decorate the temples, streets, and squares. Garlands of every kind, cloths of gold and silver, silk, paintings, sculptures, banners, chandeliers, and rich costumes were all put to use, not to mention the moving additions of chants, sermons, prayers, and communions.

In the first days, the neighboring parishes went in procession to the jubilee church, crossing the city in an attitude of recollection, and edifying with their chants and prayers the population whose waves pressed in their footsteps. Then came the various parishes of the city, all prepared and revived in the Christian spirit by eloquent sermons.

In the midst of this marvelous gathering took place a ceremony that filled all hearts with joy: the laying of the first stone of the great basilica that they proposed to raise under the double title of Our Lady of the Treille and Saint Peter, and, to bring the work to a successful conclusion, the institution of two commissions, one of men, the other of ladies, charged with collecting funds for this grandiose enterprise. Finally, on Sunday, July 2, the great feast was celebrated: the most splendid decorations shone on all the facades, at all the windows; the walls disappeared under draperies and flowers, and domes rose in the middle of the streets. Until then, the sky had been dark, the rain threatening; but, at the precise moment when the image of Our Lady set out for the procession, a radiant sun pierced the clouds, and the procession left the temple; at the head marched the six parishes of the city; then came the hospices, the trade guilds, the charitable associations, and the religious bodies. After this long line appeared the relics of the principal patrons of the country; the historical deputations of Tournai, Douai, Cambrai, and Aire, each carrying its traditional ex-voto: Tournai, a large candle; Douai, the arms of the city, chiseled in silver, with the inscription: Douai to Our Lady of the Treille; Cambrai, the image of Our Lady of Grace, chiseled in silver, with the inscription: Cambrai, city of the Virgin, to Our Lady of the Treille; finally, Our Lady of the Treille, surrounded by a guard of honor, advancing in an octagonal golden reliquary, seven meters high, and in the flamboyant Gothic style, carried on a litter by twelve ecclesiastics in gold dalmatics, accompanied by priests in priestly vestments, canons in choir dress, followed by archbishops and bishops, dressed in gold copes, with miter and crozier, and the Cardinal of Reims, officiating. To describe all that was graceful and magnificent in this immense procession of several thousand people, whose parade, executed in the most perfect order, lasted more than an hour and a half; to describe the sight offered on the main square by a dense population estimated at more than eighty thousand people; to describe all the emotions produced by so many striking scenes, repeated in the course of this beautiful procession, would be impossible. The Spanish ambassador to Brussels, delegated by his sovereign to represent her in this ceremony, said: "I have lived in Rome for twenty years, I have seen nothing there that equals what I have just witnessed." — "I was at the coronation of Charles X," said a colonel of hussars, "I prefer what I saw today."

After this beautiful feast, the city of Lille hastened to raise a superb basilica to Mary.

Excerpt from Notre-Dame de France, by the parish priest of Saint-Sulpice. — Cf. Basier de Marie.