Our Lady of Vassivière

In 1369, the English, at war with France, devastated the town of Besse and climbed up to Vassivière. They demolished the dwellings, overturned the church, and left only one wall standing.

At the sight of their destroyed cottages and their fallen altars, the inhabitants fled. A secret joy tempered their sorrow: they were carrying away the image of Mary, which they had saved from the pillage. When peace was restored, they returned to their plateau, raised a cross on the debris of the chapel, and fashioned a niche in the wall where the statue of Our Lady of Vassivière was placed. It was a Black Virgin, holding the child Jesus in her arms: it was said to be similar to Our Lady of Le Puy.

She remained there for nearly two centuries. Although she was exposed to the insults of the seasons, nothing damaged her, neither the harshness of the winters nor the abundance of the snow. This circumstance, joined to the graces already obtained at her feet, caused her to be regarded as miraculous. Thus, travelers, resuming the habits of past ages, were accustomed to stopping there and invoking Mary. The contempt that one of them showed for this devotion was the occasion of a miracle that had repercussions.

In the month of June of the year 1547, an inhabitant of Besse, n amed Pierr Pierre Get Inhabitant of Besse miraculously cured of blindness in 1547. e Get, was going to the town of La Tour with Guillaume de Chalus and some other merchants. When they were at Vassivière, Guillaume de Chalus and the others headed toward the wall. Arriving at the foot of the holy Image, they knelt down and said a prayer. Pierre Get smiled at their devotion, scorned it, and continued his journey to the stream that flows at the bottom of the mountain. There, he was forced to stop; a blinding sensation seized him, and he lost his sight.

Recognizing in this blow a punishment from heaven: "My God," he cried out, "what have I done? Holy Virgin, help me." At this cry, repeated several times, his companions ran over; they saw his misfortune. Persuaded that his impiety alone was the cause, they urged him to repent, inspired him with feelings of trust in Mary, and led him by the hand before her image. Pierre Get prostrated himself at her feet and heaved deep sighs. He confessed his fault, lamented it, and promised to atone for it. He vowed to dedicate himself, if he recovered his sight, to the service of the Holy Virgin, and pledged to give five pounds of wax, at the next feast of the Visitation, to be burned on her altar in the church of Besse. His companions, uniting their prayers with his, implored Mary to have pity on him and to grant him the grace he was begging for. She yielded to these supplications and looked with a favorable eye upon the repentance of the guilty man. Pierre Get recovered his sight, in fact, in a manner as sudden as it had been taken from him. His happiness and that of his companions was equaled only by their gratitude. Upon returning to Besse, they hastened to publish this double wonder; they made a declaration of it before the magistrates and the principal citizens, and a legal act was drawn up, the first that had been made of the miracles of Our Lady of Vassivière.

At this news, the veneration of the people for the holy Image increased: they wished to render it greater honors. The inhabitants of Besse gathered in council and decided, with the members of the collegiate church, that they would go in procession to Vassivière twice each year, on March 25, the day of the Annunciation, and on July 2, the feast of the Visitation. They did more. As this plateau was inaccessible for part of the year due to the snow, and the image of the Virgin then received no cult, they decided that it would be transferred to Besse, so that easier homage could be addressed to it without interruption. On the day fixed for the translation, the clergy, the magistrates, the officers, and almost all the inhabitants went in procession to Vassivière. They removed the statue from the place where it was and carried it, with triumphal joy, into the church of Saint-André, where it was placed above the high altar. Now, the next day, says the legend confirmed by public voice, the statue had disappeared: it was known that it had returned to its beloved mountain. Twice it was brought back with the same ceremonies, twice it returned to its first dwelling. The desolate inhabitants employed prayer to keep it, and pledged to have a mass said in perpetuity at the high altar every Wednesday of the year. Their vow pleased the Blessed Virgin, and her image remained among them. They invoked her with confidence. Whether a fire broke out in the city or drought devastated the countryside, they came near her to ward off all these scourges.

However, Mary testified by several signs that she wished to be honored at Vassivière. A project was formed to build a chapel there. Despite the difficulties of the undertaking, the inhabitants of Besse consented to every sacrifice, and their zeal smoothed over all obstacles. The site chosen for the church was the place where the cross stood on the ruins of the old chapel. Everyone set to work: some dug the foundations, others tore blocks of lava from the mountainside. As pilgrims flocked in great numbers, a temporary wooden chapel was made, below which a small oratory was built (1550). A spring gushed forth there whose fresh and clear waters, though not very abundant, never run dry. Pilgrims wash their eyes and hands in it; many take some away as a souvenir of their journey.

The chapel had barely risen from its foundations when a miracle occurred in 1551 that brought greater fame to this pilgrimage. A possessed person, having been brought to the oratory, was delivered from the evil spirit in the presence of a large number of people, through the intercession of the Mother of God. The neighboring populations, upon learning of this wonder, conceived new sentiments of piety toward Mary. From then on, her pilgrimage flourished: towns and villages came in procession; groups of pilgrims climbed the mountain on their knees or barefoot; confidence was in every heart and attracted people from several provinces. New miracles favored this momentum.

Meanwhile, work on the chapel progressed. The alms of the pilgrims, and especially the generosity of the inhabitants of Besse, covered all the costs. As resources abounded, the choir of the church of Saint-André was rebuilt at the same time, and the small chapel that exists today was built behind the high altar, where the miraculous statue has resided during the winter months ever since.

According to the inscription visible above the entrance door, the chapel of Vassivière was completed in the month of June 1555. The altars were adorned, the walls were covered with tokens of gratitude, and a reliquary, which was its first jewel, offered for veneration, under the name of Our Lady, hair of the Blessed Virgin and bones of several martyrs. On July 2, the holy Image was transferred to its new sanctuary.

The families of Besse were the first to invoke Mary on her dear mountain. The neighboring parishes shared this happiness and vied with one another in bestowing upon her the titles of Queen, Protectress, and Patroness. From this plateau, won over to public piety, she extended her sovereignty over the surrounding lands. Among the fiefs that, for three centuries, have paid her homage with a devotion that revolutions have not shaken, one must name Eglise-Neuve, formerly the chief town of the barony of Entraigues, Le Valbeleix, an ancient seigneury, Murol, with its majestic ruins, Le Chambon, situated on the banks of its beautiful lake, Saint-Diéry, with its steep slopes, Saint-Victor, Espinchal, Compains, Collamine, Saint-Anastaise, and a host of hamlets which, scattered amidst these gorges, merge into this unity of love that binds them to her cult.

The chapel is built of cut lava: it is sixteen meters long by eight meters wide. It is a Romanesque building, without any other particular character. The pillars are surmounted by capitals that recall the style of the 11th century, and the ribs of the vault have, at their junction point, shields, one of which bears the arms of the House of La Tour. At the beginning of the choir, on each side of the nave, there is a small chapel: in the one on the left, the miraculous statue was placed.

The origins of Notre-Dame de Vassivière are linked to two other customs that have always existed. The first was to commit to becoming king or queen of one's devotion, and to give a certain quantity of wax to the chapel. This pious royalty conferred the privilege of walking, a candle in hand, behind the statue during the procession of July 2nd. The second custom consists of the surrounding parishes coming in procession to Vassivière during the stay of the august Image.

Among the pilgrimages of France, that of Notre-Dame de Vassivière was one of the most fertile in miracles. To give more fame to the holy chapel, the inhabitants of Besse thought of having it consecrated and informed Mgr Antoine de Saint-Nectaire, then Bishop of Clermont, of their intentions. He hastened to respond. On July 2, 1571, he came to Vassivière and consecrated the chapel in the midst of an immense gathering of pilgrims. In 1633, the vault of the chapel threatening to collapse due to the severity of the winters and the violence of the storms that had severely damaged it, repairs became indispensable. It was decided that the necessary work would be done and that, in addition, the two chapels that still exist today would be built. The generosity of the faithful facilitated the execution of this project. The work was completed in 1634, and the chapel was restored to the state in which it is seen today. It was immediately enriched with numerous gifts due to the piety of the faithful. Mgr Joachim d'Estaing, Bishop of Clermont, not having forgotten the graces he had received from the pilgrimage he had made to the holy chapel in 1631, with the aim of obtaining from the Blessed Virgin that his flock be delivered from the contagious diseases that were decimating it, came with a large retinue on November 17, 1634, to pay public homage to the Protectress of Auvergne.

In 1639, Pope Urban VIII granted the pilg rimage of Vassiv pape Urbain VIII Pope who beatified Josaphat. ière abundant indulgences which attracted up to fifteen thousand pilgrims to the Pentecost festivities, which, that year, were celebrated with the greatest pomp. The Bishop of Clermont, who did not lose sight of this pilgrimage which was one of the religious glories of his diocese, delegated, on two different occasions, in 1641 and 1648, commissioners to collect, in official documents, the favors granted at these various times.

The populations surrounded this sanctuary, illustrated by multiplied wonders, with growing veneration. The year 1664 was one of the most fertile in blessings. Every month, so to speak, was marked by new marvels. Thus, in the mountains surrounding Vassivière, there was not a hamlet that did not have a memory of some miracle performed through the intercession of Mary. This was the historical foundation of these peaceful populations: such memories maintained there, in all its fervor, the cult of Our Lady of Vassivière. Her benefits did not remain the sole heritage of these regions, so happy to have such a neighbor. Fame spread them to other lands, and won over hearts touched by these naive and glorious accounts. Thus, gratitude multiplied the gifts intended to celebrate her patronage. Crosses, reliquaries, silver hearts, necklaces, strings of precious pearls, a thousand objects offered by faithful hands came successively to enrich her sanctuary.

More precious riches adorned this distinguished chapel: we speak of the relics that were the object of public veneration. Besides the reliquaries that had been placed there in 1553 and 1571, there were those of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Lucy, Saint Blaise, and the holy Apostles.

In the reliquary of Saint John the Baptist, one could see relics of this Saint, of Saint John the Evangelist, of Saints Julian, Valentine, Valens, Hilarion, Leo, and Athanasius.

In the reliquary of Saint Lucy, there was a bone of this Saint, relics of Saint Romanus, Saint Roch, Saints Martha, Mary Magdalene, Barbara, Agnes, Ursula, and a part of the veil of Saint Catherine.

The reliquary of Saint Blaise contained relics of this Saint, and of Saints Lawrence, Sebastian, Protasius, Anthony the Hermit, Anthony of Padua, Eligius, Felix, Valentine, Justus, Vincent, and of several other saints, martyrs, and confessors. That of the Apostles contained relics of Saint Andrew, Saint James, Saint Paul, and Saint Timothy, his disciple.

It can be seen that the chapel of Vassivière sheltered the cult and memory of a great number of Saints. But no name was pronounced there with more love than the name of Mary: there was none that the multitudes made heard with more enthusiasm to the echoes awakened in the solitude by the concerts of public piety.

This pilgrimage then shone with the purest brilliance. The influx of the people, the abundance of graces received there, the multiplicity of vows made there, all made it a corner of the earth that one dared not tread without feeling sentiments of profound veneration.

People loved to visit this chapel illustrated by a thousand wonders, where innumerable conversions had taken place, and where so many lost souls had found the path to heaven. Art had not, undoubtedly, deployed its marvelous resources there: it always kept the character of simplicity it had at its origin. Only, the pilgrims had, in every age, enriched it with gifts and ex-votos, and it possessed numerous riches intended to enhance the honor of the cult and the pomp of the solemnities.

Public piety had until then protected so many sacred objects against greed. But, in 1669, on the night of September 4 to 5, a sacrilegious theft stripped the chapel of Vassivière of a part of its riches. Malefactors introduced themselves there and took away, along with many other precious objects, a chalice, two ciboria, six silver lamps, crowns, silver candlesticks, and several reliquaries of the same metal.

The consternation was great in Besse and the surrounding areas when this misfortune was learned. People went in crowds to Vassivière, in order to address to Mary an honorable amends for the outrage done to her sanctuary. For its part, justice carried out active pursuits. After two days of searching, one of the thieves was arrested in the village of La Vedrine, in the Cantal. About a third of the silverware was found: it was melted or broken. Such an odious crime was not left unpunished: the culprit was hanged and burned at Saint-Flour.

The poverty to which the chapel of Vassivière was suddenly reduced provoked the generosity of the faithful: they took to heart the making of a solemn reparation for the sacrilege by which it had been profaned. The Duchess of Noailles, Anne-Louise Boyer, gave the first example, and presented a large silver ciborium, which was brought to Vassivière by M. Garnier, official of the diocese. Shortly after, on September 16, a bourgeois of Clermont gave a silver-plated copper lamp.

Gilbert de Veny d'Arbouze, who had succeeded Louis d'Estaing in 1664, learned with sorrow of the sacrilege that had been committed. On October 29, he wrote to the parish priests of the sixteen parishes closest to Vassivière, and invited them to go there, some on the Sunday, others on the Monday, which were to follow the feast of All Saints, to take part in the expiatory ceremonies for the outrage done to the most holy Sacrament. The turnout was general; everyone wanted to expiate through their regrets and tears the profanation of which Our Lady of Vassivière had been the object.

In the course of the following year, with the silverware that had been recovered, two large lamps, a censer, and a reliquary were remade, in the likeness of the Virgin, like the one that had been stolen. But the chapel was not immediately restored to its former brilliance.

With the alms that were collected, the vault of the chapel, which was threatening to collapse, was repaired, and its treasure was restored to almost the state it was in before the theft of 1669. During the years that followed, private donations were made.

Thus the pilgrimage of Vassivière repaired its disasters, at the same time that it continued the course of its benefits. The end of the 17th century was marked by several wonders.

During the course of the 18th century, the influx of pilgrims continued. The priests of the collegiate church of Besse, in order to respond to the zeal of the people, never ceased to go every year, from the first days of May until those of November, each spending fifteen days on the mountain of Vassivière. Devoted to the salvation of souls and the prosperity of a pilgrimage that was the honor and joy of their ministry, they performed admirable conversions there each year and propagated by this means the reign and glory of Our Lady of Vassivière.

Touched by the good that was being done in these places, illustrated by so many miracles, Bochart de Saron, Bishop of Clermont, implored apostolic favors for t he chapel. Clément XI Pope who authorized the public cult of Salvador of Horta. Clement XI, who occupied the Holy See in the midst of the storms raised in France by Jansenism, granted, by a brief of August 21, 1713, a plenary indulgence for seven years to anyone who would visit the holy chapel, while fulfilling the required conditions, from the first Vespers of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin until sunset on the day of the feast.

The pilgrimage of Vassivière had been enjoying these apostolic graces for three years when another favor from the same Pontiff arrived. The priests of the collegiate church of Besse, who watched over its sanctuary with a zeal whose ardor time did not slow, thought of establishing there a Confraternity of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin. To give more importance to this pious institution, they had a request made to the sovereign Pontiff that he might deign to grant a plenary indulgence. Clement XI yielded to such a legitimate desire and promulgated, on January 3, 1716, a brief by which he conceded the indulgence that had been solicited. It is one of the most precious documents concerning Our Lady of Vassivière.

When they had received the brief of Clement XI, the priests of the collegiate church and the officers of the town of Besse wrote to the diocesan authority to request its publication. The see of Clermont was vacant. Bochart de Saron had died on August 11, 1715, and Massillon, his illustrious successor, was not to be consecrated until December 31, 1718. The petition was addressed to the vicars general. On May 12, Chamflour, vicar general, gave permission to publish the brief of Clement XI. He designated and approved as the principal feast of the Confraternity the day of the Visitation, and for the other four days of the year mentioned in the brief, he designated Whit Monday, the feast of Saint Louis, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and the Sunday following the feast of Saint Matthew.

A few days later, the Confraternity of the Visitation was regularly established. Each year, pilgrims asked to join it. Priests and faithful, families and individuals, lords and villagers inscribed their names. All wished to have a share in the union of prayers and merits that rallied so many hearts in the same worship and in the same love.

Pilgrims crowded incessantly around the chapel, and on feast days, they covered the mountain with their pious multitudes, from which the most abundant graces were poured out upon them without interruption. The bishops of Clermont included this sanctuary among the objects of their most lively solicitude. Massillon visited it on June 17, 1727; Le Maistre de la Garla Massillon Illustrious Bishop of Clermont who visited the sanctuary in 1727. ye came to pay the tribute of a religious homage; François de Bonal wished to pray at the foot of its altars. The priests and magistrates of Besse, in concert with the people and the neighboring populations, maintained this pilgrimage in all its splendor. The people, indifferent to the sarcasms of the impious and the mockery of the false sages, flooded the forecourt of the sanctuary with their waves and made the echoes of the holy mountain resound with their canticles.

The chapel of Vassivière remained the usual meeting place for piety and hope in the midst of the peaceful mountains of the west; numerous ex-votos, pledges of generous gratitude, adorned its altars and walls, and the miraculous image, an object of public veneration for three centuries, received the most fervent homage there.

But at the moment when the inhabitants of these mountains could believe that no human force would stop the momentum of their faith, and would not destroy the empire that their dear and venerated pilgrimage had con quered over their s révolution terrible Period during which the saint's relics were hidden and lost. ouls, a terrible revolution broke out in France. Blind in its fury, it confused in its hatred heaven and earth, the sacred and the profane. It proscribed the worship of the ancestors, banished from the homeland the faith that had held its cradle, overturned the temples where the songs of our fathers had resounded, and demolished the sanctuaries where the people came in peace to seek in prayer a remedy for their sorrows.

The breath of impiety, stronger than that of the storms, circulated everywhere with unheard-of violence. The pilgrimage of Vassivière was delivered to the profanations which, during the course of the French Revolution, defiled the sanctuaries of the Catholic faith. Altars, chalices, sacred ornaments, relics, ex-votos, everything disappeared in the looting or the flames. The statue, which had been venerated from time immemorial, was torn to pieces and burned: yet a few fragments were saved which have remained the object of a particular cult. The other statue, which was revered in the oratory, was preserved from the reach of vandalism by an inhabitant of Besse, who kept it in his house, and left it upon his death to his family, who still pays it pious honors. The chapel, after having been devastated, was sold as national property, and delivered, for several years, to vile uses. One cannot describe the consternation that reigned in Besse, and in the neighboring populations, when such an outrage was learned. The faithful groaned in secret at being no longer able to turn to Our Lady of Vassivière, at a time when her intercession would have been so necessary to avert the evils that were devastating France and Auvergne.

But God had set a limit to these insolent triumphs. Already, in 1796, some pilgrims were taking the road to Vassivière again; soon the Concordat proclaimed the free exercise of the Catholic cult; the temples opened; the pilgrimages were restored to public piety.

The town of Besse had not forgotten what graces Our Lady of Vassivière had showered upon it. Its inhabitants were eager to return to its mountain, and to celebrate its venerated feasts there once again. Although the chapel was still private property, the pilgrimage flourished again, thanks to the piety of the faithful, and through the care of M. Seronde, parish priest of Besse, who displayed rare energy for the restoration of the cult of Our Lady of Vassivière. He re-established its processions and feasts, and restored to its former splendor the Confraternity of the Visitation, which saw, from the year 1805, numerous associates join.

A new statue, in which fragments of the old one were placed, received the homage which, as in ages past, was to ascend to Mary: it represents the Blessed Virgin holding the child Jesus on her knees. The church of Besse, restored with decency, became her first residence. It was soon possible to replace her, in summer, in the chapel of Vassivière, purchased by Mlle Marie Admirat, who donated it to the parish fabric of Besse.

When Our Lady of Vassivière had been restored to herself, the good days returned for her pilgrimage. The generosity of the faithful provided without delay for the maintenance and ornamentation of the chapel. While in Besse the choir of the church was being repaired (1816), at Vassivière, the demolished altars were being raised, and the walls of the sanctuary were being restored to the decency and brilliance with which they once shone. What touched hearts above all, and what revived the glory of this pilgrimage, was the continuity of the favors that Mary distributed from the top of the holy mountain. Each year, the pilgrims brought back from their journey graces that they kept with care.

The feast of the Visitation was, as in centuries past, the privileged feast of Vassivière. But the most imposing solemnity took place on the Sunday following July 2. On this day, the neighboring parishes go processionally to the chapel, and attend, at the foot of the same altars, the celebration of the divine offices. In 1841, and on July 4, the presence of Mgr Féron gave these feasts an unusual brilliance. Fifteen to twenty thousand pilgrims, coming from all parts of Auvergne and other dioceses, covered the plateau of Vassivière.

The following year, the feast of July 2 was famous for the healing of a paralytic, the memory of which has remained in many minds. In 1851, a new miracle, which occurred on the day of the feast, increased the celebrity of this pilgrimage. The same year, on the Sunday of the feast of the Visitation, there were up to twenty thousand pilgrims who had come from all corners of Auvergne and Limousin, to take part in the blessings that Mary poured out on this day, and to attend the solemnities of Vassivière, to which the presence of the bishops of Clermont and Saint-Flour gave a new luster. The Blessed Virgin multiplied her favors there to all ages. Childhood and youth in particular received tokens of her maternal kindness.

While these particular graces, granted by Mary, raised her pilgrimage to its ancient splendor, the parish priests of Besse displayed great activity to restore or embellish her sanctuary. The high altar was decorated in the state in which it is seen, and on July 9, 1854, after having received authorization from Pope Pius IX, a Way of the Cross was e pape Pie IX Pope who canonized Josaphat in 1867. rected, in the presence of a considerable crowd that this ceremony had attracted. These crosses are set on a stone pedestal, where the names of the people and parishes that donated them have been engraved on white marble tablets. It is the custom for pilgrims, while climbing the plateau, to make the Way of the Cross, an exercise that the Church has enriched with so many indulgences. In 1856, the fabric of Besse acquired the mountain that surrounds the chapel.

In 1859, Pius IX enriched the chapel with a plenary indulgence that could be gained, on the seven main feasts of Mary, and during their octaves, by people who, having confessed and received communion, would pray at the foot of her altars for the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff. He further granted three hundred days of indulgence to all those who would visit the chapel of Vassivière and pray there for the same intentions.

The flow of graces granted by Mary never slowed down. From different parts of France, and often even from foreign countries, testimonies of gratitude are sent to her. Sometimes, it is a soldier who, from the depths of Africa, sends her his homage: sometimes, it is a pilot, lost on the waves, who addresses his vows to her. Today, a mother recommends her son to her; tomorrow, a sister will send her an offering for having obtained the recovery of her brother. There is no season when the prayers of a multitude of souls do not rise toward the holy mountain, souls who have for Our Lady of Vassivière a cult that her benefits justify and spread.

Today, her pilgrimage has retained its importance. The chapel has taken on a modest elegance that rejoices the pilgrim. The main altar, above which one sees the image of the Blessed Virgin, is adorned with a reredos. The statue is surrounded by a garland at the top of which two angels hold a diadem suspended over her head. The two chapels each have an altar; one, on the right, is dedicated to the Sacred Heart; the other, on the left, is to Saint Joseph. Numerous hearts, tokens of filial love and containing names destined to immortalize gratitude, adorn the altar of the sanctuary. The walls are also enriched with ex-votos, paintings, and medallions that contain the account of extraordinary favors. One notices on the right a painting donated by the Ursuline monastery of Clermont, which represents a flowerbed where the most varied flowers grow.

Around the chapel, nature displays its harsh beauties as it did in the past, and the secular mountains still raise their peaks which serve as eternal ramparts for this lovely solitude. In recent years, a stone altar has been erected in the middle of the mountain, toward the south, so that during the great solemnities of Vassivière, Mass could be celebrated there in the presence of the pilgrims, whose multitude the chapel could not contain.

The church of Besse, where the statue of Our Lady of Vassivière resides for nine months of the year, has been restored and embellished. A recent spire has dominated the surrounding landscape for a few years. The interior of the building has been partially covered with polychromatic decorations that harmonize with the grave style of its architecture. The chapel where the miraculous Image is venerated has been ornamented. The altar is Romanesque and adorned with three bas-reliefs representing the Annunciation, the Birth of the Savior, and the Adoration of the Magi. The walls are decorated with paintings where the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, her Nativity, her Purification, and her Visitation appear in various medallions. This chapel is, at all times, the object of a special cult: the Blessed Sacrament rests there, Mass is celebrated there every day, and every day the faithful of Besse or foreign pilgrims come to invoke Mary.

The festivals of Vassivière have a particular character. When the plateau has shed its mantle of snow, and the flowers begin to bloom under the warm summer breezes, preparations are made to transport the miraculous Image of the Virgin to her cherished mountain. July 2nd is the day of the translation, or, in the language of the country, the day of the Ascent. It is generally devoted to rest and prayer. During the nine days preceding it, a novena is held, the exercises of which are followed with lively piety. When the day arrives, everyone gathers: at seven o'clock, the signal for departure is given. The ranks of the procession form: at seven-thirty, they are on the move. They stop for a moment on an esplanade, from where they give the city, as a sign of farewell, a blessing with the holy Image. Then the procession resumes its course. Its long lines unfold in the finest order, following the graceful contours of the road that winds along the flanks of the mountain. Recollection and piety reign in all ranks: mouths open only to the sacred chants that go, from echo to echo, to awaken in these mountains the name and memory of the most tender of Mothers. Sometimes, it is the Magnificat that repeats, after nineteen centuries, the glories that had been foretold for her future greatness by the one whose Image is being carried in triumph; at other times, it is the litanies of the Virgin, each invocation of which ends with an immense Ora pro nobis, which the hills send up to heaven. At other times, they are hymns dedicated to Mary, whose touching harmonies or joyful accents make one forget the length of the journey. Meanwhile, the procession, as it advances, opens its ranks to crowds of pilgrims who have come to wait for it at various points along the road. Thus enlarged, it arrives at the foot of the holy mountain. There, the chants in honor of Mary cease. The Way of the Cross is then performed. Arrived on the mountain, they stop in front of the oratory where the fountain is; they sing the Te Deum, and solemnly bless the prostrate crowd with the holy Image. The statue is carried into the great chapel and placed above the high altar. At eleven o'clock, Mass is celebrated, which ends with the blessing of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Upon leaving the office, people group together by families or acquaintances, and, seated on the grass around the sanctuary of Mary, they take a frugal meal, a sweet image of the Christian agape which, after the holy Mysteries, gathered the faithful of the primitive Church, united by the bonds of the tenderest charity, around a common table. At three o'clock, a special ceremony takes place: the image of Mary is presented for the veneration of the pilgrims, and each of them kisses its feet with love. Towards evening, the crowd disperses and returns processionally to Besse. Everyone promises in the depths of their heart to return often to Vassivière, which is henceforth blessed by the presence of the miraculous image.

During her three-month stay, people come to visit her frequently from neighboring parishes, and especially from Besse. Many perform a novena of prayers there, and sometimes also a novena of communions. The pilgrims do not come only from the neighboring regions; they come from the cantons of Upper and Lower Auvergne, from La Marche, Limousin, and Velay. Their influx increases noticeably on Sundays and feast days, and even more so on the four special festivals of Vassivière, which are the Sunday within the octave of July 2nd, the Sunday after August 25th, or the feast of Saint Louis, September 8th, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and finally the Sunday following September 21st. During this time, the clergy of Besse divide themselves, as before the Revolution, between the city and the holy mountain. From the Sunday preceding the arrival of the miraculous statue until the one following its departure inclusive, Mass is said there every day at nine o'clock, and on Sundays at eleven o'clock. The ministry of the priests of Besse is not limited to this: they also hear the confessions of pilgrims who would not feel they had sanctified their journey if they did not confess and receive communion in the church of Notre-Dame de Vassivière.

The four festivals we have just enumerated attract a large number of pilgrims: the first and the last are the most remarkable.

The Sunday within the octave of July 2nd is called the Sunday of the processions. Several neighboring parishes indeed go there processionally. From the day before, many pilgrims arrive at Vassivière; they fervently receive the blessing of the Blessed Sacrament which is given in the evening, invade the tribunals of penance where the mysteries of their reconciliation with God take place, and spend the night at the foot of Mary's altars. The next day, one enjoys the most varied and edifying spectacles. The sun has barely gilded the mountains when the pilgrims, coming from all sides, from Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal, Corrèze, and other departments, animate the paths and roads with their groups.

Soon a new spectacle presents itself. In the distance, lines of pilgrims unfold in two ranks, under the banners of their parishes. These are the processions arriving. The young girls, dressed in white, advance under banners with the colors and effigy of the Blessed Virgin. Men of all ages follow, and mingle their grave voices with the sweet harmonies of a pious youth. The crowd, which already covers the plateau, presses forward to meet the processions and welcomes them with religious joy. They have climbed the plateau; they stop successively in front of the fountain oratory, where they sing an antiphon in praise of Mary, and enter her chapel, where their chants expire in the midst of the prayers that each addresses to the Queen of these places.

At eleven o'clock, the bell invites the faithful to the celebration of the holy Mysteries. An innumerable crowd presses around the altar set up in the open air. The clergy arrive, preceded by the crosses, standards, and banners of each parish, amidst chants where the stanzas of the Veni Creator mingle with those of the hymns. The celebrant arrives at the foot of the altar, adorned with branches and foliage and surmounted by a dome of greenery.

Mass finished, the celebrant, preceded by the clergy, returns to the chapel. The people spread out over the mountain and devote the following hours to prayer or pious joy. The sanctuary of Mary fills until evening with pilgrims who come to offer her their thanks and their vows. The processions return successively to their parishes; the pilgrims disperse, but not without casting a last look at the holy chapel, and without promising to visit it again.

Three months pass after the celebration of these festivals. For three months, people come to Vassivière from all parts of Auvergne to venerate the miraculous statue. Then, when autumn has succeeded the splendors of summer, when the end of September arrives, Notre-Dame de Vassivière leaves her mountain to go once again to Besse to take up her residence. It is on the first Sunday after the feast of Saint Matthew that the ceremony, vulgarly called the Descent, takes place.

From the first light of day, the faithful arrive and fill the chapel. Everyone attends the Masses celebrated there with a feeling of fervor that is increased by the thought that, for the last time of the year, they are coming to venerate the statue of Mary in her sanctuary. While, on the mountain, they address their last vows to her, at Besse, they prepare to receive her by making, with religious enthusiasm, the preparations for a triumphal entry. The statue, carried on a rich litter, advances behind the clergy, to the chant of the Litanies of the Virgin and the hymn Salve, Regina. The procession unfolds amidst the scenes of this alpine nature, to which the pale fires of autumn give a more melancholy tint.

The chants reach the first gates of the city and announce the return of Notre-Dame de Vassivière within its walls. Night has spread its veil: but the illuminations soon restore the brightness of day to the city. Already the procession has arrived near the Notre-Dame gate: the statue is placed on an altar and covered with a cloth-of-gold mantle. Candles and torches shine around her with a bright glow. They enter the city to the chant of the Salve, Regina. Suddenly, musket fire salutes the arrival of the miraculous Virgin. A thousand transports of joy break out on all sides. Everywhere the image passes, the houses are illuminated; garlands of flowers entwine from one window to another; branches strew the ground and are stripped, in honor of Mary, of their last leaves.

The statue is carried into the church, already invaded by the multitude, and the final chants that salute her return are intoned. She is deposited in her chapel; the blessing of the Blessed Sacrament ends these joyful festivals, devoted to prayer and gratitude.

Excerpt from the Life of the Saints of Auvergne, by Branche, and from the History of Notre-Dame de Vassivière, by Father Chaix.