Our Lady of Verdelais

In 1253, it was reduced to the last extremity by the war of the King of England against the Gascon lords; and under the blow of ever-renewing hostilities, despite the efforts of Assalhide of Bordeaux to rebuild it, towards the end of the fourteenth century, the monastery was destroyed, the church delivered to the flames, the religious forced to flee, after having hidden in the earth, and under a stone that could allow it to be found, the statue of the Blessed Virgin. Twelve years later, it emerged triumphant from its retreat.

Isabelle, Countess of Foix Isabelle, comtesse de Foix Countess who rediscovered the statue in 1390. , married for several years to Archambault de Grailly, had no children. In her sadness, she turned to the Blessed Virgin, pledging by vow to build her a church and to dedicate one of her children to the service of the altars if heaven granted her four. Instead of four, she had five, and the fourth became the famous Cardinal Pierre de Foix. One day, in 1390, she was cardinal Pierre de Foix Son of Isabelle de Foix, who became a cardinal. crossing the woods of Verdelais, near the ruins of Notre-Dame du Luc, to travel from her lordship of Langon to the castle of Civrac in Benauge, and was thinking about the means to fulfill her vow, when suddenly, the ancient chronicles say, "her mule stopped, unable to move forward or backward, and sank one of its hooves, to a depth of four to five inches, into a very hard stone, where it imprinted the shape of its hoof." The stone was lifted; and what was the surprise of the countess and her retinue to discover a statue of the Blessed Virgin! It was Our Lady of Verdelais. The will of God was understood; the chapel was rebuilt, the Grandmontines were recalled, the statue resumed its place, and the memory of these events was consecrated by two paintings: one, where the countess is seen offering her son, the future cardinal, to the Blessed Virgin; the other represents the discovery of the statue.

This new era of peace and piety lasted until 1582. On June 28, the Calvinist bands, driven from Saint-Macaire, rushed upon Verdelais. Everything there was pillaged and burned: convent, church, library, ornaments, and the Blessed Virgin herself was thrown into the flames like everything else. But, oh wonder! A few days later, when the Calvinist army, defeated by Montluc, had retreated, and the reassured inhabitants came to visit the still-smoking ruins of their church, they found, in the midst of the rubble, their Virgin, perfectly intact. At this sight, full of respect and joy, says the oldest historian of Verdelais, "they carried her away and hid her in the trunk of an old tree, at the bottom of a hollow, not far from the chapel, so that she would not be exposed in the future to similar outrages; but, not having taken the precaution of leaving a record or any mark that could confirm and lead to the discovery of the precious deposit, the people who were in the secret risked losing this revered statue forever."

God provided for it. Around the year 1603, a man who led his herd to graze in this place every day noticed the singular insistence of one of his oxen to descend into the hollow, and to bow while lowing, as if it were prostrating itself before a human figure. This man descended after the animal. He discovered a statue: it was the Virgin of Verdelais! He took it with respect, he presented it to the elders, who recognized it, although blackened by the flames; it was carried in triumph into the remainder of the chapel whose solidity had resisted the fire, and near which lived alone, to celebrate Mass and receive pilgrims, Father Antoine Dugarsies, a remnant of the Order of Grandmont.

Such was the state of ever-increasing decay, amidst brambles and brush, in which Cardinal de Sourdis found the ancient cardinal de Sourdis Archbishop of Bordeaux who approved the Institute. sanctuary in 1609. To clean, pave, enclose, and adorn it, to establish religious who would serve God and the Blessed Virgin day and night; to build the vault, the choir, the side chapels, and the galleries that run around the sanctuary, were the concern of the pious prelate; he began, and Mgr de Béthune completed it. The Duke of Epernon, the Duke of Foix, and several illustrious families associated themselves with the good work through their generosity; the Blessed Virgin willed, says Father Salé, "that it should be through the liberality and voluntary oblations of her servants that her holy chapel was adorned, her altars decorated, a monastery built, and that all these things were numbered among her miracles, so that posterity might see nothing in the establishment of her house but the effects of her power." To make them even more palpable, a man whose life and writings breathe a tender piety toward Mary put the finishing touches to this restoration. Father Proust, one o f the Celestin Le père Proust Celestine religious who embellished the site in the 18th century. es of the house of Verdelais, where he died in veneration in the year 1722, added to the edifice a portal, a facade, a bell tower, and a vast plateau planted with trees, which extended it, under a vault of foliage, for five or six thousand people. He worked to make the approaches to Verdelais easier; and with his own hands, he cleared, leveled, and planted. On both sides of the great alley, he fashioned, in the thickness of the woods, winding paths that led to grottoes; each of these grottoes contained a sculptural representation of various mysteries: the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus Christ, his crucifixion, and his burial. The shade, the silence, everything favored prayer and meditation.

The revolution of '93, which loved to strike down everything sacred, decreed the stripping and looting of Verdelais. Its treasure, its sacred vessels, the gifts, the offerings of the faithful, everything was taken away. The vestments were burned, after having had their braids torn off, which yielded more than four hundred marks in weight of gold or silver. The monastery's property was sold at a low price; the grottoes built with such care by Father Proust were ransacked. Only one thing remained: the miraculous statue. Indignant to see it still standing, the head of the local administration, followed by the municipal council, went to the site a nd ordered Jean Michel Sacristan who protected the statue during the French Revolution. the sacristan Jean Michel to take it down. The young man, unmoved by promises or threats, replied to the republican agent: "I would fear that God would crush me at that very moment! And besides, I would rather obey God than men." A mason, a former soldier named Etienne Gassies, resisted the same injunctions no less boldly: "Do it yourself," he said, "Citizen Mayor, and climb up, if you dare: as for me, never!"

At these words, which redoubled his rage, the Jacobin applied the ladder himself and rushed up; but he had barely climbed a few rungs when he was seized with vertigo, his knees buckled; he fell, and without the help of those present, he would have been broken in his fall. The pious sacristan Jean Michel then hid the venerated image under a coarse tapestry; and, as long as the prohibition against entering the church, which had been closed, lasted, he brought in at night the pilgrims who still came to visit it.

It was reserved for Cardinal Donnet cardinal Donnet Archbishop of Bordeaux who revived the pilgrimage in the 19th century. to raise up this holy house, and to give it worthy guardians. The Marist Fathers were i pères Maristes Congregation established in Verdelais in 1838. nstalled there in 1838, and became the signal of a new life there. An association of ladies, with the help of a vast subscription through three annual payments of two francs, spread especially in the dioceses of Bordeaux and Agen, built the vault and the galleries of the nave, restored the sanctuary and the side chapels, completely refurbished the church and the convent, opened a school and retreat house for the Sisters of the Presentation, and had the graceful bell tower built that crowns this entire ensemble. It still remained to revive the stations created by Father Proust; as Mount Cusso mont Cussol Site of the establishment of the Stations of the Cross in the 19th century. l offered the most fortunate arrangements for the establishment of a Way of the Cross and a Calvary, the lands were acquired; the steep slopes of the mountain softened; its summit surmounted by three crosses; the small chapels built on a uniform plan; the last one, that of the Holy Sepulchre, much larger, with an altar and an admirable relief scene of the burial of Our Lord.

A place so manifestly chosen by the Mother of God could not fail to exert a sweet attraction upon all hearts. In every age, one has seen all that is great in the world flocking there, just as all that is small and unfortunate; after the kings of England and the kings of France, the illustrious families of Grailly, of Candole, of Foix, of Epernon, of Saluces; the Duchess of Angoulême, who came to call down the blessings of God upon the French army in Spain, commanded by the prince her husband. Like Cardinal de Sourdis, Mgr d'Aviau, of such holy memory, frequently brought his pastoral solicitudes to the feet of Mary there, and once among other times, at the head of the students of his minor seminary, he obtained from heaven, despite a thousand obstacles, the transfer of that house from Cadillac to Bazas, where the imperious needs of the diocese assigned its place. In 1852, the bishops of Beauvais, of Périgueux, of Agen; Mgr Dupuch, first bishop of Algiers, and more than twelve hundred priests celebrated Mass at the privileged altar of Notre-Dame. One cannot state the number of solemn pilgrimages that parishes, colleges, schools, and various congregations make to Verdelais. Thus, the church and its treasury have not ceased to be enriched with gifts, sometimes simple, sometimes magnificent, but always precious for the motive that inspires them. One may have pillaged and destroyed, but piety has been more persistent than sacrilege; and even today it enriches the venerated sanctuary with ornaments, sacred vessels, and other objects offered by love to the most holy Virgin.

But of all these homages, none equals in value the privileges granted to Notre-Dame de Verdelais by the sovereign Pontiffs. Lucius III, Urban VIII, Alexander VII, Gregory XVI, on various occasions have drawn abundantly in its favor from the treasury of indulgences. His Holiness Pius IX revived there Pie IX Pope who canonized Josaphat in 1867. the confraternity of Our Lady of Consolation, founded by Cardinal de Sourdis. He crowned its venerable statue; and the day of this coronation is truly one of the most solemn in its history. It was July 2: around an altar set up in the open air, under a rich pavilion, an immense crowd pressed, where, along with the authorities of the department, five hundred priests and eight prelates appeared: the Cardinal-Archbishop of Bordeaux, the Archbishop of Avignon, the bishops of Gap, of Nevers, of Périgueux, of Agen, of Angoulême, and of Saint-Flour. After the pontifical Mass and the reading of the apostolic brief, the statue, crowned by the prelates, processed, to the sound of instruments and songs of joy, around the surrounding square. The Cardinal-Archbishop consecrated his diocese to the holy Virgin, and in the evening, brilliant illuminations seemed to prolong the splendor of a day finished too soon.

While men thus honored Notre-Dame de Verdelais with their prayers, Mary responded there with miracles. People prayed, they honored Mary, they were heard; they prayed to her, they loved her even more, she let fall even more graces; it was a continuous prayer between incessant miracles.

It is not only in distant times, it is also in our own time that wonders occur at Verdelais. This glory is no more lacking to it today than in the past.

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