Embrun, France: Our Lady of the Magi

Until the French Revolution, Embrun, a small French city in the southern Alps, was a large and prestigious urban center whose influence reached well beyond Europe, because of its famous Shrine of Our Lady of the Magi (also known as “Our Lady of Real”, i.e. “Royal” in old French). At the latest, Marian devotion there started in the 4^th century when St Marcellinus built a church dedicated to Our Lady of the Nativity. That first church soon became known as Our Lady of the Magi, because of the fresco of the three Wise Men on the tympanum (or pediment): the Magi who came to the manger to kneel before the Mother of God and her Child.

Then Charlemagne had a sumptuous shrine-church built in Embrun. During the Middle Ages, the Virgin of the Magi attracted countless pilgrims from all over Europe, from overseas and even from Asia, who came to kneel before the Virgin of the Real and receive many graces and miracles. This devotion became a custom among the French royal family beginning with Charles VII. So many kings made the pilgrimage to Embrun, including Louis XI, Charles VIII, Louis XII, Francis I, Henry II, and Louis XIII, that the shrine was referred to as "the pilgrimage of the kings of France."

In the 16^th century, Protestant troops destroyed the church with its fresco of the Virgin of the Real. Without the fresco, the source of miracles dried up and the city of Embrun slowly lost its prestige. But the striking church built by Charlemagne was eventually restored, and after the troubled period of the Reformation, pilgrims returned to the shrine to receive Marian graces, which continue today.

Sister Marie-Monique of Jesus, o.p.

In Une épopée mariale, Notre Dame du Réal d’Embrun, Notre Dame du Laus (A Marian Epic, Our Lady of the Real of Embrun, Our Lady of Laus), published by the Shrine of Our Lady of Laus, 2007