Our Lady of Beauty, patroness of artists

Saint Peter's Church of Montmartre (French: Eglise Saint-Pierre de Montmartre), not far from the more famous Sacré-Cœur Basilica, has been a feature of the hill of Montmartre in Paris since the year 1133. It is one of the oldest surviving churches in Paris. The attached cloister used to be the home of Benedictine nuns and part of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Montmartre.

Saint John Eudes, who was spiritual director and confessor of the Benedictines in 1660-1662, then in 1670-1673, was very fond of visiting this abbey because, as he said: "This holy and illustrious abbey belongs in a very special way to the most holy Heart of the Mother of God."

The history of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Montmartre ended abruptly with the French Revolution, but its church was definitively saved in 1899.

A Montmartre painter, Gazi Igna Ghirei (circa 1900-1975), who was a student and spiritual son of the famous painter Suzanne Valadon, became the humble and ardent promoter of the renewal of the devotion to Our Lady of Montmartre.

Gazi conceived the idea of adding the name of “Our Lady of Beauty, Queen of Peace” to the name of Notre-Dame de Montmartre. This second title is deeply inscribed in the tradition of the Church, who has always associated the Virgin Mary with beauty. Gazi's intuition is deeply universal: Our Lady of Beauty is destined to gather all the artists around her, far beyond Montmartre.

The year 2017 marked the 870 years of the dedication of the abbey. We encourage you to rediscover the luminous presence of one of the oldest places of Marian veneration in the Paris region.

Notre Histoire avec Marie