The silent apparition of Our Lady of the Oak

In 1495, in the commune of Vion, department of Sarthe (France), an old oak tree suddenly began attracting the attention of the local peasants: at night, bright fires lit up the top of the tree; during the day, a joyous merry-go-round of doves fluttered among its branches. No one could catch or scare them away. So the people began praying around that unusual tree. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the parish priest, Fr. James Buret, decided to place a small terracotta statue of the Virgin Mary inside a hollow place in the trunk. After this, the Virgin herself began appearing.

A young man who had stolen flowers left there for the Virgin, was afflicted with a severe stiff neck. He confessed his action to his parents, and after he had returned the flowers his pain disappeared. Healings and conversions occurred in great numbers. A chapel was built at the site in 1515. That same year, a cripple from a nearby village who made a difficult pilgrimage to the statue of the Virgin Mary on foot and holding three candles, regained his full health.

In 1595, a woman gathering wood saw Our Lady of the Oak above the roof of the chapel, in a silent apparition... Twenty-six years later, a wet nurse obtained the cure of a deformed child she had in her charge after praying for six weeks to the Virgin Mary.

The pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Oak (Notre Dame du Chêne) regained popularity. In 1894, the enlarged church became a basilica. Although the history of the place began in 1494 without an explicit message, Mary's maternal hand has always been present. Today, Our Lady of the Oak Shrine has become the most important place of pilgrimage in the diocese of Le Mans, with about 70,000 visitors a year.

Brother Alain Dominique, Rector of Our Lady of the Oak Shrine (Notre Dame du Chêne) 

Notre Histoire avec Marie