The “Little Lourdes” of Brittany

In Brittany, the small town of Querrien draws throngs of pilgrims every summer on August 15th, the feast of Mary’s Assumption, because of its Marian shrine called "Our Lady of Eternal Aid" (Notre-Dame-de-Toute-Aide).

Querrien, the site of an annual religious festival, or “Pardon,” is the only authenticated site of an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Brittany. The “Pardon” is held on August 15th and another festival is celebrated on the Sunday following September 8th each year.

In 574, Columban and his twelve Irish companions disembarked on the coast of a land that was, from then on, to be known as Brittany. One of them, Gall, founded a hermitage formerly known as Langal. He then went to Querrien where he brought forth a spring “so that people could make bread there.” He also sculpted a statue of the Madonna and Child and placed it in an oratory built of wood.

On August 15, 1652 ‘a beautiful lady’ paid a visit to Jeanne Courtel, a little 12 year old shepherd girl who was deaf and mute. Miraculously, the child recovered her hearing and speech. She told her parents that the lady desired them to “search in the pool of Saint Gall.” The statue of the Madonna, sculpted by Saint Gall, and preserved in a perfect state for nearly a thousand years by the spring, was rediscovered. The lady’s words to Jeanne were: “I chose this place where I wish to be honored.”

A temporary chapel was erected in 1652. The chancel was situated in the very place where the statue was discovered. The present chapel was built between 1652 and 1656. Each year more and more pilgrims come to beg the protection of Our Lady, honored from the beginning under the dedication "Our Lady of Eternal Aid."Today three nuns take care of the shrine and live on the premises.

The faithful flocked to this bucolic village in the summer of 2020. Mass was celebrated there by the Archbishop of Rennes, Pierre d'Ornellas. 2020 also marks the 70th anniversary of the crowning of the statue of Our Lady of Eternal Aid as Pope Pius XII himself crowned the statue on August 14, 1950.

Adapted from: France 3 & Centre Bretagne by the Marie de Nazareth editorial team