A cathedral-sized Marian shrine in a small French village!

There is historical evidence of an early chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Thorn (Notre Dame de L'Épine) in the French region of Champagne, before it was replaced in 1405 by a larger one to accommodate larger numbers of pilgrims. This second church was completed in 1527 and still stands today. It was in fact raised to the rank of basilica in 1914.

Its peculiar name comes from the devotion to a statue representing the Madonna and Child that, according to tradition, was found by some shepherds in the Middle Ages. The story goes that during the night of March 23, 1400, on the Champagne plateau, near an old chapel dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, the shepherds saw a "bright light" rise from a bush. In it they discovered a 50 cm-tall statue of the Madonna and Child. This original statue still exists but the one exposed in the basilica is a replica.

Travelers are always struck by the size of this basilica, big enough to resemble a cathedral, something very unusual in a mere village. The edifice has inspired many French writers, like Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Paul Claudel. The pilgrimage to Notre Dame de l’Epine was especially popular in the 15^th and 17^th centuries, and again in the 19th century after the Franco-Prussian war.

Today, the two main feasts days are the diocesan pilgrimage in the month of May and the feast of the Assumption of Mary, patroness of the Shrine.

Adapted and translated from: Fr René Laurentin and Patrick Sbalchiero

Excerpt from Dictionnaire encyclopédique des apparitions de la Vierge