"I want to dig a living spring here where my people will quench their thirst"

Issia is a town in central-western Ivory Coast (Africa) in the Cocoa Belt agricultural region, populated by the Bété people. It is famous for the Shrine of Our Lady of Deliverance, a major Catholic pilgrimage in the country.

In 1974, the rector of the seminary of Saint Theresa of Issia, Father Paul Pageaud, wrote to a stigmatized sister, Sister Mary of the Cross, whom he had met in Saint Aignan in western France, asking for her prayers for the spiritual development of the parish in Issia. She answered him with simple words: "Your parish will flourish when the Virgin Mary will have a special place in it."

So, after a year of preparation, on February 11, 1981, the parish was consecrated to the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary. And in 1984, while Father Pageaud was doing a retreat in Lourdes, the Lord gave him the desire to install a statue of the Virgin Mary in Issia.

He recalls: "Each time I was on vacation, I would meet with Sister Mary of the Cross, who gave me prophecies about this shrine. She told me, 'Pilgrimages will start small, but will continually grow' and: 'After the statue has been erected, the pilgrims will be able to see it.' Another time: 'When the statue is in place, the wonders will begin.' In 1996, during my last visit, with her eyes turned toward the ceiling of her room, she saw the graces that would flow from this shrine; she cried out, 'How beautiful, how beautiful! How many graces, how many graces! The poor will receive many graces. It is a chance for the future."

In 1977, Father Tardif(1) made a prophecy when he came to Issia: "I want to dig a living spring here where my people will quench their thirst."

The pilgrimages began in 1990, on the feast of the Sacred Heart. On that day, the pilgrimage was presided over by our bishop, Bishop Pierre-Marie Coty. The following year, the pilgrimage was moved to Divine Mercy Sunday, and the preacher was Father Halter, a Marist. It was on that day that the miracles began and we discovered that the water from the well of the shrine was miraculous: the catechists had brought some of this water to a dying child, and he was healed in a short time. Since then, people take a lot of this water home and miracles happen when people drink it with faith. For example, a small child was healed of his cancer.

In 1992, the Community of the Beatitudes was put in charge of the shrine. Healings and conversions are so numerous that people now come from all the French-speaking countries of Africa. Pilgrimages are held on Divine Mercy Sunday (octave of Easter), Pentecost, and August 15 (feast of the Assumption). On August 15, 2019, more than 50 000 pilgrims came!

The shrine consists of two chapels that host pilgrims. The chapel of Our Lady of Deliverance and the chapel of Saint Joseph.

Sources: Marian Encyclopedia and www.la-cotellerie.com

(1) Father Emiliano Tardif (1928-1999), was a Quebecois priest who taught and preached in the Dominican Republic. After he was healed of a serious illness in 1973, he received the gift of healing and became known throughout the world, especially in charismatic circles.