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During the reign of Charlemagne, around Christmas of 800 AD, a statue of the Virgin Mary was discovered in a flowering broom tree in the village of "Soucieu" located at the end of the Lyonnais mountains. This village was later renamed "Valfleury" (Loire department, France). A chapel was built there, and pilgrimages started. Benedictine monks managed the shrine around 1052. They gave the place the beautiful name of Valfleury ("flowered valley"), in memory of the discovery of the statue of Mary in that valley.
Sadly, in the 16th century, with the wars of religion and the disastrous system of the commendam, the priory declined. In 1687, to help revive it, the shrine was entrusted to the Lazarists congregation, instituted in the 16th century by St. Vincent de Paul, to both evangelize and help the poorest. The pilgrimages had never ceased, but they began experiencing a great revival, and a convent was built on the site.
The French Revolution caused the shrine to shut its doors again, but it eventually reopened. The spiritual renewal was intense. The statue of Our Lady of Valfleury was crowned in 1860 by Pope Pius IX. Fr. Nicolle, then superior of the Lazarists, also instituted in 1862 the work of the Holy Agony, an archconfraternity which founded a new religious community, the Sisters of the Holy Agony, whose mission was to devote themselves to the care of the sick. This community is now known as the Sisters of Gethsemane.
The pilgrimage for the feast of the Assumption on August 15th remains the most important one, but other pilgrimages are organized throughout the year.