OUR LADY OF SUCCOUR, RENNES, BRITTANY, FRANCE

Feast Day: February 22

The Basilica of Saint Sauveur in Rennes, is located in the heart of historic Rennes, which was once the capital of Brittany. As the original Gothic church partially collapsed in the year 1682, the Classical style church that can currently be seen was constructed beginning in 1703 and consecrated in August of 1719.

In the year 1793, the church was made into a Temple of Reason during the French Revolution, and the miraculous statue of Our Lady was destroyed. It was not until 1802, when the War ended, that the church was opened again for worship and in 1916 Pope Benedict XV made it a minor basilica.

According to popular tradition there was a famous miracle attributed to Our Lady at Rennes during the War of Succession at Brittany. As Rennes was being besieged by the invading English army under the Duke of Lancaster, the people of the city expected the English forces to mine their way under the walls into the city.

On the night of February 8, 1357, the church bells began to ring all by themselves, and the candles were spontaneously ignited, by themselves too. The statue of Our Lady, known as Our Lady of Miracles and Virtues, stretched out its arm and pointed to a particular slab in the church. The inhabitants of the city thus were alerted to the mine and the point of the English attack, and were able to repulse the invasion. In 1634 the miracle was officially recognized by the Bishop of Rennes, Pierre Cornulier.

There are many miracles attributed to Our Lady, including the miraculous healing of Magdalene Morice, who had gangrene in her right foot which was instantly healed on Easter Sunday of the year 1761.

The statue of Our Lady of Miracles and Virtues currently displayed at the basilica was placed there in February of 1876.

In 1684 a boy of eleven left home for the city of Rennes in hopes of enrolling at the Jesuit College of Thomas Becket. The young Louis-Marie was an intelligent boy who was taken under the guidance of the Jesuit priests, and it was at Rennes that he began to consider a possible vocation to the priesthood. It was here at the shrine of Our Lady at Rennes that Saint Louis de Montfort made the final decision to become a priest.