Our Lady of Mont-Roland (Jouhe)

Marian devotion

Where is he?

The shrine of Nuestra Señora de Mont-Roland is located on the hill of the Mont-Roland, next to Jouhe and in the surroundings of Dole, department of the Jura, region of Burgundy-Franco Condado, France. The point used for the map is the chapel of Notre-Dame de Mont-Roland identified by OpenStreetMap at the Route du Sanctuaire. The coordinate points to the building and does not intend to locate every episode of devotional history.

Documented history

The historical page of the sanctuary transmits an ancient tradition according to which Saint Martin would have raised a first Christian place on the hill, and another according to which Roldan would have stopped there on his way to Rome. These narrations are presented as a tradition, not as facts demonstrated by the oldest documentation. The source does point to a specific documentary data: a bull of the 1089 Urban Pope II mentions the church of Mont-Roland, then entrusted to the Benedictine of the Priory of Jouhe, dependent on the abbey of Baume- les- Messieurs.

According to the institutional history of the place, an image of the Virgin in majesty was already venerated. During the site of Dole of 1636 the priory was burned and the statue was taken to the cappuccino of Auxonne. The return was not immediate: the source of the sanctuary reports that the Benedictine, in rebuilding the whole, needed a letter from the young Louis XIV for the image to return in 1649. The return procession occupies a central place in the memory of Mont-Roland.

The sanctuary was rebuilt between 1717 and 1719, but the Revolution made it a national good and the building deteriorated again. The source explains that the inhabitants of Jouhe moved the statue to their church of SaintPierre, where the ancient image remains. The place was bought again in 1843; the Jesuits promoted the recovery, ordered a new statue and raised the buildings again. The church was consecrated on 2 August 1859 and the statue of Our Lady was crowned on 2 August 1872. In 1896, a monumental path was added.

Since 1961 the sanctuary has been linked to the diocese of Saint- Claude. The church was restored between 1972 and 1974 and an organ was installed in 1979. The regional pilgrimage is celebrated every 2 August, the memory of dedication, and since 1967 there is also a Portuguese pilgrimage that brings together the faithful of several countries.

Tradition

Devotion has been expressed by the image of the Virgin, the processions, the candles, the exvotes and the rise to the hill. The very page of the sanctuary says that for centuries the pilgrims came to trust Mary with her burdens and prayers. This continuity of Marian piety is documented as religious practice, although it does not turn every account of grace into a canonically proven miracle.

Legend

The foundation by Saint Martin, the visit by Roldan and some prodigious details of the origins belong to the tradition of the place. The page of the sanctuary recognizes that it is difficult to completely rebuild the initial history and that the decisive thing is to see the continuity of devotion. The narrations are kept here as a religious memory, not as proof of an apparition.

Ecclesial State

It consists of a Marian Catholic sanctuary, a continuity of pilgrimage and pastoral care linked to the diocese of SaintClaude. The web of the sanctuary devotes a section to five cures that it presents as recognized after an episcopal research; this fact sheet expressly attributes it to the source of the sanctuary and does not reconstruct an independent decree. There is no Marian apparition formally approved in Mont-Roland in the cross-cutting sources. The state is therefore expressed as a permitted Catholic cult and a tradition of attributed graces, without presenting all the accounts as proven supernatural facts.

Anecdotes and stories

The return of the image from Auxonne in 1649 explains much of the devotional calendar. The hill also conserves the path of the 1896 seasons and functions as a stage of pilgrims linked to the Way of Santiago. The reception of the Portuguese since 1967 shows that the sanctuary is not just a medieval memory: it remains a meeting place for specific communities.

The Marian prayer at Mont-Roland is directed to God. Mary is venerated as the Mother of Jesus and asked for her intercession; the building, the statue and the devotees serve that memory of faith and do not replace the worship due to God alone.

Prayer

St. Mary of Mont-Roland, receive the pleas of those who go up to your sanctuary with hope. Intercede to your Son for the sick, the pilgrims, the separated families and those who need to start again. Teach us to thank the graces received without confusing tradition with proof and to walk in faith, truth and charity. Amen.

Sources

• Mont-Roland Sanctuary: History of the Sanctuary.
• Sanctuary of Mont-Roland: a Marian sanctuary.
• Shrine of Mont-Roland: curations presented by the fountain of the sanctuary.
• OpenStreetMap: Chapelle Notre-Dame de Mont-Roland.