Our Lady of the Osier

Marian devotion

Where is he?

The shrine of Our Lady of the Osier is located in the town of Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier, department of Isère, region of Auvernia-Rhódano-Alpes, France. The coordinate corresponds to the basilica cartographed by OpenStreetMap as Basilique Notre-Dame de l'Osier. The chapel of Bon-Rencontre and other places linked to the story are in the surroundings; therefore this point identifies the main sanctuary and does not pretend to be the exact GPS of each episode of the tradition.

Documented history

The history of the place distinguishes two stories. The first refers to the so-called "miracle of the bleeding osier," located by the sanctuary on March 25, 1649, the feast of the Annunciation. Pierre Port-Combet, a Protestant peasant, was cutting branches of a wicker when, according to the preserved story, blood sprout from the courts. The website of the sanctuary states that there were witnesses, a civil process and an ecclesiastical investigation. Here we present what the sources transmit; we do not reproduce the phenomenon as a scientific observation of our own.

The second story is in March 1657, eight years later. While labeling, Pierre would have seen a woman dressed in white and blue, with a black veil, which he identified as the Virgin. The story presents it by urging it to change its life and to inform the faithful that their prayers were not fervent enough. A diocesan source tells us that Port-Combet reconciled with the Catholic Church shortly before he died. The exact date of the March day is not set here because it is not uniform in the sources consulted.

The devotion grew around the place and a cross and a chapel were first built; later the basilica was raised. The sanctuary reports that the first stone of the present basilica was placed on 17 May 1858, which was opened in 1868 and consecrated on 8 September 1873. It also indicates that it was raised to lower basilica by Pius XI in 1924. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate attended the pilgrimage for decades, along with other communities that welcomed the pilgrims.

Tradition

The tradition of Our Lady of the Osier unites the conversion of a Protestant man, the exhortation to a more fervent prayer and the intercession of Mary before God. The sanctuary retains a chapel dedicated to the place of apparition and celebrates pilgrimages. The existence of these spaces, of the basilica and of pastoral activity belongs to the documented history; the meeting of 1657 is offered as a account transmitted by devotion.

Legend

The bleeding wicker, the supernatural interpretation of his wounds and the accounts of healing are part of the memory of the sanctuary. The institutional website speaks of a canonical research into the first fact and of an intense religious activity later, but the cross-cutting sources do not provide a formal decree approving the apparition of 1657 as supernatural. Therefore, the recognition of the veneration and history of the sanctuary are not confused with an approval of each extraordinary element.

Ecclesial State

There is an active Catholic sanctuary, a minor basilica and pilgrimages linked to the diocese of Grenoble- Vienne. The apparition attributed to 1657 is not classified here as approved: the institutional source consulted the narra, but does not provide a specific formal pronunciation about its supernatural. The point is published to document the place of worship and tradition, not to present as proven what sources do not allow to affirm.

Anecdotes and stories

Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier was named before becoming an independent municipality: the sanctuary explains that the old place of Les Plantées was named after it in the 17th century and that the town was separated from Vinay in 1869. The incomplete basilica, without the needles provided for in the original project, retains the mark of a long construction and of the limited resources of its promoters. The pilgrimage was also linked to the reception: the hospice of Bon-Rencontre and the novitiate of the Oblates were part of the life of the place.

Prayer

Holy Mary of the Osier, Mother of Jesus, intercedes before God by those who need conversion, by those who live divided by faith and by pilgrims who seek true hope. Help us to pray with a sincere heart, to distinguish history from tradition and to turn every grace received into charity. Amen.

Witnesses, investigations and continuity

The very story of the sanctuary mentions Jeanne Pélion, Pierre's wife, and other people who would have observed the first episode of 1649. He also explains that the event produced a civil process and an ecclesiastical investigation, in a territory where Catholics and Protestants lived together. This information helps to place the story in its social context: it was not an isolated story of the life of the people, but an event that, according to the documentation of the sanctuary, generated questions, visits and a progressive organization of the cult.

Devotion was quickly consolidated. The sanctuary reports of cures attributed to the intercession of the Virgin and of intense religious activity for more than a century. These data are preserved as statements of the institution and of the pilgrim memory; they do not become here a list of miracles for which no individual file has been provided. The later history can be followed in the constructions: the wooden chapel, the church of 1659, the hospice of Bon-Rencontre and the 19th century basilica.

The current itinerary holds together several places: the basilica, the chapel of Bon-Rencontre, the cross and the space remembered by the apparition. The diocesan celebrations include the Nativity of Mary and the Immaculate Conception, and the pilgrimage invites you to walk, confess, celebrate Mass and pray. In all these acts, the purpose is the prayer addressed to God and the request for intercession of Mary.

Sources

• Note--Dame-de-l'Osier Sanctuary: History.
• Diocese of Grenoble- Vienne: pilgrimage to Notre- Dame de l'Osier.
• OpenStreetMap: Basílica de Notre-Dame de l’Osier.