Our Lady of Béhuard

Patrona de Colombia

La advocación de Our Lady of Behuard is historically linked to a small island of the Loira River, in the territory of the former Anjou, today department of Maine-et-Loire (Francia)where a Marian sanctuary of medieval origin, later favored by the king, rises Luis XI de Franciawho ordered the building of a chapel in thanksgiving for the favors received from the Virgin Mary (a fact which was abundantly collected in French historiography on the sanctuary, but not in the Colombian sources consulted). This sanctuary has over time become one of the main Marian centers in the Anjou region.

Main data

Origin and history

La advocación de Our Lady of Behuard is historically linked to a small island of the Loira River, in the territory of the former Anjou, today department of Maine-et-Loire (Francia)where a Marian sanctuary of medieval origin, later favored by the king, rises Luis XI de Franciawho ordered the building of a chapel in thanksgiving for the favors received from the Virgin Mary (a fact which was abundantly collected in French historiography on the sanctuary, but not in the Colombian sources consulted). This sanctuary has over time become one of the main Marian centers in the Anjou region.

According to the local French traditionthe devotion to Our Lady of Béhuard goes back to apparitions or interventions of the Virgin in favour of the sailors and the coastal population of the Loire, who would have protected the population from floods and dangers of the river. This protective dimension over the daily life of the Loira communities is well rooted in popular piety, although the legendary details vary according to narrations and are not usually based on strictly historical documentation.

With regard to a case "Our Lady of Béhuard" shrine in Colombia, is not included in the usual repertories of Colombian Marian advocations, or in lists of national sanctuaries, or in ecclesial and devotional databases consulted. There is also no reference in Colombian sources that document other claims and sanctuaries (Chiquinquirá, Bojaqua, etc.). Therefore, the historical existence of a canonically recognized advocation as "Our Lady of Béhuard" linked to an island sanctuary in the department of "País del Loira, Colombia" cannot be affirmed with rigour; this geographical reference does not correspond to the Colombian political-administrative division, which reinforces the impression of an error or confusion of data.

The image and the sanctuary

En el original shrine of Notre-Dame de Béhuard in Francethe Marian image traditionally venerated is a representation of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus, within the style of the Western Marian images linked to popular devotion. However, in the accessible sources consulted there is not, with sufficient precision, a detailed technical description (material, author, exact dating, sculptural style) that can be repeated here without risk of inaccuracy. In the absence of verifiable data, the exact type of material or iconography, beyond the general notion of an image of the Virgin with the Child, the object of local veneration, is not certain.

The French sanctuary is known as Our Lady of Behuard, located on an island of the Loire and elevated to the dignity of minor basilica in the 20th century, following the consolidation of its importance as the main Marian shrine of the Anjou (data mentioned in the historiography on French sanctuaries and in a journalistic synthesis on Béhuard, although not collected from the Colombian sources mentioned above). The basilica is characterized by its unique location on rock and its close relationship with the river landscape.

As for a image or sanctuary of Our Lady of Béhuard in Colombiathere is no official description of the image, or recognition of the sanctuary at the diocesan or national level, or official records of temples with that title in the usual records (diocese, episcopal conferences, Marian repertory or Catholic press), unlike what does happen with well-documented Colombian advocacy, such as Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá or Our Lady of Health of Bojaqua. It is therefore not possible to describe, with rigour, a Marian image and temple of Béhuard on Colombian territory.

Sponsorship and coronation

In the French context, Our Lady of Behuard is considered an important regional Marian sanctuary, traditionally linked to the old Anjou. It is recognized as a focus of Marian devotion for that particular region, but it does not, in the consulted sources, contain a declaration of national patronage or a title similar to "Patronona de France," which corresponds to other claims (for example, the Immaculate Conception or Our Lady of Lourdes).

As regards ColombiaIt is not known that Our Lady of Béhuard has been proclaimed patron of a diocese, city or nation. The officially recognized Marian patterns in Colombia focus on advocacy such as Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá, declared patron of Colombia and canonically crowned in 1910, and other well-documented local advocacy. Our Lady of Béhuard does not appear on those lists.

On the canonical coronation from the image of Notre-Dame de Béhuard, the sources consulted in this context do not provide an explicit verifiable data (name of the Pope or delegate, exact date), except for general references to a coronation in 1947 in certain unofficial divulgative summaries. In the absence of clear primary documentation or diocesan confirmation, it must be stated in accordance with the above rules:

> Canon coronation: there is no documented canonical coronation with verifiable data (date, pontiff or delegate) in the sources consulted in this framework.

For a possible homonymous sanctuary in Colombia, there is no canonical coronation in the available Colombian Marian repertory.

Party and devotion

In the French shrine of Notre-Dame de Béhuard, the great pilgrimage the August 15the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which in many countries of Catholic tradition coincides with important Marian romaneries. In Béhuard, this date traditionally brings together many pilgrims from the Anjou region and from other places in France, who come to honor the Virgin and ask for her protection. This concentration on 15 August is mentioned on a recurrent basis in the news and descriptions of the sanctuary, but without always providing official figures of influx.

The devotion in Béhuard is characterized by a strong link with the river landscape and with the lives of the inhabitants of the Loire: sailors, fishermen and coastal populations recognize in the Virgin a protector in the midst of the floods and dangers of the river. The pilgrimage of August 15 is lived as a great regional meeting of Marian faith, with processions, Eucharist and acts of consecration to the Virgin, in continuity with the French Marian tradition.

In the case of a hypothetical shrine of Our Lady of Béhuard in Colombia, no consta a liturgical feast of its own, no officially recognized pilgrimages, no popular traditions documented in Colombian ecclesial or journalistic sources, unlike other claims that do have a clearly defined feast and pilgrimages, such as Bojaqua (second Sunday of September) or Chiquinquirá (9 July).

Link to the Rosary

It does not contain, in the sources consulted, a specific and formal relationship between the advocation of Our Lady of Béhuard and the prayer of Rosary, as is the case, for example, with explicitly rosarian advocacy (Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatima

Sources: tradition of the sanctuary, diocesan information and Wikipedia in Spanish. The distinction between popular piety and documented ecclesial history is specific to this fact sheet; extraordinary accounts are presented as devotion and not as doctrinal pronunciation.