Our Lady of the Gorge

Marian title of Les Polimines-Montjoie (Auvernia-Rhódano-Alpes)

La devoción de Notre- Give me de la Gorge is linked to the ancient alpine passage of the Montjoie region and to the historical road to the Grand San Bernardofor which pilgrims, travellers and mountaineers traveled for centuries. In this context, the sanctuary became a point of prayer and protection in the high mountain, very associated with the popular piety of the area of Contamines-Montjoie.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción de Notre- Give me de la Gorge is linked to the ancient alpine passage of the Montjoie region and to the historical road to the Grand San Bernardofor which pilgrims, travellers and mountaineers traveled for centuries. In this context, the sanctuary became a point of prayer and protection in the high mountain, very associated with the popular piety of the area of Contamines-Montjoie.

As for the documented historythe present set is known for its baroque configuration and for the consolidation of devotion in modern centuries; the sources consulted describe the sanctuary as a very old Marian place, but do not always need here a unique and secure founding date. By editorial prudence, strictly documented origins should be presented with caution: no consta in the sources provided a complete and unambiguous chronology of the first chapel or of the first venerated image.

La local tradition It presents it as a spiritual refuge for mountain walkers and as a protective invocation of the valley. This traditional dimension is consistent with its location on an alpine transit route, although it should not be confused with other homonymous claims of different countries.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image is a Black Virgin, that is, a Marian representation of dark tonality that is part of a long European devotional tradition. The general sources consulted confirm the Marian character of the sanctuary and its uniqueness as a place of alpine veneration, but no consta in the results provided a detailed technical statement on material, polychrome or iconography specific to the image.

The temple is the sanctuary of Notre-Dame de la Gorge en Contamines-Montjoie (Alta Savoya, Auvernia- Rhódano - Alpes, France). This is a Baroque-style mountain sanctuary, not of a minor basilica; nor does it include in the sources consulted its elevation to the national or diocesan sanctuary with that formal title.

Sponsorship and coronation

In the sources provided no consta a canonically established patronage of city, diocese or nation for this advocation with the required data. It does, however, record its strong local arraigo as a Marian sanctuary in the Montjoie Valley and the pilgrims who cross the area.

No documented canonical coronation in the sources consulted.

Party and devotion

La main party se celebra el August 15in relation to the solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a date that fits the Marian centrality of the sanctuary.

Devotion is linked to Alpine pilgrimages, to the prayer of mountaineers and walkers, and to traditions of passage and protection on the road. By its location, the sanctuary has retained a character of spiritual season for those who go through the surroundings of the Grand San Bernardo; the sources consulted highlight their local fame, though no constan in them sufficiently verified flow figures to reproduce them rigorously.

Link to the Rosary

A unique and exclusive historical link between Notre- Give me de la Gorge and the prayer of the Rosary, beyond the general condition of Marian sanctuary.

From a spiritual perspective, the Rosary naturally accompanies this devotion because it contemplates with Mary the mysteries of Christ and offers, in mountain and pilgrimage contexts, a simple, repetitive and meditative prayer that harmonizes well with traditional Marian piety. The association between Marian sanctuary and Rosario is therefore, theologically coherenteven if there is no specific local data to document it in a particular way.