Our Lady of the Guard

«La Bonne Mère» · Marseille (France)

On the highest hill in Marseille, overlooking the port and the sea, stands the basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde, "la Bonne Mère", to which the people of Marseille and seafarers have entrusted their lives for more than eight centuries.

Origin and history

In 1214, a priest named Pierre commissioned the construction of a small chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary on the hilltop. It soon became a place of pilgrimage for sailors who entrusted themselves to her before setting sail. Over the centuries, chapels were added and the chapel expanded, and the hill also served as a military fortress.

In the 19th century, the sanctuary became too small and Bishop Eugène de Mazenod promoted a large basilica in the Romanesque-Byzantine style, the work of the architect Henri Espérandieu: the first stone was laid in 1853 and it was consecrated in 1864. The basilica is covered with ex-votos —model ships, plaques— in thanksgiving from sailors and inhabitants.

Marseilles piety attributes to the Bonne Mère the having freed the city from the plague of 1720; that story belongs to devotional tradition.