Our Lady of the Ardilliers

Marian Advocation of Saumur (Loire Country)

La devoción a Our Lady of the Ardilliers is linked, according to the local tradition, with the finding of a Mercy in 1454 by a peasant plowing a field near a fountain considered curative, in Saumur, on the banks of the Loira. This tradition explains the birth of the sanctuary and the subsequent consolidation of a Marian pilgrimage in the place.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción a Our Lady of the Ardilliers is linked, according to the local tradition, with the finding of a Mercy in 1454 by a peasant plowing a field near a fountain considered curative, in Saumur, on the banks of the Loira. This tradition explains the birth of the sanctuary and the subsequent consolidation of a Marian pilgrimage in the place.

La documented history The shrine shows that the current chapel is a building of great architectural relevance built in the mid-16th century and deeply transformed in the 17th century. Several descriptions present it as one of the main centres of Marian pilgrimage in France in the 16th and 17th centuries, with special rise in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image is a Mercy - the Virgin with the body of Christ dead on her arms - associated with the origin of the sanctuary. The sources consulted do not safely require the material of the primitive image; therefore, this data no consta in the verified references.

The sanctuary is the Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers Chapel of Saumur, in the department of Maine and Loira, in the region of País del Loira, on the banks of the Loira. The sources describe it as an ancient royal chapel or royal sanctuary, of great monumental interest, but no consta in the consulted references having the status of a minor basilica, national sanctuary or diocesan sanctuary.

Sponsorship and coronation

No consta un formal canonical patronage on a city, diocese or nation in the verified sources; it does record its status as a great Marian sanctuary of Saumur and its historical link to the popular piety of the region.

No consta una documented canonical coronation in the sources consulted.

Party and devotion

La main party se señala en September in some devotional references, although in the sources consulted there does not appear with precision a universally fixed liturgical date; therefore, the exact date no consta for sure.

The devotion to Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers reached a remarkable relief as a place of Marian pilgrimage, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, with an outstanding influx for the time. The sanctuary continues to be remembered as a traditional pilgrimage center in Saumur, linked to the memory of the fountain and of the venerated Piety in the place.

Link to the Rosary

The sources consulted no documentan a specific historical link of this advocation with the prayer of the Rosary. However, his spirituality is fully part of the Marian tradition in which the Rosary accompanies the contemplation of the mysteries of Christ with Mary, and the Piety of Ardilliers refers especially intensively to the painful mystery of the Mother united to the sacrifice of her Son.