Our Lady of Prouille

Marian Advocation of Fanjeaux (Occitania)

El Monastery of Our Lady of Prouille (Notre-Dame de Prouille) is located between Fanjeaux and Montréal, in the department of Aude, in southern France. It was founded by Santo Domingo de Guzmán and the Bishop Diego de Acebes at the beginning of the 13th century, as a house for converts and spiritual core of the future Order of Preachers. The Dominican tradition considers it the "cradle" of the Order.

Main data

Origin and history

El Monastery of Our Lady of Prouille (Notre-Dame de Prouille) is located between Fanjeaux and Montréal, in the department of Aude, in southern France. It was founded by Santo Domingo de Guzmán and the Bishop Diego de Acebes at the beginning of the 13th century, as a house for converts and spiritual core of the future Order of Preachers. The Dominican tradition considers it the "cradle" of the Order.

Documented history: the historical sources agree that the monastery was founded to 1206–1208in the context of the preaching of Santo Domingo among the Capars of the Languedoc. It is known with certainty that there was a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin in Prouille and that very soon the community was placed under its patronage. The Marian advocation that marks this place is part of the general title of Our Lady of the Rosaryespecially linked to Dominican spirituality.

Tradition / legend: according to the tradition spread in the Order of Preachers and widely assumed in popular piety, in 1208in Prouille, the Virgin Mary appeared to Santo Domingo and would have given him the Rosary as a spiritual weapon for the conversion of heretics. This narrative, very widespread in devotional texts, preaching and catechesis on the Rosary, does not have contemporary documentation on Sunday, but is consolidated centuries later; therefore it is usually presented as Pious tradition, in the way historically committed hecho.

> Important note: the sources locate the monasterio- shrine of Prouille in Fanjeaux (Aude, Francia); there is no evidence that there is a canonically recognized homonymous sanctuary in Fanjeaux (Occitania) in Colombia. The invocation described therefore belongs to the context French.

—

The image and the sanctuary

The sources consulted refer mainly to Prouille as place of the Dominican foundation and the Marian tradition of the Rosary, but do not provide a detailed and unanimous description of a specific image of "Our Lady of Prouille" (type, material, author, time). In most references, the emphasis is on the Marian chapel and in the advocation of Our Lady of the Rosary more than in a specific image as a famous or crowned icon. Therefore, no constabased on verifiable sources, a precise and documented description of a unique image of this advocation (size, painting, particular iconography).

The place of worship is the Monastery of Notre-Dame de Prouille, house of Dominican contemplative, recognized as monasteries-sanctuary Dominican, traditionally considered the cradle of the Order of Preachers. It is located in the territory of the diocese corresponding to the region of Aude (southern France). The accessible sources present it as a Dominican Marian monastery and sanctuarybut no consta in the documents consulted which have been explicitly referred to the title of minor basilicanot having the range of National sanctuaryIt is, above all, a sanctuary of relevance to the Dominican family and devotion to the Rosary.

—

Sponsorship and coronation

In the documentation consulted, the advocation linked to Prouille is presented above all as part of the great advocation of Our Lady of the Rosary, patrona de la Order of Preachers (Dominics) throughout the Church. The place of Prouille is considered spiritually as "cradle" of the Dominican Rosary and of the Order, but no specific references are found to a title of official patron of a city, municipality or diocese under the particular title of "Nuestra Señora de Prouille."

On a canonical coronation of a concrete image of Our Lady of Prouille, does not contain a documented canonical coronation in the revised sources. References to canonical coronations in the context of the Rosary in France and Colombia are directed to other images (e.g., Chiquinquirá in Colombia), not a Prouille.

—

Party and devotion

The sources on apparitions and devotions of the Rosary indicate as the main date the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, el 7 October, mandatory memory in the Roman calendar. This universal date is closely linked to Dominican spirituality and, by extension, to places where tradition places the origin of the Rosary, among them Fog. As for a particular and own party of "Our Lady of Prouille" in the local calendar, is not clear a different officially recognized date; devotion is usually integrated into the general celebration of Our Lady of the Rosary and in the Dominican own memories.

La devotion associated with Prouille is mainly articulated around the Prayer of the Rosary, the memory of Santo Domingo de Guzmán (August 8) and the contemplative life of the Dominican religious. It is presented as place of pilgrimage for the Dominican family and for the faithful who wish to approach the historical and spiritual origins of the Rosary. No precise statistical data of inflow (annual numbers), or detailed descriptions of specific popular traditions (specific processions, mass romaneries, etc.) have been found, beyond the general reference to its importance in Dominican and Marian devotion.

—

Link to the Rosary

The relationship between Our Lady of Prouille con el Rosary is direct and central: the sources on Marian apparitions and devotions identify the Monastery of Prouille as one of the traditionally associated places origin of the Rosary and explicitly mention that, 1208Santo Domingo would have received the practice of the Rosary as a means of evangelization and conversion from the Virgin. This tradition, although not historically demonstrable in all its details, has deeply marked the understanding of Prouille as shrine of the Rosary.

In the perspective of the Church and the Order of Preachers, devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary in Prouille recalls that the Rosary is a school of contemplation of Christ with the eyes of Mary, uniting the meditation of the mysteries of salvation with the simple repetition of the Hail Mary. The advocation of Our Lady of Prouille, as a Dominican cradle, underlines the link between contemplation and preaching: The Rosary, prayed in this sanctuary, appears as a privileged way to feed inner life and sustain the Church's evangelizing mission in fidelity to the charism of Santo Domingo.