Sainte-Anne-d'Auray (; ) is a commune in the

Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastli ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

in north-western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is the third most popular pilgrimage site in France, after Lourdes and Lisieux.

History

Sainte-Anne-d'Auray is a village in the

Diocese of Vannes The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vannes (Latin: ''Dioecesis Venetensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Vannes'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Erected in the 5th century, the Episcopal see is Vannes Cathedral in ...

(Morbihan), in Brittany, famous for its sanctuary and for its pilgrimages, or "

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

s", in honour of

Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

, to whom the

Breton people The Bretons (; br, Bretoned or ''Vretoned,'' ) are a Celtic ethnic group native to Brittany. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brittonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain, particularly Cornwall and Devon, most ...

, in very early times, on becoming Christian, had dedicated a chapel. This first chapel was destroyed about the end of the seventh century, but the memory of it was kept alive by tradition, and the hamlet was called "Keranna", i.e. "Village of Anne"."Grand Pardon de Sainte-Anne", Tourist Board of Morbihan
/ref> More than nine centuries later, at the beginning of the seventeenth century (1624–25), St. Anne is said to have appeared several times to a simple and pious village farmer, and commanded him to rebuild the ancient chapel. The apparitions became so frequent, and before so many witnesses, that Sebastien de Rosmadec, Bishop of Vannes, deemed it his duty to inquire into the matter.

Yves Nicolazic Yves Nicolazic (3 April 1591 – 13 May 1645) was a Breton peasant who claimed he saw Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, having unearthed a previously forgotten statue of Saint Anne in his field. This became the site of the great pilgrimage ...

, to whom St. Anne had appeared, and numerous witnesses, testified to the truth of events which had become famous throughout Brittany, and around 1630 the Bishop gave permission for the building of a chapel. Anne of Austria and Louis XIII enriched the sanctuary with many gifts, among them a relic of St. Anne brought from Jerusalem in the thirteenth century, and in 1641 the Queen obtained from the Pope the erection of a confraternity, which Pius IX raised to the rank of an archconfraternity in 1872. In the meanwhile pilgrimages had begun and became more numerous year by year, nor did the Revolution put a stop to them. The chapel, indeed was plundered, the Carmelites who served it driven out, and the miraculous statue of St. Anne was burned at Vannes in 1793; yet the faithful still flocked to the chapel, which was covered with ex-votos. In 1810 the convent of the Carmelites was turned into a minor seminary. In 1866, the Cardinal Saint Marc laid and blessed the first stone of the present basilica. A new statute of Saint Anne was solemnly consecrated by order of Pius IX, 30 September 1868.Goyau, Georges. "Diocese of Vannes." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 20 July 2019 St. Anne has continued to be the favourite pilgrimage of Brittany down to the present day.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

visited here in 1996. Every summer, there is the Grand Pardon of Sainte Anne, the largest pilgrimage in the region on July 26, the feast of St. Anne. The religious services are followed by picnics, dancing and entertainment.

Basilica status

The most notable feature of the village is the large

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

of Sainte-Anne d'Auray, which is a major site of pilgrimage.

is the patron saint of Brittany. The Basilica was built in

Neo-Gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

from 1865 to 1872 to replace an earlier church which had housed the ancient statue of Anne said to have been miraculously discovered by Yves Nicolazic.

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

granted a Pontifical decree to the Bishop of Vannes, Jean Marie Becel to crown the venerated Marian image on 22 May 1868. The ceremony was executed on 30 September 1868. The decree was republished again by Cardinal Costantino Patrizi Naro and notarized by the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Monsigneur Placidus Ralli on 23 March 1876.

Nicolazic's house

Not far from the Basilica is the house where Yves Nicolazic and his family lived. The house was severely damaged in a fire in 1902, but restored five years later. A statue of St. Anne stands on the site of the barn, where the apparitions are said to have taken place.

Demographics

Inhabitants of Sainte-Anne-d'Auray are called in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

''Saintannois''.

Breton language

In 2008, 10,82% of all children in the area attended bilingual schools in primary education. ''Ofis ar Brezhoneg''
''Enseignement bilingue''
/ref>

Gallery

File:La basilique Sainte Anne.jpg, Basilica File:Le mémorial de la première Guerre mondiale..jpg, memorial to Breton victims of World War I File:Le voeu à Sainte-anne-d'Auray by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.jpg, Le voeu à Sainte-anne-d'Auray by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

References

External links

Sanctuaire de Sainte-Anne d'Auray
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sainte-Anne-D'auray Sainteannedauray Shrines to the Virgin Mary Morbihan communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Saint Anne