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

Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...

department of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in north-western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. 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 Diocese of Vannes (Latin: ''Dioecesis Venetensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Vannes'') is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It was established in the 5th century. The seat of the bishop is Vannes Cathedral, in the city o ...

(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 j ...

s", in honour of

Saint Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christianity, Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's Gosp ...

, to whom the

Breton people The Bretons (; or , ) are an ethnic group native to Brittany, north-western France. Originally, the demonym designated groups of Brittonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain, particularly Cornwall and Devon, mostly during ...

, 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 A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Priesthood (Catholic Church), Catholic priests. They are generally ...

. In 1866, the Cardinal Saint Marc laid and blessed the first stone of the present basilica. A new statue 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 (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

visited here in 1996. Every summer, there is the Grand Pardon of Sainte Anne, the largest pilgrimage in the region on 26 July, the feast of St. Anne. The religious services are followed by picnics, dancing and entertainment. To mark the shared heritage between Bretons and the Cornish, Sainte-Anne-d'Auray is twinned with

Camborne Camborne (from Cornish language, Cornish ''Cambron'', "crooked hill") is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, C ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Basilica status

The most notable feature of the village is the large

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

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 or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

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 (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

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 Costantino Patrizi Naro JUD (4 September 1798 – 17 December 1876) was a long-serving Italian Cardinal who became Dean of the College of Cardinals. Biography Born in Siena, Patrizi Naro was the son of Giovanni Patrizi Naro Montoro, 8th Marqui ...

and notarized by the Secretary of the

Sacred Congregation of Rites The Sacred Congregation of Rites was a Congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia, erected on 22 January 1588 by Pope Sixtus V by ''Immensa Aeterni Dei''; it was divided into two separate congregations by Pope Paul VI on 8 May 196 ...

, 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.

Population

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

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

''Saintannois''.

Breton language

In 2008, 10,82% of all children in the area attended bilingual schools in

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for 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 William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French Academic art, academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of Classicism, classical subjects, with a ...

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