Basilica of Sainte-Anne-d'Auray

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In the Morbihan, in Brittany, Sainte-Anne-d'Auray is the third-largest pilgrimage site in France, after Lourdes and Lisieux. Tradition holds that in 1624-1625 Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary and patroness of Brittany, appeared to a humble farmer, Yvon Nicolazic, asking him to rebuild an ancient chapel dedicated to her. The present neo-Gothic basilica was built between 1866 and 1872, raised to a minor basilica by Pius IX in 1874 and consecrated in 1877; John Paul II celebrated Mass there before some 100,000 faithful in 1996, and the great pardon of Saint Anne still draws crowds every 26 July.