Cross-channel devotions

11.IS IMPOSSIBLE to make a pilgrimage to the places associated with that "Norman conqueress", St Therese of Lisieux, without being aware of her intimate link with Our Lady. Not only can you see the room in her house in Lisieux (Les Buissonets), where the famous miracle of the Smiling Virgin occurred, healing the mysteriously ill 10-year-old at a stroke as she gazed at her family's statue of the Blessed Mother. You can also visit the delightful shrine of Notre Dame de Gra' c' e up on the cliffs above the old port of Honfleur, where Therese went with her father and two of her sisters to pray for her early entry into Cannel at the age of 15.
Notre Dame de Grace dates back to the 11 th century, when Richard II, Duke of Normandy and father of William, fulfilled a vow made whilst in peril of the sea to build a shrine to Our Lady above the port of Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine estuary. This chapel was destroyed during erosion of the cliff and rebuilt at the beginning of the 17th century. Mother close link with Therese is provided by the fact that in the 1830s, the women who founded the Lisieux Cannel, natives of Honfleur, prayed here for the foundation, which at the time was not proceeding at all smoothly.
The chapel is tiny, built in the form of a Greek cross, with a rather strange womb-like porch into which three narrow arches have been fitted. Above the porch are scenes of the Annunciation (from which the shrine takes its tide) and the Visitation. Inside the chapel, there are numerous ex-voto plaques, as well as model ships hanging from the ceiling, commemorat ing the miracles accorded by Mary, "Star of the Sea". The stained-glass windows tell the story of the shrine. In the transept, there is an altar to St Anne, with a delightful statue of the saint, holding Our Lady on her arm, who in turn is holding a tiny Christ Child. A large plaque commemorates the link between the area and Canada, for many of the early settlers there sailed from Honfleur, taking their devotion to the grandmother of Our Lord with them and making her the patroness of their new country The missionary theme, allied to the little boats swinging from the ceiling, reminds one again of Therese, who, alongside St Francis Xavier, is patroness of the missions.
The crowning glory of Notre Dame de Grace is the statue itself. It is quite simply one of the most compelling statues of Our Lady that I have ever seen. Mary stands serenely holding her son in her left arm (i.e. on the side of her heart), whilst he leans out from his mother with a motion which is full of life and vigour, stretching his small aims towanfs us. The fulcrum of this motion is provided by his right foot, representing his human nature, which rests firmly against her womb, a fact which is accentuated by the drapery of the gown, looped underneath. The left foot (representing his divine nature) is, like his arms, extended towards us, with the toes pointing up towards heaven. Our Lady holds this foot delicately in her right hand, as if to proffer. it for adoration. Thus she becomes, as in a number of statues and paintings of the late medieval period (such as the Wilton Diptych in our National Gallery) a living monstrance. No wonder Therese and her family made a point of coming here. The atmosphere in the shrine, where we were privileged to have a Mass with a group of girls just after Easter, is so wonderful that we could hardly drag the children away.
Notre Dame de Grace is only about 45 minutes from i.e Havre (which you can see from the esplanade, across the estuary), and would make a good starting point for a Theresian pilgrimage if you were sailing to that port. It's another half hour or so back to Lisieux from there.
TFYOU PREFER to sail to Caen, further down the coast (for my money, Brittnny ferries, who serve this route, are tops) there is another highly atmospheric Marian shrine to visit as you land or depart This is Notre Dame de la Delivrande (Our Lady of Ransom), at Douvres la Delivrande, again only about half an hour from the port of Ouistreham in the midst of the landing beaches of the Second World War. This is in fact the oldest known Marian shrine in Normandy, dating from the early centuries.
The original shrine was destroyed by the Norman inva sions of the ninth century, to be replaced by another in the 12th century, when the original statue of Our Lady, buried in a ditch, was discovered after a local shepherd noticed that one of his rams refused to move from the spot, and constantly butted the ground with his horns. Of this church there remains only a couple of romanesque arches, and it was replaced by the present basilica in the 19th centuty. On the porch you can also see a depiction of the early bishops of Bayeux breaking the statue of the pagan goddess who was originally worshipped on this site, and replacing it with a statue of the Blessed Virgin.
The statue inside is not the original one, which was destroyed during the wars of religion, but a 16th-century replacement. It is a much colder statue than the one at Notre Dame de Grace, an impassive Black Madonna, but her significance is quite wonderful She rests on a pillar on which are carved angels pulling souls out of purgatory, whilst all around her are mothers with children, labourers, clerks, nuns, bishops, priests and so on. On the wall behind her is a case containing a set of mating handcuffs. This commemorates a well-attested 16th-century miracle concerning a merchant who found himself at sea as the prisoner lithe Turks. He prayed to Our Lady for deliverance, promising he would make a pilgrimage to her shrine if she heard his prayer. Suddenly his irons came free from the wall of the ship. He made his way as promised to the feet of Notre Dame de la Delivrande, although the irot ring around his neck was still in place and seemed irremovable. As he prayed here in fives of the swine, the neck-piece fell the ground with a clatter.
The shrine contains a statue of St Therese, who the Fathers in charge (Missionaries of the Delivrande) say visited here in 1887 witl her father and her sister Cdlitie. Otter Theresian connections: her family's spiritual director, Pere Pichon, was born afterldesperate plea fora child made by his parents at this shrine, and one of her spiritual brothers, Pere Roulland, told her he received his vocation at the Delivrande. There is also a statue of St Jean Eudes, who founded his congregation for the formaton of pdests after a pilgrimageto the shine in 1643.
Both of hese Marian shrines are very nuch a1ve with the force of the prayers made here over the centuries,and they are cared for by some lery welcoming priests, who wince great interest in the land once conquered by then. compatriots! At Neve Dane de Grace, Pere Framois, whilst waiting for our chailain to get ready for Mass, gave us the interesting information that anEnglishman had written in the intentions book that h wished die relics of St Thereseo come on a visit to our shores,The page has been. photocopied andsent to the Basilica in Lisieux Apparendy there is nc impediment: only our own bishops mist apparently make the request. Let's, hope one °diem isteading this!
Contact Pert Francois Cassigneul Chaplain for Notre, Dame de Grace; el: 0033-2,, 31891963.Wissiotaires de Delivrana; tel 0033-2-, 31372966.