France : A new edition of "Notre Dame du Puy et le Jubilé"

For the pilgrimage organized by the Society of St. Pius X on April 9 and 10, 2016, for the jubilee from March 25 to August 15, 2016, PARTHENON editions is publishing a new edition of Fr. Edouard Peyron's book Notre Dame du Puy et le jubilé (Our Lady of the Puy and the Jubilee). Born in the Puy in 1848, the author was the parish priest of Vieil-Brioude (Haute Loire) and desired to "make Our Lady of the Puy known, loved and venerated, and to arouse the half-extinguished devotion of the inhabitants of Velay for their august protectress" by telling the rich story of the Puy en Velay.

The history of the Puy en Velay pilgrimage begins with the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the building of the sanctuary. 45 years after Our Lord Jesus Christ's incarnation, St. Peter sent several of his disciples to evangelize Gaul. St. George, the first bishop of Velay, and St. Front left together for their mission. When they reached Bolsena (Tuscany), to the north of Rome, St. George died of a sudden illness. His companion returned to Rome where St. Peter gave him his walking stick, and asked him to place it on the tomb of the deceased and order him to rise in the name of Jesus Christ. St. George rose from the dead. The church of Saint-Paulien, the first see of the bishopric of the Puy, kept half of the miraculous stick. From then on, the Blessed Virgin chose Mount Anis, an important center of the pagan cult, to overturn paganism and make the Faith flower and grow. She appeared on a dolmen to a sick woman who had been baptized by St. Front, asked her to lie down on the druids' rock and healed her. The angels told the woman, "The august Mother of the Savior, out of all the places in the word, has specially chosen this site to be honored and served until the end of time." On July 11 (date of the dedication), a miraculous snowfall marked where the cathedral was to be built. But it was only with St. Vosy's episcopate, towards the 4th century, and another miraculous healing that the construction of the sanctuary requested by the Blessed Virgin was begun: "...I have chosen this mountain out of thousands to grant a favorable audience to those who will come present their requests to me." Built at the time of the synod of Ephesus (431), the sanctuary was placed under the patronage of the Annunciation, and miraculously consecrated by the angels.

The first Jubilee of the Great Pardon of Our lady was established in 992 and for over a thousand years, a Jubilee has been held every time the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin (March 25) falls on Good Friday. For this occasion, the pope grants indulgences to the cathedral of the Puy. Six popes have made a pilgrimage there. Adhémar de Monteil, bishop of the Puy, instituted the Salve Regina that was sung for the first time in the cathedral of the Puy on August 15, 1096, for the departure of the first crusade of which he was the pontifical legate. And the daily habit of reciting the Angelus three times a day was also begun in the Puy. Joan of Arc, right before she freed France, sent her mother there to pray for the success of her mission. And at times of crisis and danger, the statue of the Puy was the country's palladium. The Sovereign Pontiffs bestowed indulgences and privileges on the sanctuary of Mount Anis, and several popes extended the graces of the Jubilee; St. Pius X extended it to 18 days in 1910.

Information and inscriptions for the SSPX pilgrimage, presided over by Bishop Bernard Fellay, on April 9 and 10, 2016: http://jubiledupuy2016-fsspx.fr/inscriptions/; email: [email protected]; telephone: 04.77.31.25.92 or 06.89.98.21.36.

"Notre Dame du Puy et le jubilé", 256 pages, paperback, 14€ - Editions Pathenon - La Fresnaye - Chemin des Buttes Blanches - F-91410 Dourdan - tel: 06 12 39 18 46

(sources: éditions-parthenon/jubiledupuy2016-fsspx/lepelican/abbéePeyron - DICI no.327 dated December 18, 2015)