March 24
Notre-Dame de l'Epine, l'Epine, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France
On March 24, 1400, Annunciation Eve, so the story goes, a mysterious light attracted some shepherds to a thorn bush, where they found a painted stone statue of the Virgin and Child. In 1406, construction of a church began. Not completed until 1527, the lacy building is a Flamboyant Gothic wonder, towering over the fields of Champagne. Pope Pius X named it a Basilica Minor in 1914. The feast of Our Lady of the Thorn is celebrated on May 8, with a diocesan pilgrimage on the following Sunday. (Information from the Sanctuary's site, sanctuaire-lepine.cef.fr, and other sources. Picture by Sébastien L. uploaded 2007-01-15 to "Photo of Notre Dame de l'Epine," www.panoramio.com/photo/442654.)Also commemorated this date:
 | Vigil of the Annunciation, Catholic Church |
| Madonna Mora, Mira, Venezia, Veneto, Italy, Borbiago district. Healing apparition, 1101; festa. |
| Santissima Annunziata, Florence, Tuscany, Italy. Painting completed by unseen hands, 1252. |
| Annunziata, Amendolara, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. Festa. |
| Nuestra Señora de la Encina, Ponferrada, El Bierzo, Léon, Castilla y Léon, Spain (Our Lady of the Corner). Third (present) church blessed, 1571. |