marian anniversaries     august

Sunday after the Assumption (August 15)

Notre-Dame des Oliviers, Murat, Cantal, Auvergne, France

Nestled among rocky outcrops in central France, the medieval town of Murat surrounds the collegiate church of Our Lady of the Olive Trees, built in the 1300s. The church housed a Black Virgin statue (right) said to have been brought from the Holy Land by St. Louis in the 1200s, but which the French Ministry of Culture dated to the late 1400s (La Médiathèque de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, Base Palissy), about the time of a fire the statue was supposed to have miraculously escaped. The Black Virgin of Murat was crowned on June 18, 1878. At the same time, a monumental statue, Notre Dame de la Haute Auvergne, was erected on Bonnevie Rock overlooking the town (left). Since the statue of Our Lady of the Olive Trees was stolen in 1983, a replica has been used for devotional purposes (far right). The annual fête of Notre Dame des Oliviers on the Sunday after August 15 begins with a procession the night before. Men carry the statue of Our Lady of the Olive Trees from the church up the mountain to Our Lady of Haute-Auvergne and back again by torchlight, accompanied by a throng of singing pilgrims. Our Lady of the Olive Trees is invoked against storms and to help pregnant women, the sick, and consecrated religious.

Sources include:

"NOTRE DAME DES OLIVIERS (Murat)," Diocèse de Saint Flour, former website, catholique-saint-flour.cef.fr/article.php3?id_article=111
Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine (objets mobiliers), Base Palissy, www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/palissy_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=INSEE&VALUE_1=15138 (small photo of old statue)
bergre, "Murat," Flickr - Photo Sharing!, www.flickr.com/photos/8512979@N04/3840873012/ (photo of Notre Dame de la Haute Auvergne overlooking the town, taken August 12, 2009)
"Vierges noires," New Directions, May 2010, Anglican Association, trushare.com/0180MAY2010/18 vierges_noires.htm

Also commemorated this day:

Onze-Lieve-Vrouw op 't Staaksken, Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium. Former procession (before 1968).
Onze-Lieve-Vrouw, Aarschot, Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium. Current town fair on Saturday is a relic of former Sunday kermis to Our Lady.
Nossa Senhora Achiropita, São Paulo, Brazil, Bela Vista district (Our Lady Not Made with Hands). Street procession.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Cooks Creek, Manitoba, Canada. Dormition Marian Pilgrimage to grotto at Ukrainian Catholic church.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, Canada. Annual pilgrimage to Kaposvar Grotto near former Hungarian church. 
Nanebevzetí Panny Marie, Vilémov, Děčín, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic (Assumption of Virgin Mary) Pilgrimage to church & healing well. 
Nanebevzetí Panny Marie, Cholina, Olomouc, Czech Republic. Pilgrimage. 
Panna Maria Lourdská ve Skále, Petřkovice, Ostrava, Moravia-Silesia, Czech Republic (Virgin Mary of Lourdes in the Rock). Pilgrimage, dances.
Nanebevzetí Panny Marie, Cholina, Olomouc, Czech Republic (Assumption of the Virgin Mary). Pilgrimage, mass.
Our Lady of Fairhaven, Roseau, Dominica. Cathedral's patronal feast: procession, mass, brunch. Family Fun Day on the Sunday before.
Notre-Dame de Grâce, Ardres, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France, France. Procession, mass.
Notre-Dame de Massey, Pagny-sur-Meuse, Meuse, Grand Est, France. Pilgrimage.
Notre Dame de la Clarté, Beuzec-Cap-Sizun, Finistère, Brittany, France (Our Lady of the Light). Pardon.
Notre Dame de Vaulry, Vaulry, Haute-Vienne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine,France. Pilgrimage.
Notre Dame des Montagnes, Pailherols, Cantal, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France (Our Lady of the Mountains). Fête du Pèlerinage, outdoor mass.
Notre-Dame d'Aigremont, Roulans, Doubs, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France. Pilgrimage.
Notre-Dame de Centeilles, Siran, Hérault, Occitanie, France. Pilgrimage, picnic.
Maria Sand, Herbolzheim, Emmendingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Patronal feast celebrated both August 15 and Sunday following.
Madonna delle Grazie, Tre Colli, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. Patron of Pisa Valley. Festa: timed foot pilgrimages & masses for local groups at hilltop shrine.
Madonna delle Grazie, Castiglione d'Orcia, Siena, Tuscany, Italy. Mass, procession, games, music, fireworks.
Madonna dei Portenti, Monte Castello di Vibio, Perugia, Umbria, Italy. Festa.
Beata Vergine del Faggio, Montecopiolo, Pesaro e Urbino, Marche, Italy (Blessed Virgin of the Beech). Pilgrimage to chapel on Monte Carpegno.
Madonna dei Cappuccini, Sant'Agata Feltria, Pesaro e Urbino, Marche, Italy. Festa.
Madonna di Porto Salvo, Gaeta, Latina, Latium, Italy. Land and sea procession.
Madonna della Pace, Agosta, Roma, Latium, Italy (Madonna of Peace). Procession, food, games, fireworks.
Madonna delle Grazie, Barrea, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. Festa.
Madonna delle Grazie, Civitella Roveto, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. Music, sunset procession.
Madonna della Stella, Sessa Cilento, Salerno, Campania, Italy (Madonna of the Star). Festa.
L'Immacolata, Feroleto Antico, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy. Festa: mass, street procession with marching bands, dancing giant, fireworks.
Madonna di Pompei, Botricello, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy. Festa patronale.
Madonna della Catena, Librizzi, Messina, Sicily, Italy (Madonna of the Chain). Procession.
Muttergottes vun der Hieselterheck, Rosport-Mompach, Echternach, Luxembourg, Girst village (Our Lady of the Hazel Tree). Mass and procession.
Santa Marija, Żebbuġ, Gozo, Malta. Festa: procession, music, horse racing.
Matka Boże Otorowska, Otorowo, Szamotuły, Greater Poland, Poland. Indulgenced mass, procession.
Nossa Senhora de Belém, Retaxo, Portugal. Festa: music, mass, procession.
Nossa Senhora da Graça, Gaula, Madeira, Algarve, Portugal. Festa.
Marija v Velesovo, Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Upper Carniola, Slovenia. Procession with statue from former convent.
Virgen del Moral, Los Tojos, Saja-Nansa, Cantabria, Spain. Fiesta: mass, procession, traditional dances, picnic.
Nuestra Señora de Contrueces, Girón, Asturias, Spain. Fiesta: mass, procession, bouquet raffle.
 

Where We Walked ~~~ Mary Ann Daly