February 29
Notre-Dame du Mont, Marseille, France
In 1791, the revolutionary government closed and sold the Church of Notre-Dame du Mont, built in 1588 on the site of an ancient priory. The building changed hands several times, until, in 1821, the City of Marseille decided to buy and rebuild it in keeping with the needs of the neighborhood that had grown up around it. Fortuné de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseille and uncle of St. Eugène de Mazenod, who would later consecrate Notre-Dame de la Garde, dedicated the new church to the Visitation of Our Lady on February 29, 1824. The 1827 altarpiece (right), showing the pregnant Virgin visiting her cousin Elizabeth, is by Augustin Aubert, a native of Marseille and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Sources include:
 | fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame_du_Mont |
| The parish's website, "De pierre, de bois, de verre..." Notre Dame du Mont, www.nd-du-mont.paroisse.net |
Also commemorated this date:
| Our Lady Help of Christians, Jennings, Louisiana, USA. New church dedicated, 1916. |