Notre-Dame de la Font-Sainte

Saint-Hippolyte

In the summer pastures of the Gentiane country, at 1,230 metres facing the Puy Mary massif, a clump of trees shelters a chapel and a cool spring: the Font-Sainte, one of the liveliest pilgrimages of Haute-Auvergne. Tradition tells that the spring gushed forth when the "Virgin of the shepherds" touched the rock with her finger. An early sanctuary, destroyed at the time of the Wars of Religion, fell into oblivion until, around 1740, a local shepherdess, Marie Galvain, declared she had seen the Virgin ask her to revive the cult. The girl walked all the way to Clermont to convince Bishop Massillon: an oratory was built in 1743–1744, rebuilt in 1835 and enlarged in 1886. Since then, the Font-Sainte has lived to the rhythm of the herds, in a practice ethnologists call a religious transhumance: the statue of the Virgin spends the winter in the church of Saint-Hippolyte and goes back up each summer in procession to her mountain sanctuary, like the animals and the people. At the end of August, the shepherds' festival brings together cowherds, buron cheese-makers and families from the neighbouring valleys for Mass in the pastures, followed by a shared meal — one of the last great pastoral festivals of the Massif Central, attended without interruption since the 18th century. Pilgrims still bend over the spring, whose clear water accompanies the prayers entrusted to Our Lady of the Shepherds.

Getting there : Waymarked 7 km walking loop (2 hrs 30, 325 m of ascent) starting from Saint-Hippolyte, or approach by the little road to the summer pastures; chapel and spring in a clump of trees in the middle of the pastures. Dogs not allowed (livestock).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound