Basilique Notre-Dame la Blanche de Faverney

Faverney

Faverney is the site of the most famous Eucharistic miracle in France. On the night of 25 to 26 May 1608, the eve of Pentecost, candles left burning set fire to the wooden altar of repose erected in the Benedictine abbey church. In the morning the monks found the blaze extinguished — and the monstrance containing two consecrated Hosts suspended in mid-air, with no support whatever, about a metre and a half above the ashes. It remained thus for thirty-three hours, before the eyes of crowds hurrying in from across the region: more than a thousand people witnessed, on 27 May at around ten o'clock, its slow descent onto the new altar the monks had prepared. The archbishopric of Besançon at once opened an inquiry: fifty-four witnesses were heard under oath between 26 May and 4 June, and the miracle was recognised as early as 10 July 1608, then approved by Rome under Pius IX on 16 May 1864. Of the two Hosts, one was given to the town of Dole; the other is still preserved and venerated at Faverney, more than four centuries on — an almost unique case. The event, occurring in the thick of the Counter-Reformation, made the abbey church a major Eucharistic centre of the County of Burgundy; the church, now a basilica, welcomes every Pentecost a pilgrimage that keeps alive the memory of the "night of the holy Hosts". Here one sees the monstrance of the miracle and the high altar that preserves its story.

Getting there : 20 km north-west of Vesoul by the D434. The basilica is in the centre of the village of Faverney; parking close by.

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

Ambient sound