Chapelle des apparitions de Redon-Espic

Castels et Bézenac

Former Benedictine priory of nuns founded at the end of the 12th century, isolated in a wooded valley near the springs of the Moulant. Tradition, reported by Father Pierre Lespine on the basis of a document in the Archives nationales, attributes its foundation to a certain Marie de Beynac, a nun at the abbey of Fontevraud — a name that would link Redon-Espic to the powerful Beynac family, the very family of the Château de Beynac and of the legend of Commarque already featured in the app, even though no Marie de Beynac appears in the known lists of nuns of Fontevraud at the date put forward. Fallen into ruin and turned into a sheepfold after the Revolution, the church saw an unexpected reversal in June 1814: a young shepherdess of 14, Marie-Jeanne Grave, is said to have twice seen the Virgin appear to her there, dressed in white, bearing a message of prayer and penance and asking for the conversion of her parents. The girl, of fragile health, died a few months later, on 24 November 1814; the local chronicle relates that a violent storm broke during her funeral procession without a single drop of rain touching her coffin. An annual pilgrimage was established as early as 1815 at the site of the apparitions; restored to worship in 1862, the church has hosted it every 8 September since then, and it continues to this day.

Getting there : Free admission

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

Ambient sound