Source et sanctuaire de Notre-Dame de Bonne-Fontaine

Danne-et-Quatre-Vents

The sanctuary was born of an epidemic. In 1714, soldiers of the Phalsbourg garrison discovered a statuette of the Virgin lodged in the hollow trunk of an oak, beside a spring of very pure water; struck by a deadly dysentery, they called on Mary, drank from the spring and recovered. A wooden chapel was at once raised, replaced in 1741 by a larger stone building, with worship organised on a regular footing from 1751. The spring still rises beneath the entrance to the chapel: the water emerges from the rock and descends into three tiered basins at the foot of an altar of pink Vosges sandstone, an arrangement redone in 1979. The Franciscans were given charge of the pilgrimage in 1908 and have never ceased to enlarge the sanctuary, which gained a house for meetings and retreats in 1996. It is today one of the most frequented diocesan shrines of Metz, with its great Marian feast on 8 September. The place combines the three classic ingredients of Lorraine's sacred sites: a hollow tree, water issuing from the rock and a dated collective healing.

Bonne-Fontaine (Wikipédia) ↗

Getting there : Bonne-Fontaine is an outlying hamlet of the commune of Danne-et-Quatre-Vents, between Phalsbourg and the Saverne pass, signposted from the RN4. Note: the coordinates given are the reference point of the commune, not that of the sanctuary, which lies to the west of the commune's territory — follow the signs "Bonne-Fontaine / pèlerinage franciscain" from Phalsbourg. Open site, guesthouse and spiritual retreat house on the spot; major pilgrimage on 8 September.

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

Ambient sound