Vendeville is now a “city of sanctuary”, like Lourdes. The announcement was made on September 24, during Mass.
Newsroom (27/09/2023 18:30, Gaudium Press) Vendeville is now officially France’s 21st city of sanctuary, like Lourdes, Lisieux or Mont-Saint-Michel, thanks to the miracles of Saint Rita. It is the first city in the north of France to receive this title, given by the Association of Sanctuary Cities of France. The town has been a place of pilgrimage for almost a century.
In fact, the town’s Gothic parish has housed an image and relic of St. Rita of Cascia since 1928. Pilgrims come to the shrine to pray to the saint, known as the patron saint of impossible causes. For three days, the parish priest, Father Jean-Pierre Roussel, kept the secret, only to announce it solemnly during Mass on Sunday, September 24.
The announcement was received with joy by the parishioners: “Even though I’m not from Vendeville, I’m very happy that St. Rita has received this designation,” says one parishioner. Another says that “it’s really a blessing for [devotion to] St. Rita, to whom I pray. I had a miracle in my family, where a cancer patient was cured, so truly, she is a saint of incredible sweetness, to whom we should pray.”
Flow of Pilgrims
“We give thanks to God, because every day we receive thanks for the cures, for the cancers that are cured, which have no explanation,” Father Roussel testified in front of the assembly of miracle. “It’s a popular devotion, it’s not the Church that spread it, it really comes from the hearts of the people. A bit by word of mouth, the radiance of Vendeville is a particular radiance,” explained the parish priest.
On the walls of the church there are plaques or ex-votos that testify to the miracles received. Ludovic Proisy, mayor of Vendeville, estimates that currently “between 120,000 and 130,000 people” visit the Vendeville church every year. With the designation as a French city of sanctuary, “this number could double, we don’t know yet, but we’re going to organize ourselves to receive the influx of pilgrims”.
With information from France Bleu and France Info
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Compiled by Florence MacDonald
