Our Lady of Deliverance

The current statue dates to 1580, replacing a medieval original destroyed in religious wars. But the devotion reaches back to the third century, when Christianity transformed a Celtic goddess shrine into a Marian sanctuary. Saints and kings have sought her intercession.

The original Madonna of Délivrande was installed by Saint Regnobert in the third century on a site previously sacred to a Celtic mother goddess. The devotion grew; pilgrims came seeking deliverance from various forms of bondage.

In 1561, during the religious wars, Protestants destroyed the medieval statue. Canon Legendre donated the current Black Madonna in 1580, and the devotion resumed. The statue was crowned by Papal authority on August 22, 1872.

Documented miracles include the liberation of a merchant from Turkish captivity—his chains falling free when he prayed, and the iron ring around his neck dropping to the ground at her shrine. Saint Francis de Sales was freed from severe spiritual temptation through devotion to her.