The Pilgrimage of Preuilly

Around the year 1173, Pierre de Tarentaise, Abbot of Tamié, was forced to stop at Preuilly, struck down by a mysterious illness while returning to Normandy, where the Pope had sent him to attempt to reconcile the kings of France and England. He remained there for over a month and did so much to relieve the poor and heal the sick that soon people began to speak of miracles. As a result, the monks of Preuilly gained a reputation for exemplary charity, and people sought to express their gratitude to Our Lady of Preuilly.

By 1230, devotion to the Virgin had grown so strong that it became necessary to widen the paths leading to the abbey and facilitate the route for processions. Year after year, the influx of pilgrims increased within the abbey grounds, causing growing disturbances incompatible with its vocation of prayer and silence. To remedy this situation, in 1668, the Abbot, François de Villeneuve, decided to transfer the pilgrimage into the forest. The monks hollowed out the trunk of an oak tree to house a statue of the Virgin, and from then on, pilgrims made their way to Notre-Dame du Chêne (Our Lady of the Oak).

When the Revolutionaries sought to put an end to this popular devotion, they were stopped by what was considered another “miracle,” which deeply impressed the people of Montois. On July 12, 1793, as they attempted to cut down “the tree of superstition and fanaticism,” blood is said to have begun to flow. Terrified, the men fled. A resident of Égligny retrieved the statue and later returned it to Preuilly when the pilgrimage was officially restored on October 16, 1865.

It is worth noting that the Liberation of Preuilly in 1944 coincided with the last Sunday of August, the day of the pilgrimage. As the procession timidly emerged from the woods toward Les Tourelles, American troops were descending the Gratteloup hill. A jubilant crowd gathered in the Ruins, where fervent prayers of gratitude were offered to Notre-Dame du Chêne.

The tradition has continued to this day. The pilgrimage, followed by a solemn mass in the ruins of the abbey church of Preuilly, takes place annually on the last Sunday of September.

Chantal Fouché Husson – May 2024

Restored in 2012, the statue of Notre-Dame du Chêne has been dated by Heritage Services to the late 15th or early 16th century. It has been listed in the inventory of historic monuments as a classified movable object.