places of pilgrimage

In the Pays d'Alençon, in the footsteps of the Martins

The places of pilgrimage The Martin family
Pèlerinages

The Martin family loved walks in the Pays d'Alençon, for the pleasure of traveling with the family or taking part in local pilgrimages.

 

Many places have left beautiful memories with Saint Thérèse: “The sunny years of my childhood passed much too quickly, despite the sweetness they left in my soul” […] I remember the Sunday walks where my mother always accompanied us… I still feel the deep and poetry that was born in my soul at the sight of wheat fields dotted with cornflowers and country flowers”. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Autobiographical manuscripts, f.11v

 

To go to these multiple places, two greenways, recently opened on old railway lines, are a privileged path for walkers and cyclists.

A place of healing

The "Flight of the Vines"

At the gates of the city center of Alençon, “this shady path that mom loved so much” writes Marie, the eldest of the family, is close to the Pavillon de Louis Martin. This place where Louis
liked to come and fish, in a nature whose contemplation nourished his prayer, has become a space labeled "Sensitive Natural Space and Natura 2000". It offers its 81 hectares rich in flora specific to swamps and fauna where many protected species are found.

Place of baptism of Zélie

Church of Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon / La Butte Chaumont

10 km from Alençon, towards Brittany, it was in the church of this village that Zélie was baptized. An exhibition in the church, which bears the traces of the centuries, presents the Guérin family. A statue of Saint Thérèse, installed in 1931, to mark the centenary of the birth of Zélie is visible at the crossroads of the national 12 and the road to Ravigny. It is located next to the former gendarmerie, where Zélie lived until she was twelve years old with her parents before the family came to live in rue Saint-Blaise in Alençon.

The town of the neighboring town of La Roche-Mabile, a former stronghold on the southern borders of Normandy, is nestled in the valley which marks the foot of the Butte Chaumont where Louis went on pilgrimage.

Saint-Ceneri

When he was single, Louis Martin liked to contemplate these places. After his marriage, these sites remained among the family's favorite walks. They then rented a large hitched station wagon.

The village of Saint-Céneri-le-Gérey, classified as one of the most beautiful villages in France, continues to attract tourists and pilgrims. The village church remains a high place of contemplation with its Romanesque architecture and its murals.

Saint-Leonard-des-Bois

The neighboring village of Saint-Léonard-des-Bois, a small town full of character, is not to be outdone. Marked by the figure of Saint Léonard de Vandoeuvre, his evangelizer, in the XNUMXth century, it attracts walkers and artists.

Place of pilgrimage of Zélie

Sainte-Anne de Champfrémont

If Saint Louis Martin loved the most important pilgrimages of his time (Chartres, Lourdes, Notre-Dame des Victoires in Paris…), he also loved local pilgrimages: the Butte Chaumont, La Roche-Mabile, the cathedral of Sées…

Sainte Zélie, more of a homebody, only remembers two that appeal to her: Sainte-Anne de Champfrémont and the Basilica of the Immaculate in Sées. At the foot of Mont des Avaloirs (highest point in western France with its 416 m), the Sainte-Anne chapel is contemporary with that of Sainte-Anne-d'Auray. A Sainte-Anne fountain is accessible at the back of the chapel by a sunken path.

Place of prayer for Léonie

Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and Cathedral of Sées

Going on a pilgrimage following the Martin family, in the nearby region of Alençon, means going to Sées where Louis Martin went to pray for the very worrying health of Léonie. Zélie, for her part, “intends to take it, every year, to Notre-Dame de Sées, on the day of the Immaculate Conception”.

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate: chapel first (before becoming a basilica in 1902), it is the first in France to have been dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. Opened on January 1, 1859, it was consecrated on May 7, 1872.

The cathedral: it is the fifth since the arrival of the first bishop in Sées, Saint Latuin, in the XNUMXth century. Its construction began at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Its rear choir and the radiating chapels are remarkable. This building is the perfect sign of the Martin family's attachment to the Church.

In the footsteps of the Martin family

Places of pilgrimage

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