Basilique Notre-Dame-du-Laus

About

The basilica of Notre-Dame du Laus, or basilica of the Laus, designates the church of the hamlet of Notre-Dame du Laus on the commune of Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, built in 1669, following the Marian apparitions of the Laus, of which Benoîte Rencurel spoke the witness from 1664. This first small church was built around a ruined chapel: "the chapel of Good Meeting", a small chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in which the seer declared that she had had apparitions of the Virgin Mary. This first small church was built with the permission of the bishop, after investigation of his vicar in 1665 (to study the authenticity of visions).

This church will undergo some enlargements and improvements, which, however, leave it a modest size of 300 places. Its small size will not prevent Pope Leo XIII from raising this Marian shrine to the dignity of "minor basilica" in 1892. This basilica is the central point of the shrine of Notre-Dame du Laus.

It also contains Benedicte Rencurel's tomb, which is being beatified.