OUR LADY OF SAVIGNY

France, 1112

Feast Day - March 9

Around the year 1112, in the diocese of Avranches, in Normandy, Blessed Vitalis (Vital de Mortain) laid the foundation of the Abbey of Savigny (Abbaye de Savigny) in honor of the Blessed Mother. This day commemorates the event.

The abbey was founded near the village of Savigny-le-Vieux in the northern France, and Blessed Vitalis became the first abbot. It was initially Benedictine, but soon was given over to Cistercian monks and within the space of thirty years it had over thirty daughter houses.

Initially, Vitalis had gone into the forest of Savigny, living as a hermit. His sanctity, however, drew disciples to him. These disciples needed shelter from the elements, and soon Vitalis found those crude structures had become a kind of monastery that required a rule of life. When the Lord of Fougeres granted the land to Vital, the monastery was founded, and the hermit reluctatly became the Abbot. In 1119 Pope Celestine II took the abbey under his protection.

During Serlon’s reign as the third abbot of the Monastery of Savigny. One of the monks who was so devoted to Our Lady, while celebrating Mass in honor of Our Lady, he saw an apparition of Our Lady’s hand making the sign of the cross over the chalice at the consecration of the wine. At this same moment, a deliciously sweet odor surrounded the monk. Thereafter, as often as he recalled this event, he was refreshed by the sweetness of the scent which he had experienced at the time.

Our Lady’s presence was always experienced at this shrine, particularly during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and numerous miracles were wrought, prayers answered and graces bestowed for the asking.

During the 16th century the abbey was destroyed and burned by Calvinists, but during the French Revolution it was reduced to a pile of ruins. The church, however, was restored in the year 1869.