PARIS (OSV News) — After Notre Dame Cathedral’s splendid reopening, the attention of Paris Catholics turned to the nearby Church of Notre Dame de Boulogne Jan. 12 as it was solemnly elevated to the rank of minor basilica, following a decree from Pope Francis, signed June 29.
Bishop Matthieu Rougé of Nanterre, whose diocese includes the town of Boulogne-Billancourt, presided over the elevation Mass, in the presence of the apostolic nuncio to France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore.
“Notre Dame de Boulogne is much smaller than Notre Dame de Paris, but only a little younger!” Bishop Rougé told OSV News. “I asked the pope for this title with the approval of all the bishops of France, to strengthen its missionary influence.”
The new basilica takes its name from the ancient town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, a port in northern France, separated from England by the English Channel. In the year 633, an empty boat ran aground on its shore. It contained just a wooden statue of the Virgin and Child. This led to the creation of a sanctuary.
“It had a huge influence in the Middle Ages, so much so that later on, Philippe le Bel, king of France, wished to have a reproduction of it next to Paris,” Bishop Rougé explained.
Philippe le Bel, or King Philippe IV, was well acquainted with this shrine, where his daughter was married off to the king of England in 1308. He looked for a place around Paris to organize similar pilgrimages as those to the northern sanctuary.
He died before the project was accomplished, but his son Philip V fulfilled his wish. In 1319, he laid the foundation stone for a new church next to a village on the banks of the Seine River. This new Notre Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer became the main place of pilgrimage for Parisians.
For Bishop Rougé, it was important to revive this church’s original vocation 700 years later.
“The town’s mayor himself encouraged me to do so,” he explained. “It is this little church that gave its name to the modern town of Boulogne-Billancourt, which became famous in the 20th century for its large factories of the car manufacturer Renault.”
Today, line 10 of the Paris metro provides easy access to Boulogne-Billancourt, which has over 120,000 inhabitants and is a major economic hub of the “Metropolis of Greater Paris.”
“In this new environment, it is beautiful to give a new spiritual youth to Notre Dame de Boulogne so that it can bear new fruits of evangelization,” Bishop Rougé told OSV News. “In France, the growing influx of young and adult catechumens over the last few years is a very encouraging sign,” he said, with 12,000 people baptized in France on Easter 2024.
A large crowd appeared during the elevation of the parish church to the rank of minor basilica, with many parishioners standing in the cold outside among 1,500 participants. Parishioners told local media outlet ActuParis the day was filled with “the feeling of being privileged.”
“We need to highlight the spiritual heritage of our young diocese and encourage popular devotion,” Bishop Rougé added. “This church is very close to the large Ambroise Paré hospital, and it welcomes many sick people or their families who come to light a candle or pray. I hope that more and more people will come to find the hope they need here.”
Bishop Rougé is also planning a pilgrimage for his diocese to Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral in May.
“The enthusiasm for its reopening has been impressive, and the commitment of the French public media to broadcast it very widely has been very significant,” he said. “France is constantly torn between the depth of its Christian history and intransigent secular postures. But political figures did not want to miss this reopening.”
The bishop added that “the spiritual thirst of our contemporaries has been expressed in this enthusiasm,” emphasizing that “the liturgical and musical quality of what was celebrated at the reopening of Notre Dame showed the vitality of the faith in our country, whatever its fragility.”
Bishop Rougé told OSV News: “We are not denying the growing secularization of our society. But we must grasp it as a favorable context for the missionary transformation called for by Pope Francis. In this missionary context, the basilica title of Notre Dame de Boulogne takes on its full meaning.”
On Jan. 12 Notre Dame de Boulogne became the 176th church to join the list of basilicas in France, and the first to represent the dynamic Diocese of Nanterre.
Father Roger Villegas, parish priest since 2021, is now the basilica’s rector. Since Bishop Rougé asked Rome to initiate a procedure to elevate the church to the rank of basilica in 2020, three criteria had to be met for the project to succeed: The church in question must be an important place of devotion anchored in time; it must be an important historical and architectural feature; and it must have a pastoral purpose.
It was not hard for Notre Dame de Boulogne to meet the criteria. The church is a meeting point between 14th-century Gothic and 19th-century decorative figurative painting. The Eucharist, the rosary and veneration of relics are offered in abundance. Every day pilgrims can talk to priests and attend Masses until late at night.
Gathered in Lourdes in March 2024, the bishops of France agreed that the bishop of Nanterre should “take steps with the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments with a view to conferring the title of minor basilica on the church of Notre Dame de Boulogne.”
Three months later Rome responded to Nanterre’s bishop, and on June 29 Vatican officials signed a decree in the name of Pope Francis elevating the church to the rank of basilica minor.
The aim is to make the church a place of radiance for the mystery of Mary and a symbol of hope, as part of the pope’s Jubilee celebrations, Bishop Rougé pointed out.
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