At the time of Saint George, the first bishop of Velay, in the first century, a woman named Vila, who had been suffering from a high fever for a long time and could not get rid of it, went to Mount Anis one night, lay down on a stone that was believed to cure fevers and fell asleep there. The Virgin Mary then appeared to her and asked her to go and see Bishop George so that he would build a church dedicated to her on the site. The healing of this lady Vila would be the sign that would convince the bishop of the reality of the apparition. Vila woke up cured and went to see the bishop. The bishop, convinced of the story she had told him, went to Mount Anis with his clergy. It was the 11th of July, the year 47 after Jesus Christ.
Then two wonders happened: the place where the apparition had taken place was covered with snow. A deer suddenly jumped up and with its antlers drew the outline of the future church.
Bishop George was unable to build the church for lack of funds, so he had a wooden fence built around the sacred area.
Nearly two centuries later, in 221, according to tradition, another lady, who had lost all her strength, had a vision of the Virgin Mary in her sleep, who ordered her to go to Mount Anis and recover her health there. And so she did.
Near the palisade built by Bishop George, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and ordered her to go and ask the bishop, whose name was Vosy, to build the church she had asked for. Bishop Vosy was cautious, fasted and prayed for three days with his clergy before coming to Mount Anis. Then he went to Rome to consult Pope Calixtus. The Pontiff approved the project and Bishop Vosy ordered the construction of a church on the site of the two apparitions.
In 1254, Saint Louis came on pilgrimage to Le Puy-en-Velay. He offered the first statue of the Black Madonna on his comeback from the 7th crusade.
13 other kings came to pray to the Blessed Virgin, including Charlemagne and Francis the First in 1533.
On June 8th 1794, the first statue of the Black Madonna was burnt on the Martouret square by the revolutionaries. On this square, 41 people were executed between 1793 and 1795.
On 12 September 1860, the statue of Our Lady of France was inaugurated and its size (22.70 metres) and weight (835 tonnes) were astonishing.
Its construction was made possible thanks to the donation by Napoleon III of 213 cannons captured during the battle of Sebastopol on September 8th 1855 during the War of Crimea.
