La grotte de la Vierge

It all starts with a very sad story

The Virgin Mary behind the former presbytery (now the tourist office) has an unusual history.

In the past, the wall at this very spot in the village of La Plaine was full.
One afternoon in 1923, two children were playing at the foot of the wall after a heavy storm. As one of the boys was using his slingshot, part of the wall suddenly collapsed. One of the children was hit by a stone, while the other died.
Sad fate for the little boy, but the anecdotal story of this wall does not end there.


Let's see if the rose...

Some thirty years later, a shopkeeper from La Plaine-sur-Mer requested permission to erect a grotto to house a statue of the Virgin Mary. The father's idea was to thank her for sparing his children who had returned from the Second World War. The wall was rebuilt to accommodate a monument built around 1950 to thank the patroness of his children.
The centre of the arch of the niche housing the statue of the Virgin Mary was built exactly vertically to the site of the tragedy.

At that time, it is said, a white rosebush could be seen flowering almost twelve months of the year.
Surprising, isn't it?

Sources: Story taken from the testimony of Maurice Foucher, the child who survived the collapse of the wall, published in a press article (Ouest-France, December 1993). And website (paysderetzsite.free.fr)


The little extra :
Discover the nearby church of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption.