In the heart of the Hautes-Alpes, overlooking the Avance valley from a height of 950 meters, stands the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Laus. This place was the setting for a very important event: the Mother of God appeared to Benoîte Rencurel, a humble and uneducated shepherdess from the hamlet of Saint-Etienne, for 54 years (the apparitions were recognized in 2008).
The Sanctuary of Laus and the Church of the Good Encounter
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Laus (Notre-Dame du Laus) now welcomes thousands of pilgrims.
Construction work on the church, desired by the Virgin, began in 1666 and was completed in just four years, without any difficulty, exactly as Mary had told Benoîte.
Completed in 1669, it was elevated to the status of a minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII on March 18, 1892. Inside the basilica is the chapel of the Good Encounter (chapelle de Bon Rencontre), which forms the heart of the sanctuary. Here, at the end of September 1664, the Virgin Mary announced to Benoîte that she had chosen this place and asked her Son for it, so that sinners would come there in large numbers to convert: «I asked my Son for this place, and he granted it to me», she told her.
In the small chapel of the Good Encounter, the sanctuary's oil lamp is kept as a reminder of the Eucharistic Presence in the tabernacle. Mary invited pilgrims to moisten their fingertips with the lamp oil: «If one takes the oil from the chapel lamp and applies it, invoking her intercession with great faith, one is healed». This oil is neither consecrated by the bishop nor blessed in any particular way; more is added every day, and it burns constantly before the Eucharist. Even today, after more than three hundred years, vials of the oil are shipped throughout the world, and the healings are numerous.
On the altar of the Chapel of the Good Encounter, you can admire the Virgin crowned with the divine Child, a white Carrara marble work created in 1716 by the sculptor Honoré Pela of Gap. Lower down are depictions of the saints who appeared to Benoîte: from left to right, Saint Gervasius, Saint Maurice, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint Barbara.
At the entrance to the Chapel of the Good Encounter, in front of the Shrine’s high altar, lies Benoîte’s tomb: her body was placed here immediately after it was exhumed from the Laus cemetery. Inside the Basilica, behind the Chapel of the Good Encounter, is the Chapel of the Angels. The painting there depicts an apparition of the Virgin to Benoîte. It is the only one painted while Benoîte was still alive, by the Sicilian-born painter Diego Devial. It dates from 1668, when Benoîte was 41 years old.
To the right of the church are the buildings used to welcome pilgrims (the first project, called the “priests’ house” at the time, dates back to 1679).
Discover the Shrine
Contacts and addresses
Laus House
05130 Saint-Étienne-du-Laus
Tel. 0033 (0)4 92 50 94 00
Notre Dame du Laus Hospitality Center
05130 Saint-Ètienne-du-Laus
Tel. 0033 (0)4 92 50 30 73
www.notre-dame-du-laus.com
How to get there the Shrine
