As I past by this wonderful Basilica of Sainte Anne d’Auray almost every day, always wanted to come inside this house but my road warrior took me away from it until today, I have several posts on the basilica and its importance to Brittany ,but the house is where all started ! Therefore, this is new text ,links and pictures on the house of Yves Nicolazic of Sainte Anne d’Auray. Hope you enjoy the post as I.
Yves Nicolazic was a Breton peasant who testified to having benefited from apparitions of Sainte Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, (and grandfather of Jesus ,and patron saint of Brittany) ,and who after unearthing a forgotten statue representing her in the field known as Bocenno is at the origin of the place of pilgrimage and the construction of the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-d’Auray. The thatched cottage burnt down in 1902, restored in 1907, it was in this place that the seer of Sainte-Anne, Yves Nicolazic lived with his wife Guillemette Le Roux and their children. In the barn adjoining the house, important apparitions took place during the winter of 1624-1625. This barn, burnt down on March 9, 1625, stood on the site of the current statue in the garden. It can be visited freely from April to October, every day from 9h30 to 18h, I finally made it by 17h.
Yves Nicolazic did exist. He was born in 1591 in Pluneret, a small village near Vannes and lived in the village of Ker-Anna or Keranna (Sainte Anne). He was a well-to-do peasant who owned two fine pieces of land. One of the lands, named Bocenno, yielded more than the others. But singular feature, you could only work there with a spade. Impossible to pass the plow there: arrived at a certain place, the oxen were busy at the risk of breaking the plow. “It’s the fields of the chapel” they said. This local belief was justified by the blocks of stone that from time to time were removed from the ground. In 1615, Nicolazic’s father had used them to rebuild his barn. Married since 1613 to a person from his village, Guillemette Le Roux, Nicolazic, to his great regret, had no children yet in 1627. His visions had begun in August 1622; he had glimpsed Sainte Anne at the fountain; had met her near the cross on the edge of the moor; he had traveled with her whenever he came home late. One summer day, his brother-in-law Louis Le Roux and Yves Nicolazic had gone to fetch their oxen from a meadow near the fountain; before bringing them back, they wanted to make them drink from the trough. Suddenly the oxen stubbornly refused to advance. A majestic lady was in front of them, facing the spring and carrying a lighted torch.
It was on July 25, 1624, the eve of the feast of Sainte Anne, that Yves Nicolazic received the mandate which was to make him the creator of the Pilgrimage of Sainte-Anne d’Auray. The apparition read, “Yves Nicolazic, fear not. I am Anne, mother of Marie. Tell your rector that in the piece of land called the Bocenno, there was once, even before there was any village, a chapel dedicated in my name. It was the first in the whole country. It has been ruined for 924 years and 6 months. I desire that it be rebuilt as soon as possible, and that you take care of it, because God wants me to be honored there.” On the night of March 7-8, 1625, Sainte Anne appeared to him again and said to him: “Yves Nicolazic, call your neighbors, as you have been advised; lead them with you to the place where this torch will lead you, you will find the image that will protect you from the world, which will finally know the truth of what I have promised you”. Arrived in front of the Bocenno field , the torch left the path and went to the place of the old chapel. They began to dig in the ground and discovered a piece of wood that had laid there: it was an old statue, all disfigured and damaged, which had been lying there for 900 years. The news spread like lightning. The bishop’s commissary went to Pluneret on Wednesday, March 12, 1625 and summoned Yves Nicolazic to the presbytery. The Bishop of Vannes, Mgr de Rosmadec, received Yves Nicolazic at the Château de Kerguéhennec in Bignan,(see post), where M. du Garo, the Bishop’s brother-in-law, lived. Yves Nicolazic also stayed a few days with the Capuchins of Vannes and was subjected to a meticulous examination. It was concluded that the facts mentioned by Yves Nicolazic were true and that it was appropriate to build the requested chapel in the same place as that of the 5C.
From a family point of view, he was to be pitied because he had no children or descendants. What was his prayer then? Did he go so far as to ask Sainte Anne to grant him the honor of being a father? Still, he received an unexpected confidence one day from his wife Guillemette Le Roux and on January 18, 1628, he presented himself at the church of Pluneret, (see post) announcing to the rector that he was bringing a boy to be baptized. Two years later a girl named Jeanne was born, then another girl named Paterne. Before dying on May 13, 1645, at the age of 63, Yves Nicolazic saw the fulfillment of the promises that Sainte Anne had made to him. Crowds of believers and unbelievers had come and kept coming. The chapel had been built, and conversions and miracles were taking place. His humble village had become the center of the cult of Sainte Anne and the Pilgrimage was already one of the busiest in France. His body was buried in the Chapel of the Pilgrimage, and, as he had expressed the wish, at the very place where, twenty years earlier, he had miraculously discovered the statue of Sainte Anne.
The cause for beatification was reconsidered following the pilgrimage made by Pope John Paul II to his shrine on September 20, 1996; A draft had already been prepared from 1935 to 1937, so a definitive file was officially deposited at the Vatican, at the end of the year 2000. Still pending,,,, Anyway today the Basilica of Sainte Anne pardon held between July 24-26 each year is the third biggest gathering of Catholics in France behind Lisieux and Lourdes. We have between half a million to one million pilgrims here !!!
The official Sanctuary of Sainte Anne d’Auray see Nicolazic:https://www.sainteanne-sanctuaire.com/default.asp?mode=histoire&id=609
The town of Sainte Anne d’Auray on its religious heritage : https://www.sainte-anne-auray.com/religieux/
The local Bay of Quiberon tourist office on Sanctuary of Sainte Anne d’Auray: https://www.baiedequiberon.co.uk/the-sanctuary-of-sainte-anne-d-auray
There you go folks, again, a day is needed to see this wonderful spot and very worth the detour for those traveling in these lands. It is worth it to understand the history of Brittany as well as France, and the beautiful architecture if not the religious fervor that it attracts. The story of Yves Nicolazic and the Basilica of Sainte Anne is worth the detour. Again, hope you enjoy the post as I
And remember, happy travels, good health,and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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