The church of Notre-Dame de Boulogne, located in Boulogne-Billancourt in Hauts-de-Seine, France, will soon be elevated to the rank of minor basilica, following the decree signed in Rome by Pope Francis on June 29. The Elevation Mass will be celebrated on Sunday, January 12, 2025, at the beginning of the Jubilee Year for the Universal Church.
It will be presided over by Bishop Matthieu Rougé of Nanterre, in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio in France, Bishop Celestino Migliore. The parish priest, Father Roger Villegas, LC, becomes the rector of the basilica.
Last March, Bishop Rougé presented this proposal to the conference of French bishops, during their plenary assembly. After it was approved, a request was submitted to the competent Roman Dicastery.
Fr. Roger Villegas, LC, parish priest, Mgr. Yvon Aybram, episcopal vicar of the diocese of Nanterre in charge of diocesan sanctuaries, as well as representatives of the municipality of the city of Boulogne-Billancourt, all collaborated in this work.
“ The day after the decree of elevation was signed in Rome, we learned the good news ,” says Fr. Villegas, “that day we were celebrating the diaconate ordination of Fr. Jérôme Dejoie, a member of our community of the Legionaries of Christ [now serving at the formation center in Cheshire, CT]. It was a beautiful wink from the Lord who confirmed the primary vocation of our parish – a sanctuary and place of pilgrimage – and the mission of our religious community particularly as we are attached to the Petrine ministry. ”
The first basilica of the diocese of Nanterre, Notre-Dame de Boulogne becomes the 176th church honored with this title in France. “It is a joy for the entire Church in Hauts-de-Seine” stated the diocese which has desired since 2020 that Notre-Dame de Boulogne regain its original vocation of being a diocesan sanctuary. The church is a very old Marian sanctuary. The first pilgrimages, dating back to 1304, were then as important as the road to Santiago de Compostela.
“This church is not just a place of worship. It is also a Marian sanctuary, a beacon where tenderness and faith are transmitted ” said Msgr Matthieu Rougé in 2019, on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the founding of Notre-Dame de Boulogne, “a fountain where residents could constantly recharge their batteries.”
During the episcopate of Msgr Gérard Daucourt, Bishop of Nanterre from 2002 to 2013, Notre-Dame de Boulogne had been promoted as one of five sanctuaries of the diocese of Nanterre with the aim of renewing the missionary momentum of the Church. Today, this sanctuary serves as a center of evangelization and radiates not only for faithful pilgrims, but also for the inhabitants of the local communes and neighborhoods. The goal is to put the parish back at the “center of the village” as ” a fountain where the inhabitants could constantly recharge their batteries,” according to the words of Saint John XXIII, who came as a pilgrim to Notre-Dame de Boulogne-sur-Seine when he was apostolic nuncio in Paris.
Originally published in French here Une nouvelle basilique en France | ZENIT – Français
