Our Lady of L'Ile-Bouchard (1947)

10 Reported Visits December 8–14, 1947 Pilgrimages approved 2001

The sanctuary preserves a statuary tradition shaped by the children's descriptions and the later devotional life of Notre-Dame de la Prière. Official sanctuary image

Reported dates

December 8-14, 1947

The sanctuary chronology presents ten reported visits in Saint-Gilles church across one week in December 1947.

Named children

4 schoolgirls

The sanctuary identifies Jacqueline and Jeanne Aubry, Nicole Robin, and Laura Croizon as the children who reported the apparitions.

Messages preserved

Prayer for France and sinners

The official brochure preserves short prayer-focused messages and ties them to the 1947 national crisis context.

Public status

Pilgrimages authorized in 2001

Archbishop Andre Vingt-Trois authorized public worship and pilgrimages to Notre-Dame de la Prière on December 8, 2001.

Source note L’Ile-Bouchard’s file is a one-week church event tied to a later public-worship decree

The sanctuary brochure preserves ten reported visits, named child witnesses, short France-centered prayers, the reported change in Jacqueline Aubry’s eyesight, and the 2001 authorization of public worship and pilgrimage.

Official sanctuary brochure Open source

Primary-source file

Official sanctuary page Sanctuaire Marial de L'Ile-Bouchard: Notre-Dame de la Prière

Official sanctuary summary of the ten reported visits of December 8-14, 1947.

ilebouchard.com Official sanctuary brochure Notre-Dame de la Prière brochure

Brochure preserving the chronology, messages, reported healing of Jacqueline Aubry, and the 2001 pilgrimage authorization.

ilebouchard.com Official chronology Evenement 1947

Sanctuary chronology naming the four children and describing the final day sunlight report.

ilebouchard.com Official shrine page La Grotte & la Statue de Marie

Sanctuary page on the grotto request and the later devotional setting of the shrine.

ilebouchard.com

The story

The sanctuary at L’Ile-Bouchard says that from Monday December 8 through Sunday December 14, 1947, four girls testified to seeing “a beautiful Lady” accompanied by an angel inside Saint-Gilles parish church.^{[1] [2]}

The story begins on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The sanctuary chronology says Jacqueline Aubry (12), her younger sister Jeanne (7), and their cousin Nicole Robin (10) went into Saint-Gilles church to pray, knelt before the altar of the Virgin, and then saw a beautiful Lady with an angel beside her.^{[2] [3]} They ran out and called for other children to come back with them; only Laura Croizon (8) said she saw the Lady as they did.^{[2] [3]}

The official brochure presents the events as 10 reported visits during a week of severe political and social unrest in France.^{[1] [2]} On the first afternoon, when the children asked who she was, the Lady answered, “Yes, I am your Heavenly Mother.” When they asked the angel’s name, the answer given was “I am the angel Gabriel.” The same official file says she also asked the children to let her kiss their hands.^[2]

As the week continued, the sanctuary says the church filled with more children, then adults, then priests, journalists, photographers, and villagers who came to watch and pray. The messages most associated with the case are:

• “Tell the little children to pray for France, because she is in great need”^[2]
• “Pray for sinners”^[2]
• “I will give happiness in families”^[2]

The same official brochure also records a reported healing of Jacqueline Aubry’s eyesight during the week of the apparitions.^[2]

---

Publicly documented chronology

The sanctuary identifies the four children as Jacqueline Aubry (12), Jeanne Aubry (7), Nicole Robin (10), and Laura Croizon (8).^[3] On the first day, the first three girls entered Saint-Gilles to pray on the feast of the Immaculate Conception; Laura joined them later after the others called for more children to come and see.^[3]

The official chronology and brochure preserve a day-by-day sequence that shaped the later shrine:

• on December 8, the children said the Lady identified herself as their Heavenly Mother and the angel as Gabriel; during evening benediction, Jacqueline alone remained in the church and later said the Lady and angel disappeared while the priest brought the Blessed Sacrament and reappeared afterward^[2]
• on December 9, the Lady asked that the parish priest come with the children and the crowd to pray and that a grotto be built with a statue of herself and the angel^{[2] [4]}
• the same day, the children said she told them to kiss the cross of her rosary, slowly traced a large sign of the cross, and asked again for prayer for France, which the brochure ties to the national strike crisis of that week^[2]
• on December 10, the sanctuary says around 150 people were present when the Lady told Jacqueline, “Tomorrow you will see clearly and you will no longer wear glasses,” and the brochure then records Jacqueline’s eyesight as healed the next day^[2]
• on December 11 and 12, the crowd grew to several hundred, the word MAGNIFICAT was said to appear on the Lady’s breast, and the apparitions were described as teaching the children and crowd to pray by repeating the Hail Mary and the invocation “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”^[2]
• on the final day, December 14, the girls brought flowers, asked for priests for Touraine, were told to pray and make sacrifices, and then a “vivid ray of sunlight” was reported to illuminate the dark church for a few minutes while the sky outside remained grey and low^{[2] [3]}

These details explain why the sanctuary today preserves both the church setting and a later devotional grotto as part of the site’s memory.

---

Diocesan status

A major ecclesial milestone came on December 8, 2001, when Archbishop Andre Vingt-Trois of Tours authorized public worship and pilgrimages to Notre-Dame de la Prière.^{[2] [5]}

The sanctuary pages therefore describe L’Ile-Bouchard as a place of pilgrimage and grace within the life of the sanctuary and diocese.^[5]

The authorization of pilgrimage and public devotion at Notre-Dame de la Prière is the public ecclesial status stated on the sanctuary pages.^{[2] [5]}

---

Recorded details

The sanctuary record includes:

• the reported apparitions happened in a parish church rather than a remote private site^[1]
• the messages were brief, national in scope, and heavily centered on prayer^[2]
• the week unfolded in front of a growing public crowd rather than remaining a purely private childhood report^[2]
• the sanctuary has become a continuing French pilgrimage center tied to peace, family prayer, and the Rosary^{[4] [5]}

---

References

1. Sanctuaire Marial de L’Ile-Bouchard. “Le sanctuaire Notre-Dame de la Prière.” Official sanctuary page summarizing the 10 reported visits of December 8–14, 1947 in Saint-Gilles church. Available at: https://www.ilebouchard.com/sanctuaire.html
2. Sanctuaire Marial de L’Ile-Bouchard. Official sanctuary brochure, “Notre-Dame de la Prière.” Includes the 1947 chronology, principal messages, the political context, the reported healing of Jacqueline Aubry, and the 2001 authorization of public worship and pilgrimages. Available at: https://www.ilebouchard.com/images-sanctuaire-marial-france/2020/12/depliant-MSG-IB_v4.pdf
3. Sanctuaire Marial de L’Ile-Bouchard. “Evenement 1947.” Official sanctuary chronology naming the four girls, preserving the principal dialogues, and describing the final day’s sunlight in Saint-Gilles church. Available at: https://www.ilebouchard.com/histoire/evenement-1947.html
4. Sanctuaire Marial de L’Ile-Bouchard. “La Grotte & la Statue de Marie.” Official sanctuary page on the request for the grotto and the site’s later devotional development. Available at: https://www.ilebouchard.com/sanctuaire/grotte-statue-marie.html
5. Sanctuaire Marial de L’Ile-Bouchard. “L’equipe sacerdotale.” Official sanctuary page stating that 2001 was the year of recognition of L’Ile-Bouchard as a place of pilgrimage and grace for pilgrims. Available at: https://www.ilebouchard.com/equipe-sacerdotale.html