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The Miracle Record

Our Lady of Pellevoisin (1876)

Apparitions Image

The story in one line

Estelle Faguette, after a reported healing, received Marian apparitions at Pellevoisin in 1876.

The basic story

In 1876, Estelle Faguette reported 15 Marian apparitions at Pellevoisin, France, after a grave illness and sudden recovery. On August 30, 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a nihil obstat encouraging Marian devotion at the shrine.

Reported message

Estelle Faguette said Mary linked her healing with the apparitions, spoke of conversion and confidence, and repeatedly presented the Sacred Heart scapular as a sign to spread.

Historical setting

Pellevoisin belongs to nineteenth-century rural France, where Estelle Faguette's illness, reported recovery, and later visions became tied to a village chapel.

15 Apparitions Pellevoisin, France Nihil obstat 2024
Welcome view of the sanctuary at Pellevoisin, France.
The sanctuary of Pellevoisin remains an active diocesan pilgrimage site rooted in Estelle Faguette's 1876 apparitions and healing. Official sanctuary image

Reported span

February 14-December 8, 1876

The sanctuary divides the year into a February illness-and-healing phase and later apparitions from July through December.

Named visionary

Estelle Faguette

The shrine presents the apparitions through Estelle Faguette’s testimony, illness, and recovery.

Linked sign

Sacred Heart scapular

The scapular became the best-known devotional sign associated with Pellevoisin in the official shrine presentation.

Current status

Nihil obstat in 2024

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a nihil obstat on August 30, 2024 for Marian devotion at Pellevoisin.

Primary-source file

Section titled “Primary-source file”
Official sanctuary account The apparitions

Official shrine account of the apparitions, chronology, and principal reported messages.

pellevoisin.net Official shrine status Nihil Obstat 2024

Official sanctuary material on the 2024 Dicastery decision and current devotional status.

pellevoisin.net Official healing room page The Chamber of Apparitions

Official page on Estelle’s room, the reported healing, and the later oratory for pilgrims.

pellevoisin.net Official diocesan shrine history A diocesan sanctuary

Official history of episcopal support and the continuing place of Pellevoisin within the Archdiocese of Bourges.

pellevoisin.net

The story

Section titled “The story”

At Pellevoisin in central France, Estelle Faguette reported 15 apparitions of the Virgin Mary between February 14 and December 8, 1876.[1]

The shrine’s own presentation begins in a sickroom rather than in a field or public square. Estelle, a domestic servant, was gravely ill and believed she was near death. The sanctuary says the first apparitions took place in her bedroom while prayers for her healing were being offered, and that her recovery on the night of February 18, 1876 became the turning point for everything that followed.[1] [2] [3]

Pellevoisin is especially associated with:

  • Estelle’s reported healing in 1876[2]
  • messages centered on simplicity, trust, and mercy[1]
  • the Scapular of the Sacred Heart, which later became the best-known devotional sign linked to the shrine[2]

What Estelle said Mary told her

Section titled “What Estelle said Mary told her”

Pellevoisin is remembered both for Estelle’s recovery and for what she said Mary told her afterward. The sanctuary’s own extracts say the messages kept returning to a few concrete ideas: Estelle had been healed, sinners should turn back to God, and the Sacred Heart scapular should be spread with confidence.[1] [2]

So the message at Pellevoisin is not just, “you are well again.” In the shrine’s telling, the healing is only the beginning. The later apparitions turn into a longer appeal for trust, mercy, prayer, and the spread of the scapular devotion.[1]

Publicly documented chronology

Section titled “Publicly documented chronology”

The official sanctuary material divides the story into two stages. The first five apparitions came during Estelle’s grave illness in February 1876. The shrine says she was close to death and then recovered on the night of February 18.[1] [3] So Pellevoisin begins as a bedside healing story before it becomes anything else.[1] [3]

The remaining apparitions followed from July to December 1876. By then, the story had shifted from “a sick woman recovers” to a longer series of reported conversations about prayer, conversion, and the scapular that later became the shrine’s best-known sign.[1] The sanctuary’s own extracts highlight:

  • Mary’s words, “Is not your healing one of the greatest proofs of my power?”[1]
  • the statement, “I have come especially for the conversion of sinners”[1]
  • the repeated presentation of the scapular and the promise of graces for those who wear it with confidence and help spread it[1]

This is why Pellevoisin is both a healing page and an apparition page. The recovery and the later messages are presented by the shrine as one continuous story, not two separate traditions.

Current Vatican and diocesan status

Section titled “Current Vatican and diocesan status”

Pellevoisin’s current status is unusually explicit and recent.

The shrine states that on August 30, 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a nihil obstat for Marian devotion at Pellevoisin, and Archbishop Jerome Beau issued a diocesan decree authorizing that devotion.[2]

The Vatican’s 2024 norms no longer use the old all-or-nothing pattern of simply declaring an apparition supernatural or not. Under those norms, a nihil obstat means Catholic authorities see no obstacle to public devotion at the site. It is a green light for pilgrimage and prayer, even though Rome is not using the older formula of a final supernatural declaration.[2]

So in plain terms, the 2024 decision means Pellevoisin is now openly approved as a Marian place of prayer under the new Vatican rules.[2]

The shrine that followed

Section titled “The shrine that followed”

The sanctuary also emphasizes that Pellevoisin has remained a living pilgrimage site under episcopal support for well over a century.[4] Estelle’s bedroom, where the apparitions and healing were reported, was later converted into an oratory for pilgrims and remains part of the shrine’s devotional geography.[3]

That continuity shows up in several concrete ways:

  • local bishops supported prayer and pilgrimage there from the nineteenth century onward[4]
  • the Sacred Heart scapular connected Pellevoisin to a wider Catholic devotional network[2]
  • the 2024 nihil obstat shows how Catholic authorities are handling apparition claims under the new norms[2]

References

Section titled “References”
  1. Sanctuary of Pellevoisin. “The apparitions.” Official shrine account of Estelle Faguette’s 1876 apparitions, their chronology, and the main reported messages. Available at: https://www.pellevoisin.net/en/les-apparitions/
  2. Sanctuary of Pellevoisin. “Nihil Obstat 2024” and “Cause for the beatification of Estelle.” Official shrine material on Estelle’s healing, the 2024 Dicastery decision, and the current ecclesial status of the shrine. Available at: https://www.pellevoisin.net/en/infos-pratiques/nihil-obstat-2024/ and https://www.pellevoisin.net/en/beatification-1-2/
  3. Sanctuary of Pellevoisin. “The Chamber of Apparitions.” Official shrine page on Estelle’s room, the reported healing of February 18, 1876, and the transformation of the room into an oratory for pilgrims. Available at: https://www.pellevoisin.net/en/chemin-pelerin/chambre-apparitions/
  4. Sanctuary of Pellevoisin. “A diocesan sanctuary.” Official history of the shrine’s episcopal support, pilgrimages, and continuing place within the Archdiocese of Bourges. Available at: https://www.pellevoisin.net/en/le-sanctuaire-2/un-sanctuaire-diocesain/