The Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours de Neuvizy is a Catholic basilica located in the village of Neuvizy. A pilgrimage is organized in the church and on the Marial road on the outskirts of the village in May and on August 15, which has earned Neuvizy the nickname “Le Lourdes Ardennais”. Pope John Paul II decided to elevate it to a basilica in 2002. The history of this basilica began on April 30, 1752, when eight children attending catechism in Villers-le-Tourneur discovered a statuette of the Blessed Virgin, surrounded by a halo of light, near a small fountain on an oak tree in the woods from Neuvizy. They knelt down and recited the Salve Regina, the Souvenez-vous and many prayers and other songs. In 1818, a cross was erected in the forest, in the presence of Charles Poit, the last survivor of the event. At that time, the church of the village was just a simple and small structure, but after the multiplication of phenomena, pilgrims came in more and more numbers to pray before the miraculous statue placed inside the modest chapel of the village. So a bigger church had to be built. Under the impetus of the parish priest at the time, Canon Nicolas Valentin, the foundation stone for a new church was laid on May 4, 1865, in the presence of 10,000 pilgrims. This priest supervised the construction of the new sanctuary and was also the assistant architect, carpenter, painter and main sculptor. On the outside, a marble indicates that this canon rests under the trumeau of the church. Most of this religious monument was completed in late 1876.
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