Notre-Dame-du-Port, Clermont-Ferrand, Puy de Dôme, Auvergne / Our Lady of the Port, (1614) and Memorials of the Saints – 15 May

Notre-Dame-du-Port, Clermont-Ferrand, Puy de Dôme, Auvergne / Our Lady of the Port, (1614) – 15 May:

Clermont-Ferrand is located on a plain in the volcanic region of central France. Unlike most hub cities, it is not on a body of water. And yet ,for a thousand years, Clermont’s eastern district has been known as the Port.

In the crypt of its Romanesque Church of Our Lady of the Port, dating to the early 1100s, is an unusual Black Virgin, a polychromed walnut Statue just under a foot high. This long-revered image is a copy made around 1800 of a Statue from the 1200s, which was held to be a copy of an even earlier image–possibly going back to the Shrine’s foundation by St Avit in the 500s, or possibly a copy of a Byzantine icon brought by returning Crusaders. Mary cradles the child against her cheek, such as the Notre-Dame de Grâce, given in 1450 to Cambrai Cathedral in northern France.
n 1614, snow and bitter cold enveloped the area without stopping from Martinmas (11 November) to Easter. By May, there were still no buds and no grass and famine loomed. The leaders and Priests conferred. They asked the Chapter to bring out the image of Our Lady of the Port from the collegiate Church.

The four-hour procession took place on the morning of Ascension Day, May 15, 1614. Some 8,000 people followed the holy image and relics of Saints around the City walls, chanting litanies. The next day, the weather grew milder and in the following days, truly beautiful. To the joy of all, the harvests were excellent that summer and even more abundant the next year.

The new Bishop, Joachim d’Estaing, on 5 May 1616, ordered an inquiry among the town notables, after which he issued an ordinance declaring that the Feast of Notre-Dame du Port would take place on 15 May in the Parish and be observed as a day of rest in the future.

The Statue was crowned in 1875 and on 15 May 1881, Pope Leo XII declared the Church a Minor Basilica. The procession of the first Sunday after 15 May remains joyously well attended.

St Isidore the Farmer (c 1070-1619) Confessor, Farm Worker (Optional Memorial)
About St Isidore:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/saint-of-the-day-15-may-isidore-the-farmer/

St Achilles of Larissa
St Adiutor of Campania
St Alvardo

Bl Andrew Abellon OP (1375-1450)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/15/saint-of-the-day-15-may-blessed-andrew-abellon-o-p-1375-1450/

Bercthun of Beverley
Bertha of Bingen
St Caecilius of Granada
St Caesarea of Otranto
St Cassius of Clermont
Bl Clemente of Bressanone
St Colman Mc O’Laoighse
St Ctesiphon of Verga
Blessed Diego of Valdieri

St Dymphna (7th Century) Virgin Martyr “The Lily of Éire,” Virgin Martyr
About St Dymphna:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/05/15/saint-of-the-day-15-may-saint-dymphna-7th-century-the-lily-of-eire-virgin-martyr/

St Euphrasius of Andujar (1st Century) Martyr, Bishop, Missionary
St Euphrasius’ Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/05/15/saint-of-the-day-15-may-saint-euphrasius-of-andujar-1st-century/

St Gerebernus
St Hallvard of Oslo (c 1020-1043) Martyr
St Hesychius of Gibraltar
St Hilary of Galeata
St Indaletius of Urci
St Isaias
St Isidore of Chios
Bl Joan Montpeó Masip
St Maximus of Clermont
St Nicholas the Mystic
St Rupert of Bingen
St Secundus of Avila
St Simplicius of Sardinia
St Sophia of Rome
St Victorinus of Clermont
St Waldalenus of Beze