Our Lady of Peace is a traditional title of the Virgin Mary. She is represented in art holding a dove and an olive branch, symbols of peace.
Read the full Our Lady of Peace novena on the novena page. You can also learn more about novenas here.
What is the story of Our Lady of Peace?
In the early 1500s in France, Jean de Joyeuse gave the statue of Our Lady of Peace as a gift to his bride, Françoise e Voisins. The statue was passed down through the generations in the Joyeuse family.
In 1588, Jean’s grandson, Henri, brought the statue to Paris when he joined the Capuchin Franciscans.
The statue’s fame grew due to a miracle. A Capuchin friar, Brother Fiacre, who was based at the Capuchin convent in Paris, experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary instructing him to place her statue in a more prominent location so that it could be venerated by the faithful.
Brother Fiacre followed this instruction, and soon, many miracles were attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Peace.
One notable miracle involved a young boy who was gravely ill.
His parents, in desperation, prayed before the statue of Our Lady of Peace, and the boy was miraculously cured. This and other miraculous healings and interventions led to an increase in pilgrimages and devotion to Our Lady of Peace.
In 1657 the Capuchins built a larger chapel, since many of the faithful were coming to pray for her intercession.
On July 9 of that same year, the papal nuncio blessed and enthroned the statue of Our Lady of Peace. King Louis XIV was in the audience.
The Capuchins fled with the statue from their monastery during the French Revolution.
Once the terror of the Revolution ended, the statue was revealed again and given to Fr. Peter Coudrin of Paris.
In 1800, Fr. Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie founded of a community of sisters, brothers, and priests, which became known as the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.