Great Pardon of Sainte-Anne-d'Auray
26 July 2026 — A quiet candle for Saint Anne – welcome, pilgrims!
Sainte-Anne-d'Auray is a small town in Brittany, France, and one of the best-known pilgrimage centres devoted to Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary and patron saint of Brittany. According to tradition, between 1623 and 1625 a farmer named Yvon Nicolazic said that Saint Anne appeared to him several times; in 1625 an old statue of the saint was found on the spot, and a chapel and later a church were built there. Every year around 26 July, the saint's day in the Catholic calendar, thousands of pilgrims gather here. The Great Pardon (le Grand Pardon, a solemn gathering of forgiveness and prayer) includes Mass, a candlelit procession and prayers, and some participants wear traditional Breton costume with lace caps. The feast falls on a fixed date, so it has no link to the lunar calendar. In late July the summer nights are short and starry, and the candles of the procession echo the quiet lights of the sky.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure made of luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation: a small candle flame and a delicate lace Breton cap drifting slowly together across the night sky
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