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Origin and history

The church Our Lady of Graces has its origin in a modest lodge-oratory built around 1500 by a Franciscan from Guingamp in the village of Beuzit. In 1506-1507, the governors of the Trève de Saint-Michel-en-Plouisy launched the construction of a chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame de All-Grâces, with the presumed financial support of Anne de Bretagne, whose coat of arms (hermines and lilies) adorn the building. An inscription on the sandstone attests that the frame was laid in February 1509, revealing an exceptionally fast construction site for the time. The site, linked to a miraculous source, quickly became a Marian pilgrimage site, structured around a fountain and a statue of the Virgin.

The building, originally conceived as a single vessel of four spans flanked by a south side, presents a remarkable stylistic unit thanks to the exclusive use of local granite. Its architecture combines late gothic influences (broken cradle vaults, diaphragm arches) and Renaissance first-fruits (laid diamond pilasters in sacristy, added in the mid-16th century). The western peg tower, adorned with geminied bays and surmounted by an octagonal arrow bounded with bellthorns, is inspired by tregor models such as the Guingamp tower. Inside, the carved sandstones, among the oldest in Brittany, and the credence washbasins testify to an ambitious, perhaps unfinished liturgical program (no north symmetry).

The adjacent Franciscan convent, founded in 1614 after the fire of Guingamp (1591), was demolished in the 19th century. The church, which became parish in 1800 after the sale of the former church of St. Michael, underwent several restorations: repair of the choir after a fire in 1829, consolidation of the lightning arrow in 1844, and replacement of the stained glass windows in 1996. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1907, it preserves remarkable furniture elements, such as the carved vantals of the southern gate (early 16th century) illustrating the Annunciation, and a Marian fountain surmounted by a flamboyant dais.

Brother Pierre Bilsic, a Franciscan from Guingamp, played a key role in coordinating the initial construction site, while Queen Anne of Brittany would be its main patron, as suggested by the ubiquitous ducal coat of arms. The pilgrimage, centered on a statue of the Virgin now disappeared, attracted the faithful thanks to the miraculous spring, whose fountain remains near the bedside. The building thus illustrates the Marian devotion in Brittany to the hinge of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, while reflecting the networks of influence of beggars and the ducal court.

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