Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Basilica Notre-Dame du Spasme, located in La Livinière in the Hérault, finds its origins in the 12th century with a Romanesque construction. The building, which was thoroughly renovated in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, now consists of three naves and vaulted bottoms. Its history is linked to a statue of the Virgin of Spasm, reported from Jerusalem by Nicolas de La Jugie (1315–1376), local lord. This statue, representing Mary in intense pain in the face of the Passion of Christ, gives the sanctuary its unique spiritual identity, often compared to that of the homonymous church in Jerusalem. The original statue, stolen in 1960, was replaced by a copy.

The sanctuary went through troubled periods, especially during the French Revolution. In 1792 the City Council of La Livinière avoided its sale as a national property by declaring it a branch of the Saint-Étienne church. Two years later, a citizen petition called for its preservation. In the 19th century, Abbé Échinier published a Manuel du pilgrim (1889), clarifying his final name: "Our Lady of Spasme", after a controversy around the name "Our Lady of Palms". In 1893 Pope Leo XIII authorized the solemn coronation of the statue, acknowledging its dogmatic importance.

Listed as a historical monument in 2006 with its garden of the Virgin, the basilica was erected as a minor basilica in 1959. Despite recent flights (status in 1960, furniture around 2023), it remains an active place of pilgrimage. In 2025, she was named one of the ten jubilary churches of the diocese of Montpellier for the Jubilee of Hope, highlighting her contemporary role in Marian devotion. Its architecture thus blends medieval heritage, modern transformations and an uninterrupted devotional history for seven centuries.

External links