Notre-Dame-de-la-Guérison

At the head of the Val Veny, at 1,440 metres, a small white sanctuary stands at the foot of Mont Chétif. This is Notre-Dame-de-la-Guérison (Our Lady of Healing). It is one of the busiest pilgrimage places in the valley, and a favourite stop for walkers too.

A cross, then a statue

The earliest traces date from 1537, when a document mentions a place called “Berrier”. A wooden cross already stood on the path. Around 1690 a statue of the Virgin was placed in a niche beside the track. The healings attributed to it gave the place its name.

A chapel swept away by the glacier

In 1782 it was decided to build a chapel, at the request of Jean-Michel Truchet and with the bishop’s approval. In the early nineteenth century the tongue of the Brenva glacier, which flows down from Mont Blanc, destroyed the chapel. According to the sources, the present building was rebuilt in the 1860s and blessed in 1868.

Frescoes by Stornone

The church is small, in the shape of a Latin cross, in a very plain neoclassical style. The arches and walls are covered with frescoes, along with oil paintings by Giuseppe Stornone (1816-1890).

Getting there

The Val Veny road leads right up to the sanctuary. It is open to cars from May to November.

Notre-Dame-de-la-Guérison Sanctuary
Val Veny
11013 Courmayeur (AO)
Information: Diocesan Curia of Aosta, +39 0165 238515 · diocesiaosta.it

Main photo : Franco56, GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons.

Maps: personal work by Marc Badjou.