Our Lady of Rubeaux

Notre-Dame de Rubeaux , in the parish of Lubersac, in the diocese of Tulle, is a sanctuary so ancient that its origin cannot be assigned: what is known is that it is the work of a Christian mother who, seeing her child near death, vowed to erect a chapel in honor of the Blessed Virgin if her child were returned to her. The child recovered his health; and the grateful mother raised the promised chapel in a wood favorable to the recollection of prayer, and on the edge of a stream that crossed it; from which the chapel took the name of *ri dou boe*, i n the dial ect of the time, that is to say, stream of the wood, and, by abbreviation, *Rubeaux*. The main purpose of this pilgrimage was to consecrate young girls to the Blessed Virgin and to place them under her protection. They were brought to be consecrated to her at the time they were in service; they were brought back to be offered to her and recommended again to her care on the days of her feasts and at certain times of the year. Young people presented themselves there in white clothes and were part of the processions instituted in honor of the Queen of Virgins. Even today, on the Sunday after the Assumption, which is the patronal feast of the chapel, and every day of the following week, up to and including Sunday, mothers bring their children to the chapel and have the Gospel of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin recited over them, where these words are read as a consoling prognosis for their future: "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you." One day, a sailor was even seen, after the death of his wife, on the eve of leaving for a distant expedition, coming to bring his young orphan to Notre-Dame de Rubeaux, and raising her toward her in his arms, saying: "Blessed Virgin, be the Mother of this dear child whom a father entrusts to you, and who has lost her mother on earth."