"The pilgrimage
of Our Lady of the Thorn [Notre-Dame de l'Épine], near Chalons-sur-Marne, commenced in the first years of the fifteenth century. (Background): On the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation,
a.d. 1419, two young shepherds leading their flocks by the side of a little chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, perceived a bright light in the midst of a thorny bush which grew near it. The first sheep of the flock being frightened by the light,
took flight; but the young lambs approached the bush; the shepherds followed their example, and discovered a small statue of the Blessed Virgin, with the Infant Jesus in her arms. The miraculous light increasing when night came, people... (Click here to read more...)