Official Church Recognition and Approval
After the apparition of Our Lady of Hope on January 17, 1871, pilgrims made up of both the clergy and the laity came to Pont-Main. At the same time, inquiries and investigations were made about the apparition; the visionary children were submitted to various intense interrogations. Finally, on the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1872, Msgr. Wicart, Bishop of Laval, issued a pastoral letter giving a canonical judgment on the apparition. Thus, the veneration of Our Lady of Hope of Pont-Main was given official Church recognition and approval.
Pope Pius XI gave a final decision regarding the mass and office in honor of Our Lady of Hope of Pont-Main. A final papal honor was given to Our Lady of Hope on July 16, 1932 by Cardinal Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, by passing a decree from the Chapter of St. Peter's Basilica that the statue of the Blessed Lady, Mother of Hope, be solemnly honored with the crown of gold. The Lady then was crowned in the presence of archbishop, bishops, priests and the laity by Cardinal Verdier, Archbishop of Paris. The coronation took place on July 24, 1934.
At Pontmain, it was a matter of a message of prayer, very simple in the dramatic circumstances of war and invasion. The place of pilgrimage has remained a place of prayer and of recollection up to this day. It does not, however, attract millions as at Lourdes. The annual number is around 200,000 drawn especially from the people of the region, with some international pilgrimages, especially from Germany.
Notre-Dame-de-Pontmain, Quebec is a village in Canada that was named after the apparition.
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