The Legend of the Pilgrim: Around the year 630, a pilgrim who brought back “Milk of the Virgin” from the Holy Land stopped in the region of Aurion (now Evron) to drink from a fountain (the fountain still exists under the choir of the present basilica). Having quenched his thirst, he fell asleep after hanging his bag from the branch of a hawthorn bush. When he woke up, the bush had grown so rapidly that he was not able to recover his precious bag. Bishop Hadouin, who happened to be in the village, was called to witness the miracle. He began praying and the hawthorn bush leaned of its own accord, so that the pilgrim was able to recover the bag and the relic it contained. The pilgrim offered the precious relic to Saint Hadouin, whose dream was to found a monastery in the region. The bishop called upon the monks of Diergé, a hamlet about 500 yards east of the church and with their help, built the church and monastery which he dedicated to Our Lady of the Thorn (Notre-Dame de l’Epine).
The half-domed vault of the Saint Crespin or Crépin chapel, also known as the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-l'Epine, is decorated with a mural painting dating back to the 13th century. At the centre, a Christ in Majesty (in a mandorla) surrounded by the Tetramorph (the symbols of the four Evangelists). The central figure of Christ is flanked by two incense-bearing angels and surmounted by the Tree of Life. Below the angels, are representations of Saint Benedict, the reformer of the Benedictine rule observed by the monks of Evron and Saint Hadouin, bishop of Le Mans, who, in the legend of the hawthorn bush, had promised to have a church and monastery built on this site. The paintings were restored in 1846, and some details have been altered. |
