This church was sacked several times and partly destroyed during the religious wars between 1543 and 1622. On the eve of the French Revolution, a violent storm shook the old building and it caught fire.
On June 10, 1801, thanks to the intervention of the government of Montpellier and the Jesuits, the recovery of the Marian temple was undertaken. The Pope granted it the title of Minor Basilica and the distinction of crowning the statue.
The temple remained closed for security reasons for several years, until it was reopened on August 31, 2006. By order of the Archbishop of Montpellier, Bishop Guy Thomazeau, gave the new arrangements:
– “To make the Basilica a place of celebration that brings together believers and pastors, both from Montpellier and from different places …
– “Make the Basilica an open place where anyone can find acceptance, silence, meditation”.
– “Make the Basilica a place of cultural events.”
In the Middle Ages, Montpellier was celebrated by a cult centered on a miraculous black Madonna.
According to the Pilgrims’ Guide to the southern French Way to Santiago de Compostela “Crosses of Saint-Gilles, Montpellier, Toulouse and the Somport Pass”. This is the route generally known as the road to Toulouse, and as with its description of the other three French routes, the Guide is brief in the extreme. Historians and specialists have attempted to add more definition to these routes by including information provided in the chapter listing the holy relics of the route recommended for veneration. Montpellier is anomalous in this context in that no mention is made of a cult. As in Notre-Dame-du-Puy, there was a Marian cult celebrated in existence in the 12th century, but unlike the example of Le Puy en Velay, it is not included in the designation given in the Guide.
After Arles and Saint-Gilles, pilgrims to Compostela continued on to Spain via the hermitage of Saint Saturnin in Toulouse, some taking the road that led them into the mountains to reach the abbey of Gellone while others continued along the Roman Domitian road to Béziers and Narbonne. This route crosses Montpellier.
The origins of the city lie in the period of the Saracen invasion of the region and the destruction of the nearby cathedral city island of Maguelone by Charles Martel to prevent the Saracens from using it as a foothold in the region. Refugees were drawn to Montpellier and the neighboring town of Substantion. A good number came from Muslim Spain and the city was able to benefit from the rich cultural mix offered by this new population. This led to its development as one of the great centers of learning of the Middle Ages exemplified by its celebrated medical school.
The cult of the Virgin was held in the church of Notre-Dame-des-Tables, so named because of the tables used by money lenders in the vicinity. Returning from the First Crusade, Guilhem V of Montpellier brought with him two remarkable items. The relics of Cleophas, disciple of the Road to Emmaus and a black Madonna that he donated to the church of Notre-Dame.
In the early ninth century, the Count of Substantion had paid for the construction of a small church in Montpellier dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Consecrated in Ricuinus 817 by Ist, bishop of Maguelone abandoned cathedral was established on the site of a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Vesta. Vesta was the goddess of the hearth flame. It is worth noting that the likelihood of a pre-existing druidic cult should not be ruled out and the Celtic name for the fire “Visc” would provide an etymological link adding to the religious one of Vesta and the Virgin, since the cult of Vesta involved a sacred fire that was maintained by the priestesses of the temple who were obliged to follow a regime of chastity, the vestal virgins. The sacred fire was for the protection of the city.
The most striking of the miraculous stories to come out of Notre-Dame-des-Tables seems to be the product of a long tradition. When Montpellier was hit by an outbreak of plague that decimated the city, in the 14th century, the inhabitants built a huge circular candle with which they surrounded the city walls and set about burning. In ceremony they finished the giant burning candle and processed to the church where it was placed in front of the altar. As the flame diminished so did the plague.
Vesta was referred to as Mater, the Mother who had a beneficial influence on the argicultural cycle, a reflection of this can be detected in another of the Virgin of the miracles of Montpellier. During a time when great drought threatened the harvest of the region, the Magestat Antiqua was carried in procession to the river Lez and ritually submerged. By the time the black Madonna was returned to the altar at Notre-Dame-des-Tables, the rains had already come.
The miracles of Notre-Dame-des-Tables were well known throughout western medieval Christendom. In the early thirteenth century, the Cistercian chronicler, Caesar of Heisterbach wrote: “There is not in Montpellier a church dedicated to St. Mary, where the cures are so numerous and so brilliant and to which, despite the resources of his famous school send their patients.
The medieval churches of Montpellier suffered greatly during the French wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries. Notre-Dame-des-Tables was attacked three times, finally in 1794, leaving nothing but the crypt and a fragment of Romanesque sculpture.
The present basilica originates from a tradition of more than a millennium of faith and community life in the city of Montpellier (France).
In the year 1000 AD, a small church was built and placed under the protection of Saint Mary. Soon, families settled around the church, which gave rise to the city of Montpellier and the Virgin received the name of “Our Lady of the Tables” because of the merchants’ stalls that were installed in the vicinity.
The Marian sanctuary was enlarged and embellished many times over the years and numerous miracles were recorded through the intercession of the Heavenly Mother. In 1189, Bishop Bernard Montlaur instituted the Feast of Nuestra Señora de los Milagros Tablas on August 31.
Guilhem VI, lord of Montpellier, on his return from the Crusades, placed on the image of Mary with the child Jesus the phrase: “Virgin Mother, pray to your Son to help us all”. Later, in 1327, in recognition of Mary’s protection during the epidemics, the goldsmiths of the city donated a silver statue, a copy of which is kept today.
In 1801, the recovery of the Marian temple was undertaken after sieges and fires. The Pope granted it the title of Minor Basilica and the distinction of crowning the statue.
References:
20 ENERO – Nuestra Señora de las Mesas
San Lázaro de Betania 