Basilica of Our Lady of Geneva

The Basilica of Notre Dame of Geneva is a Roman Catholic church and Minor Basilica located in Geneva, Switzerland. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Pope Pius IX gifted the white Carrara marble statue of the Immaculate Conception as Our Lady of Geneva in 1859. Pope Pius XI granted the image a decree of Pontifical coronation on 26 April 1936. Pope Pius XII later issued a pontifical decree Nominis Catholici which raised the shrine to the status of minor basilica on 4 August 1954.

The shrine is a common stopover for pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostela. The basilica marks the beginning of the "via Gebennensis", which extends from Le Puy-en-Velay in via Podiensis. Its motto is La Nuntia Pacis (English: Messenger of Peace).

History
The church was built according to the design of Alexandre Grigny of Arras between 1852 and 1857 on the site of a former stronghold fortifications. This neo-Gothic building, whose appearance is partly inspired by Notre-Dame de Bonsecours and Saint-Nicolas of Nantes, broke ground thanks to the city of Geneva, which had ceded land to religious communities to build places of worship, and through donations and manual labor provided by the Geneva Catholics. The cornerstone was laid September 8, 1852. Pope Pius IX donated 1,000 crowns towards the construction

The dedication was celebrated 4 October 1857. Father Gaspard Mermillod, future episcopal vicar of Geneva pronounced the sermon. He was later expelled from Switzerland by the government.

After the coming to power of an anti-clerical government, Notre Dame was occupied on 5 June 1875, and closed. This occupation was accompanied by a protest against the Roman Catholic Church and more unrest. The commitment of Catholics to this sanctuary became even greater. The building was bought by the Catholic Church in 1911.

The 7:00 p.m. Mass on Sundays is in English.

Pontifical approbations

 * Pope Pius IX — gifted the white Carrara marble statue of the Immaculate Conception from his own private chapel inside the Apostolic Palace. The Pontiff renamed the image "Our Lady of Geneva" and gifted it to the Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva, Cardinal Gaspard Mermillod on 20 November 1859 during a private Papal audience. The image was sculpted by Roman artisan Carlo Maria Forzani and was installed in the church on 28 December 1859 then officially consecrated to the shrine on 5 February 1860.


 * Pope Pius XI — granted the image a decree of Pontifical coronation on 26 April 1936 to the  Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva, Marius Besson. The rite of coronation was executed via the Apostolic Nuncio,  Filippo Bernardini on 23 May 1937.


 * Pope Pius XII — issued a decree Nominis Catholici which raised the shrine to the status of minor basilica on 4 August 1954.

Heritage
The oldest art works of the basilica date back to the time immediately preceding the Protestant Reformation:


 * a torch, decorated with paintings, belonging to a convent deleted during the Protestant Reformation;
 * a carved wood panel with bas-relief image of the Virgin Mary, mutilated with an ax by Protestants.

Other works or art objects are the object or through the worship the statue of Our Lady of Geneva, the tabernacle and the carved liturgical furniture (altar, ambo, clams).

The stained glass windows of the basilica are particularly remarkable. Some are semi-industrial production neo-gothic, but most show the evolution of the art of stained glass during the twentieth century, in various styles, after those of Claudius Lavergne (installed from 1857 to 1875). From 1912, several artists have successively contributed to adorn the basilica: Charles Brunner, Alexandre Cingria, Maurice Denis, Gherri Moro, Paul Monnier, Jean-Claude Morend, Théodore Strawinsky. The building is classified as Cultural Property of National Significance.

Stained glass windows
The first stained glass windows, by Claudius Lavergne, were installed from 1857 to 1875, in the so-called Sulpician style. These are the 13 stained glass windows in the apse chapels and the ambulatory and the 3 rose windows.