On 17th January 1871, the Holy Virgin Mary lit up the sky of Pontmain for three hours, in front of a few children. Sixteen years earlier, the new diocese of Laval had been dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
Mgr Casimir Wicart, Bishop of Laval, immediately requested a detailed inquiry into the events and came personally to Pontmain to question people. Other investigations and questioning took place subsequently, but on 2nd February 1872, by means of a very definite canonical act, the Bishop gave his decision. He recognised the authenticity of the apparition, approved the cult of our Lady of Hope of Pontmain and called for the building of a sanctuary.
Father Michel Guérin died after 36 years of service at Pontmain, whereupon the Bishop called upon the Missionaries Oblates of Immaculate Mary to organise the first pilgrimages and apostolic preachers in the whole of the West of France. He had met them when he was Bishop of Fréjus. They started their mission on 1st October 1872. By coincidence, at the same time, the Oblates were also called to serve as chaplains in the future Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre.
Less than a year later, on 18th June 1873, Mgr Wicart blessed the first stone of the sanctuary at Pontmain. It was his swan song, for he died shortly afterwards.
His successors shared his ideas and acted upon his decisions but each one had a relatively short episcopate (10 years, 48 days, eight months, five years and four years). Yet before the end of the century, on 15th October 1900, Mgr Pierre Geay consecrated the sanctuary.

Of course, many people were already making the journey to Pontmain, by cart or often on foot, and sometimes coming from very fat afield. At the first anniversary, the 17th January 1872, 8 000 pilgrims were counted. The numbers grew with the years.
The pilgrims went to the ten o’clock mass in the little parish church, then they went in a procession to the barn and the column erected in memory of the apparition. After that they listened to a lesson and then returned to the church.
But there was still no basilica. The sanctuary was built on the spot where the apparition had taken place. The land, which had previously been called ‘The castle moat’ belonged to Mr Morin du Tertre but when he learnt of the apparition he cried out happily, “this field no longer belongs to me, the Holy Virgin has stolen it from me !”

In September 1873, 40 000 pilgrims came from all over the region, one deanery after the other. “As many men as women”, remarked an observer. However there was no shortage of malicious or alarmist rumours during this troubled period, “the dais has collapsed, there is nothing left to eat, there’s no room for the carts, why go there — it’s miserable, the red cross stands for blood, so the war is going to start again,” etc —.
On 17th January 1877, mass was celebrated for the first time in the choir of the new church. They prayed as much as during the six days of 1873 ! The pilgrims liked the invocations very much. A narrator tells us that, “the priest’s loud acclamations which terminated in a solemn Amen by all the pilgrims had a powerful effect and gave the ceremony the character of an important show of faith.”
The project was to raise a huge church tower with a statue on the Virgin Mary on the summit. But the ground was not solid enough. The tower collapsed and the two existing church towers had to suffice. The vault was elevated to 35 metres in 1883.
On the 11th October 1896 there were great festivities for the blessing of the church bells. For the previous three years, Father Achille Rey had been the senior chaplain after having been in Montmartre where he had installed the biggest bell in the world, the Savoyarde. This time, thirty three bells were planned ... The whole day was a gigantic celebration. But the highlight was during the evening, “after the saying of the Rosary, when images depicting the various phases of the apparition were beamed on the front and the first floor of the basilica and Father Lemius spoke to the crowd in a thunderous voice. The enthusiastic atmosphere electrified all those who were present and everyone sang and sang again, as they had sung on the evening of the apparition.

On 15th October 1900 the big church was consecrated. The ceremony was long and beautiful, reminiscent of the biblical rites of the consecration of the Temple.
In 1903, the Oblates, like all the other religious orders, were expelled from France. They did not return until long after the First World War. Luckily, the clergy of the diocese had taken over from them. In 1908, from 22nd to 24th September the Basilica of Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain was solemnly proclaimed in the presence of two archbishops, four bishops, six hundred priests and fifteen hundred pilgrims.