Paris: Basilica Notre-Dame des Victoires

This basilica is dedicated to the "Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners." A place of worship and parish life, it welcomes everyone: visitors, people in need of healing, those you come to confide their struggles to God, and those who want to give Him thanks.

As a matter of fact, Couperin used to live across the street and Mozart there came to pray his rosary, and stopped to meditate on Lully's tomb. And Saint Therese of Lisieux went to Mass in this church on November 4, 1887.

There are hundreds of ex-votos that line the interior of the basilica, even in the most hidden recesses. These are plaques engraved with messages of gratitude to Mary for answered prayers. Many visitors are deeply moved by them.

These “victories” of Mary are primarily spiritual—through her intercession, many Christians and non-Christians win victories over themselves, and over sin. In this church dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners, Mary is victorious over despair; she helps us overcome everything that turns us away from her Son.

Our Lady of Victories is a parish administered by a religious community, where children and adults get baptized and receive the sacrament of confirmation, where weddings and funerals take place, with a full schedule of daily Masses and other events (For more information, contact the official website).

“Mary is the fullest expression of perfect fidelity to the Holy Spirit and to his action in the soul.”

(Saint John Paul II, May 2, 1979)