Anchored in the hearts of the people of Marseilles, the traditional Mass of the Vow of the Aldermen was celebrated in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart this Friday, June 11, at 8 a.m. by Monsignor Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille. Perpetuating the tradition, the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolitan CCIl renewed the offering of the white wax candle, adorned with the shield of Marseille, transmitted by its president Jean-Luc Chauvin, in accordance with the wish made by the Aldermen of Marseille for the disappearance of the plague in 1722 in the presence of the constituted bodies.
While the tercentenary of the plague was celebrated in 2020 just as the country was experiencing its first confinement due to the Covid-19 virus, the year 2021 is still marked by the health crisis. The situation continues to echo the terrible disease that decimated much of the Marseille and Provençal population in the 18th century, who did not yet know the hope of vaccines.
At the time, to ward off the epidemic which, while decreasing, nevertheless continued to claim new victims, the Bishop of Marseille, Monsignor de Belsunce, under the inspiration of a nun from the First Monastery of the Visitation, Anne-Madeleine Rémuzat, resolved to consecrate her diocese to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. By letter of October 22, 1720, he established locally the feast of the Sacred Heart “henceforth celebrated every year, on the Friday immediately following the octave of the Most Blessed Sacrament”, but without waiting for the month of June 1721, he announced that the ceremony would be celebrated from the day of All Saints, that is to say on November 1, 1720. Until the end of 1721, the epidemic knew only sporadic recoveries. Marseille could believe they were definitely safe.
However, the plague was not completely gone. In May 1722, the number of infected people was increasing every day. On the 19th, the bishop wrote to the Aldermen of Marseilles, proposing that they themselves make “incessantly and without ceremony a stable vow to the divine Heart of our Savior”. This is therefore the origin of the Vow of the Aldermen. On the following June 4, the first Alderman Moustier solemnly made the promise in the cathedral where all the notables had assembled and made the offering of a candle weighing four pounds, as the Bishop had suggested. After the Monastery of the Visitation, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart has been hosting the ceremony since 1986. Under its nave decorated with a magnificent mosaic recalling the Mass of 1720, the Vow is fulfilled each year in the presence of the highest authorities. .
Source: https://destimed.fr/Marseille-Messe-du-Voeu-des-Echevins-ce-vendredi-11-juin