The first edition of Utrique Fidelis brought together 450 pilgrims in western France, confirming the interest sparked by the new regional pilgrimages linked to the traditional liturgy. During the weekend of October 3 and 4, faithful of different ages and backgrounds walked through the lands of Vendée and Anjou, distributed among twenty chapters, with the purpose of giving public witness to their faith.
Organized by a lay association presided over by Édouard Bodin, the initiative was born with the desire to revive popular pilgrimages and strengthen local Catholic communities. Its name, Utrique Fidelis, means “Faithful to one and to the other,” an expression with which its promoters claim their fidelity to Christ and the Virgin, to the Church and the traditional Roman rite, as well as to their religious and cultural roots.
From revolutionary Vendée to an ancient Marian shrine
The route began in Tiffauges, a town in Vendée that suffered the violence of the infernal columns during the French revolutionary wars of 1794. The choice of this starting point recalls one of the most painful episodes in the history of a region deeply linked to Catholic resistance against the French Revolution.
After walking nearly 50 kilometers, the pilgrims arrived at the shrine of Our Lady of Marillais, in Anjou, where, according to an ancient local tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared with the Child Jesus to Saint Maurilius, bishop of Angers, in the year 430. The shrine is thus preparing to commemorate in 2030 the 1,600th anniversary of that apparition.
The organizers also wished to recover the legacy of Bishop Charles-Émile Freppel, bishop of Angers during the 19th century, who promoted the restoration of pilgrimages to Marillais and exhorted the Catholics of Anjou, Brittany, and Vendée to remain faithful to the Church.
The traditional liturgy and the missionary spirit
The pilgrimage is built around three pillars: Tradition, Marian devotion, and mission. Its motto, “For the charity of Christ urges us,” taken from the second letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (5:14), expresses the desire of its promoters to make the Catholic faith visible in an increasingly secularized society.
Father Olivier de Nedde, of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), serves as the general chaplain of the pilgrimage, which was accompanied by priests linked to traditional institutes. The organization had also announced the participation of clergy and seminarians from the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, the Institute of the Good Shepherd, and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
The march concluded on Sunday at the Marian shrine with the blessing of the Blessed Sacrament and a consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“We are missionaries in our own land”
The initiative is part of the growth of traditional regional pilgrimages in France, alongside other events such as Nosto Fe, in Provence, Dex Aïe, in Normandy, or Feiz e Breizh, in Brittany. Inspired by the model of Paris-Chartres, these marches seek to bring the spirit of that great pilgrimage to the Catholic communities of each territory.
In statements collected by Famille Chrétienne, Jean, one of the participants from Vendée, highlighted precisely that local dimension: “We are missionaries in our own land and that closeness is essential.”
Édouard Bodin had expressed the purpose of this first edition with an eloquent image: not to walk in order to honor ashes, but to rekindle the fire of the Tradition received. An aspiration that the promoters of Utrique Fidelis wish to turn into an annual gathering, uniting the transmission of the faith, sacramental life, and the recovery of the Christian roots of western France.