Basilica of Notre-Dame des Enfants
basilica located in Cher, in France
Basilica of Notre-Dame des Enfants (French: Basilique Notre-Dame des Enfants) is a minor basilica located in Châteauneuf-sur-Cher, France. The basilica is dedicated to Our Lady of the Children and is the seat of the Archbishop of Bourges. Built from 1869 until 1879, it is largely in the Neo-Gothic architectural style and was constructed at about the same time as Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.
History
It was built between 1869 and 1879 in grand Gothic style to replace the ruined 16th-century church. Father Ducros, the newly appointed Dean of Châteauneuf-sur-Cher, wrote to all the parishes asking the children for donations towards the building. The story goes that one little girl living in Semur-en-Brionnais wrote asking that the new church be named Our Lady of the Children. It is the only church in France to be called this.
In 1861, Father Jacques-Marie Ducros, priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges, new parish priest, discovered a parish church in very poor condition. Eager to rebuild the building, the idea came to him to appeal to the generosity of children throughout France. To his surprise, a young girl sent him her offering and her congratulations for having wanted the new shrine to be dedicated to Our Lady of the Children.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2886911. Authority coordinates are 46.859, 2.322. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1869, 1879 and 1861.
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This entry incorporates text from “Basilica of Notre-Dame des Enfants” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.