Oratoire Notre-Dame du bon Secours

A few meters from the chapel of Vaux-Navier, the oratory of Notre-Dame du Bon Secours has a small base forming two steps on all four sides which supports a square pile, 1.35 m high, with a strong plinth at the base and a rather overhanging moulded entablature.

Above, there is a cast iron cross, 1.45 m high, facing east, in profile to the niche, facing north in a basket-handle shape, and closed by an old iron gate.

The interior, which is very deep, is vaulted in a cul-de-four shape and the support has been cut out in the centre to accommodate the base of the current statue, a cast iron statuette of the miraculous medal Virgin.

Tradition has it that in the past, in this place, a statuette of the Virgin stood in a rustic stone. This could be the present oratory, without its upper table and monumental cross, placed there later to make this primitive stone lose its function to the newly built chapel. Hence the orientation of the cross, intended to divert attention from the niche. This statue worked miracles, and the inhabitants of Arc and the neighbouring villages came in procession to implore Our Lady of Good Help in case of epidemic or drought.

Sources: P.Dieudé, Frédéric DELGRANDI