Abbaye Saint-Victor

This guide to Abbaye Saint-Victor in Marseille follows the Chandeleur, a candlelit procession each February second that carries a small Black Madonna out of the abbey's crypt and up into the city above the harbor. You'll hear about the archbishop's blessing, the fifth-century monks who built the fortress-thick walls above the crypt, and the ancient sarcophagi stacked beneath your feet. It traces how a centuries-old ritual and a nearby bakery tradition became bound together.