Vierge du Hangochet

The Vierge de Hangochet, located at the foot of the Hangochet rock in an excavation deep in the mountains, is at the heart of several legends. One of them tells the story of Jenny, a lumberjack from Plainfaing. After being seriously injured by a tree, he vows to consecrate a rock to the Blessed Virgin if he survives. Miraculously saved, he sells everything he owns, including his cow and his house, but his wounds do not heal. He realizes that the greatest sacrifice of all would be to give up Nicole, his beloved fiancée.

Nicole, loyal to Jenny, accepts his sacrifice and enters a convent. But after a mystical dream in which the Virgin Mary promises to reunite their hearts, the two young people meet again and are blessed by the priest. Jenny buys back everything he has sold, and they marry, living happily ever after.

Another legend takes place during the Thirty Years' War, when a young girl, Marie-Claire, narrowly escapes from a "Houèbes" mercenary soldier. Pursued, she threw herself from the top of the rock, praying to the Virgin Mary and St. Clare, and miraculously survived. In gratitude, she placed statues of the saints in a grotto beneath the rock.

Marie-Claire then married Colas, her childhood sweetheart, and a tradition was born: every year, young girls come to pray to the Virgin of Hangochet on Ascension Day to find a husband. The grotto became a place of pilgrimage where the statues were venerated. One day, however, the statue of St. Clare disappeared, and the tradition lost its importance.