[1]: 2 In 1876, a domestic servant, Estelle Faguette, reported receiving a series of fifteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and recovered from a serious illness, tuberculosis.

A distinctive feature of Faguette's apparitions was her claim that the Virgin wished her devotees to wear a Scapular of the Sacred Heart.

[3] In 1983, Archbishop Paul Vignancour of Bourges formally declared Faguette's cure to be inexplicable in the light of medical science and that her recovery could rightly be regarded as a miracle by Catholics.

[4] At the time of the apparitions, Pellevoisin was the commercial centre for around a thousand citizens under the authority of the village mayor, Comte de la Rochefoucauld.

The letter was laid at the feet of a statue of the Virgin in Montbel, the summer chateau of the Rochefoucaulds, about 3 km from Pellevoisin.

[1]: 4 In February 1876, the Countess had to travel to Paris but arranged for accommodation to be made available for Faguette in a house close to the parish church in Pellevoisin.

[2]: 119 The initial enquiries regarding the claims of apparition and healing were carried out by the former Archbishop of Bourges, Charles-Amable de la Tour d'Auvergne.

A few days later, the Archbishop received her for a private audience and granted permission for her to make and distribute copies of the Scapular of the Sacred Heart.

No explicit mention was made of Pellevoisin in connection with its approval (but there was reference to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun who had received visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus).

[2]: 112 & 114 In 1893, Archbishop Jean-Pierre Boyer invited the Dominican Order of Catholic friars to establish a monastery in a house nearby her oratory.

[2]: 113 On 16 April 1903, Madame de la Rochefoucauld, who still had administrative rights over the private property containing the oratory, closed it to the general public.

[2]: 115 On 17 October 1915, Pope Benedict XV commented that Our Lady had chosen Pellevoisin as a privileged place to dispense her graces.

[2]: 117 On 22 December 1922, the Sacred Congregation of Rites authorised a votive Mass of the namesake Marian title to be celebrated on 9 September in the parish church and adjoining monastery.

[2]: 119 On 7 June 1936, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli sent an image painting of Our Lady of Pellevoisin as a gift to the Dominican community.

[2]: 123 On 22 August 2024 Pope Francis approved the letter of The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith which gives its consent to the "nihil obstat" proposed by the Archbishop of Bourges concerning devotion to Our Lady of Mercy at the Marian shrine in the small French town.