My summertime memories I

Latgale is one of the four historical and cultural regions of Latvia. It is the easternmost region north of the Daugava River. While most of Latvia is historically Lutheran, Latgale is historically predominantly Roman Catholic.

Aglona Basilica is Latvia's most important pilgrimage site and the leading Roman Catholic shrine in the nation. The church was built in 1699. One of the basilica's 10 altars guard a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, said to have saved Aglona from the plague in 1708. Aglona is famous in Latvia and beyond for its basilica — the most important Catholic church in the country — which was once visited by Pope John Paul II, and which attracts thousands of pilgrims every year on the day of the Assumption of Mary (15 August).

Basilique d'Aglona

Aglona  est célèbre comme lieu de pèlerinage marial à la basilique d'Aglona, construite par les dominicains entre 1768 et 1789.

La basilique de l'Assomption est une église catholique de style baroque qui se trouve en Lettonie orientale à Aglona, dans le Latgale et à 250 km de Riga.  Elle est vouée à Notre-Dame de l'Assomption et représente le centre de la catholicité en Lettonie, pays de tradition protestante.

Le pape Jean-Paul II y a célébré la messe devant 380 000 fidèles en 1993.