The name Notre-Dame-du-Roncier dates only from the 15th century and is based on a very old legend.
The dedication to Our Lady of  Roncier began in the middle ages.     It was founded on writings by a Carmelite monk - a Father Isaac de Jesus Maria in his History of Pilgrimages published in 1666.   The author recounts that it was before the town of Josselin existed.
The legend goes that in about the year 808 a peasant cutting brambles with a sickle in his field discovered a statue of the Virgin.   This sickle can be seen today hanging in the vault of the altar -  a souvenir of the finding of the statue.   He carried the statue home but the statue returned to the field.   This was repeated several times until the man decided that the Virgin wanted a sanctuary built on the spot where  he had found the statue  - this  became Our Lady of the Rosebush.

The Bishop d'Aleth (Saint-Marlo-de-la-Mer) authorised that  it was to be a place of worship.
It was referred to as the miraculous statue because  the peasant's daughter born blind gained her sight -   this story  spread rapidly bringing pilgrims to the area .   There is a window depicting this in the Lady Chapel.
There is little documentation of this era to either confirm or contend this.    It is said that the chapel of Notre Dame du Roncier was contructed by Vicomte du Porhoet, Guethenoc in the year l000.

Olivier de Clisson died on the 23rd April, 1407 at Josselin.   He was very attached to this chapel and he wished to be buried there with his second wife, Marguerite de Rohan.  
Inside the Basilica in the chapel to the right of the chancel is the mausoleum of Olivier de Clisson and his wife.   The chapel of the Virgin of the Rosebush is on the left of th e chancel (modern statue).

Restoration work was carried out to the church in the 15th century.
In the 17th century the spiritual life was expressed by the increasing popularity of the pardons.   The Monday of Pentecost was much celibrated.   On this day pilgrims gathered not only from neighbouring parishes but from all the dioceses in Brittany.  
In May 1738 three children from the area of Camors and suffering with epilepsy were cured .
This miracle gave the Josselin pardon a particular character and it became the pilgrimage "des aboyeuses" (ranting, barking) now known as epilepsy.

The statue was burnt in 1793 during the Revolution - not a pro christian time -  everything was loosened, broken and to be used for the fabrication of guns - the church became a source of equipment.
Only a fragment of the statue  remains.   This is kept in a reliquary and displayed in the basilica.

On the 8th September,1868 the new statue of Our Lady was crowned in the presence of a large crowd. 
In April 1801 Pope Leon X111 granted the title of  a minor basilica to the Church of Our Lady of Roncier.
Restoration started in 1885 with a roof of wood and an alter in stone - St. Catherine's chapel restored .
8th September, l949 -  His Eminence the Cardinal Roques Archbishop of Rennes  
inaugurated the new tower (spire).

In 2008, we shall celebrate the 1200 th anniversary oh this pilgrimage !