“In Me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in Me is all hope of life and virtue. He that hearkeneth to Me shall not be confounded; and they that work by Me shall not sin. They that explain Me shall have life everlasting.”
- Eccl 24: 25, 30-31
Four times within 28 years, Our Lady appeared in France (from 1830-1858, at Paris, Blangy, LaSalette and Lourdes). In Paris and at La Salette, She had warned the people of calamities that would befall the country if they did not repent. At Lourdes, the Lady made a moving request, repeated by St. Bernadette: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” Many of the French people heeded the warning, but many more continued to go their sinful ways. Revolutions, crop failures and famines came, but still the multitude did not get on its knees to pray.
Then, in 1870, came the worst disaster to befall France in the 19th century – the Franco-Prussian War. The Third Empire of Napoleon III was no match for the Prussians under Bismarck. Paris was surrounded on September 18, 1870. On December 27, the siege began in earnest and the city was under daily bombardment. The Parisians were starving, desperate, and in deadly fear of being blown to bits. People in other parts of France lived in fear of invasion. By the New Year of 1871, two-thirds of the country was in German hands.
France was suffering greatly for its impiety.
At last the people began to heed Our Lady’s repeated admonitions. In their hour of trial, millions of French people turned to the Virgin Mary, their Mother and Protector. At Our Lady of Victories, LaSalette and Lourdes, they gathered by the hundreds to beg Her intercession before Our Lord and Savior, Her Divine Son Jesus Christ. In their parish churches they prayed, but also in their private homes, they prayed their Rosaries fervently, imploringly.
But not everyone was converted during this trying time. Most of those in positions of influence remained irreligious and, after the war, they were to increase their hold on the country. The ordinary people, however, turned to the Virgin Mary by the thousands. By January 15th, the Prussians were at the gates of Leval. The panic-stricken farmers hid their food and possessions, expecting further Prussian advances. In addition to the sufferings of war, the deadly diseases of typhoid and smallpox broke out. Not far from Leval, a village priest urged and also led the weeping, disconsolate people to pray to the Virgin, under Her title “Our Lady of Hope.”
Our Lady, who always hears the pleas of the little ones and the weak, responded to their prayers.
On the cold, snowy and clear, starlit night of January 17, 1871, in the little village of Pontmain where the faithful parish priest, the Curè Michel Guérin, had urged the people to call on Our Lady of Hope, the Blessed Mother came once more to France. She was seen only by six “little ones” – from ages two to twelve.
It began with the Barbedette family, who lived in village of Pontmain, France, which is in the northwest corner of the department of Mayenne, on the borders of Brittany. There were three boys in the family. The eldest, Auguste, was with the army. The second, Eugène, was twelve years old. The third, Joseph, was ten.
These two young boys gave a very good example that children can also accomplish their Catholic duty to “pray and work” (Ora et labora). Note their piety and their obedience to God and their parents! The two boys rose at six o’clock every morning, did their household work, and then prayed the Rosary for their eldest brother’s intentions. After breakfast, they went to the village to make the Way of the Cross, again to pray for their brother’s safety. Then they served Mass. After Mass, they joined in the public prayers for France and her army.
They had often heard Curè Guérin urge his little fold: “Let us add penance to our prayers, and then we may take courage. God will have pity on us. His Mercy will surely come through the Virgin Mary.”
Near 6 p.m, on the evening of January 17, 1871, a neighbor, Jeannette Detais, stopped to see the Barbedette family. She had received news of the war. She found the father and the two boys working in the barn. While she was there, Eugène walked to the barn door. “I went to see what the weather was like,” was the only reason he could give later.
First Phase of the Apparition
Suddenly, the boy stood transfixed. About twenty or twenty-five feet above the house opposite, he beheld what he called a “grande, belle Dame” (“a grand, beautiful Lady”).
Her dress was blue, much darker than the blue of the surrounding sky. It fell in loose folds; the sleeves were loose and hanging. She wore soft slippers fasted with golden ribbons. Over her head was a soft, black veil upon which rested a golden crown, which widened toward the top, and a red band wound around it. Her face was small and beautiful. She appeared to be about eighteen to twenty years old. Her arms were at her sides and the palms of her hands were turned outward. The Lady was smiling at the child.
As Eugène gazed in awe, Jeannette Detaise, who had delivered her message, came to the door of the barn. Eugene said excitedly, “Look, Jeanette, and tell me what you see over Augustin Guidecog’s house!”
“I can’t see anything,” she replied, as she looked into the sky.
Eugène called his father and brother to come. The father could not see anything either, but Joseph exclaimed, “Oh, I see a beautiful Lady!” He described her dress in detail.
“My poor boys,” said Mr. Barbedette, “you don’t see anything. If you did, we could see it, too.” He told the boys to come back to the barn and finish their work. To Jeanette, he said, “Be sure not to talk in the village of what the children say they see.”
“Don’t fear,” answered Jeanette.
The boys returned to their work, but later they again looked out the barn door. The Lady was still there. Their mother was summoned, but she could not see anything. At her suggestion, the family knelt and prayed five Our Father’s and five Hail Mary’s. Then they went into the house to eat supper. As soon as supper was finished, the boys rushed back to the barn and fell to their knees.
“They still see the vision,” said Mr. Barbedette to her husband.
Then she asked her sons how tall was the Lady?
“Just the height of Sister Vitaline,” came the answer.
This gave Mrs. Barbedette an idea. “I’ll ask Sister to come here,” she said. “If you see anything, surely she will see it, too.”
Sister Vitaline soon arrived, but she saw nothing unusual.
“How is it possible that you don’t see?” Eugene asked respectfully. “She is so brilliant. Don’t you see those three bright stars forming a triangle?”
“Yes, I see them.”
“Well, the highest star is right over the Lady’s head. The other two are on a level with her elbows.”
These three stars were seen by everyone that night – but they were never seen again.
Mrs. Barbedette accompanied the nun back to the school. They found three little girls boarders sitting around the fire. An idea came to Sister Vitaline.
“Children,” Sister said, “let us go with Mrs. Barbedette. She wants to show you something.”
“What is it?” came the inquiry.
“I don’t know, for I have not seen anything myself,” Sister answered. As Sister Vitaline and Mrs. Barbadette took the three children, another sister, Marie-Edouard, ran quickly to ask the Curè to also come with them. Witnessing the hurrying women and children, other villagers became aware (if not curious) that something of import was transpiring and followed them.
Before reaching the barn door, two of the school’s boarders - nine year-old Jeanne-Marie Le Bossé and eleven year-old Francoise Richer - said that they saw something bright over the neighbor’s house. As they reached the barn door, however, both exclaimed, “Oh, the beautiful Lady!” They described the Vision exactly as had the two Barbedette boys. But the third child who came with them did not see the Vision.
The news spread rapidly, and soon about eighty people had assembled at the barn door. The Curè arrived, but he did not see the Lady. Nor did any of the other adults. However, a little boy in ill health, Eugène Friteau, beheld the vision. Due to his delicate condition, he was not allowed to stay long in the cold air. Two months later, he died.
A two year-old girl, the little daughter of Boitin, the shoemaker, clapped her hands as soon as she was at the front of the barn door. “Le Jésus! Le Jésus,” she happily exclaimed. These were the only words she knew how to describe such a sight. Thus, the only visionaries out of the six that could later relate what happened numbered four – the two Barbedette boys and the two girls from the Catholic orphanage/boarding school.
Second Phase of the Apparition
With the arrival of the Curè, a small red cross appeared over Our Lady’s Heart. Then the apparition became surrounded by an oval frame of a blue darker than the robe. Four candle holders were attached to the inside of the frame, two near the bottom sides and two near the top sides. Each holder held an unlighted candle. The four older children all related these wonders as the people talked amongst themselves over what was happening.
The children suddenly announced that the Lady had stopped smiling and was now looking sad. The Curè said, “If the children only are privileged to behold the celestial vision, it is because they are more worthy than we are.”
He then suggested that they pray. Everyone knelt down – some in the barn, some outside. No one seemed to mind the cold or the snow. When Sister Marie-Edouard led the Rosary and the people joined in prayer, the Lady smiled again.
As the Rosary prayers grew more fervent, the Vision began to grow larger. “She is twice as tall as Sister Vitaline now!” the children cried out. The blue frame around the Lady extended in proportion. The other stars of the sky appeared to move aside, rearranging themselves outside the frame but beneath Her feet.
There were about forty of these stars, and they were visible only to the children. Soon other stars appeared at a distance from the apparition, and they came to fasten themselves to the Lady’s dress.
“Oh, there are so many stars the Blessed Virgin will soon be gilt all over,” one of the children said with excited awe.
When the Rosary was completed, Sister Mary Eduoard began the Magnificat. Before the first verse was sung, the children exclaimed, “Something is happening!”
A plain white band appeared and unrolled itself across the length of the house’s roof. It was about a yard wide. Then a stroke of gold appeared. It was a letter of the alphabet.
“It’s an M!” the children cried. “And now there is another letter – it’s an A!”
The word Mais was formed. Other letters appeared. Before the Magnificat was concluded, the children read the words aloud: Mais priez, mes enfants (“But pray, my children”).
At the exact moment the word priez ("pray") appeared, Joseph Babin, a villager returning from the neighboring town of Erneé and who had heard the singing, came to investigate, saying, “You do well to pray to the good God! The Prussians are at Laval!”
“If they were at the village entrance, we should have no fear now!” several villagers answered.
When the man was told of the apparition, he went to his knees and joined the group in their prayers.
At the Curé’s direction, the people now sang the Litany of Loreto. Now more letters appeared. The next part of the message read: Dieu vous exaucera en peu de temps (“God will hear you in a little while” or “God will hear you in a short time.”)
Next, the Inviolata was sung. At the words, ‘O Mater alma Christi carissima’, a second line of letters appeared on the white banner. The children read aloud the words they saw: Mon fils ("My son").
Upon hearing the children call out these two words, many began to weep. “It really is the Blessed Virgin! Yes, yes - it really is She! It is Our Lady!” the people exclaimed.
As the Inviolata ended, the people began to sing the Salve Regina. The rest of the sentence appeared and read: Mon fils se laisse toucher (“My Son allows Himself to be touched”).
Completed now, the entire message was as follows: "But pray, My children. God will hear you in a short time. My Son allows Himself to be touched." Although She said not a word, Our Lady's appearance and Her golden words, mysteriously written on the white banner, gave hope and consolation to Her afflicted children in France.
Third Phase of the Apparition
At the Curè’s suggestion, the people sang the canticle Mère de l’Espérance (Mother of Hope). The smiling Lady lifted Her hands to shoulder-level, Her fingers delicately moving in time to the hymn, as though She was playing an invisible instrument. At the canticle’s end, the children related that the banner with its golden words faded away.
Fourth Phase of the Apparition
With the beginning of the next hymn, the Virgin’s face suddenly became sad again. A red crucifix appeared near Our Lady. The Body of Jesus on the Cross, covered with blood, was clearly seen. As the people sang the words, “Spare us, O Lord,” Our Lady took the Crucifix in Her hands and slightly tilted it toward the children. At the top of the crucifix appeared the words Jésus Christ, in red letters on a small white banner. (Please see picture below.)
A small star gracefully rose from beneath the Virgin’s feet, lighting the candle at the lower left of the frame and then the top one. Passing up and over Our Lady, it then lit the candles on the right side. The star moved outside the blue frame, only to rest over Our Lady’s head.
Before moving to the last phase of this magnificent Marian apparition, please consider for a moment the meaning of the apparition's colors, the symbols, and their numbers, as well as the order in which they were first noticed: the dark blue dress and the slippers with golden ribbons, the black veil, the golden crown with a red band around it, and the position of Our Lady's arms and hands. There are the three stars that all the people could see, although they did not behold the Lady. (Three is one of Church's mystical numbers. The Holy Trinity immediately comes to mind, as do the virtues of faith, hope and charity.)
With the arrival of the parish priest, the red cross over Our Lady's heart appeared, as well as the oval frame with the four candle holders. (Four is another of the mystical numbers in Tradition and Scripture.) As the Rosary prayers grew more fervent, the Apparition grew larger, while the oval frame and the stars accomodated Her. The first group of stars that came, one by one, to rest on the Virgin's dress numbered forty (another mystical number, as in the Israelites' forty days in the desert, the Holy Family's forty days of seclusion, Our Lord's forty days of fasting). Yet without number were the distant stars that also came to adorn the Lady's dress. What - or who - might those stars signify?
The message which Heaven wished to give the people appeared in golden letters on a white banner (the traditional colors of the Christmas season - and it must not be forgotten that this Apparition took place within the Christmas season - white and gold also represent purity and royalty). Note that the message was not given all at once, but at significant moments during the prayers and hymns. Too, Our Lady's face displayed either happiness or sadness, depending on either the people's reactions or what She was going to next show them.
Think of what is meant by the raising of Our Lady's hands, Her fingers moving in accompaniment with the hymn sung by the priest, the nuns, and the people. The Virgin suddenly became sad, just before the appearance of the Crucifix which She took into Her hands. As She inclined this Crucifix to the children and the people, what followed was the lighting of the four candles by one small star, which came to rest over the Virgin's head. Again, the the colors, the symbols, their number, their timing and order - as well as the apparition's conclusion and its total length of its duration - all possess great theological and Mariological depths, matters about which - at some future date - I hope to further research and write. (For information on the significance of the Virgin's uplifted hands, with fingers moving as though playing any invisible instrument, please see Our Lady: May She Be a Light to You in Dark Places.)
Fifth Phase of the Apparition
As the crowd sang another hymn – Ave Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea) - the crucifix disappeared and the Vision again assumed
the attitude of Our Lady on the Miraculous Medal, with one difference – on each of the Virgin’s shoulders appeared a small white cross, about eight inches high.
When the hymn was finished, the Curè said, “Now let us all say our evening prayers.”
As the crowd reached the nightly Examination of Conscience, a white, scroll-like veil began to rise from beneath the Lady’s feet. Little by little, the Virgin was hidden from view. The children gazed longingly and lovingly as the Lady disappeared from sight. They were so quiet during this time, that the Curè felt inspired to asked, “Do you still see anything?”
“No, Father, it is finished,” they sighed.
It was a quarter past nine. The apparition had lasted more than three hours.
What Happened Next
The Prussians, who had been at Laval – only a few short miles away, never reached Pontmain. For some inexplicable reasons, they turned back.
The armistice was signed on January 27, exactly ten days after the apparition. (Ten, incidentally, is considered the "number of the world.") France lost the war and had to pay a heavy indemnity, but the bloodshed was over.
On February 2, 1872, the Bishop of Laval, after careful research and a canonical investigation, officially judged the apparition to be of supernatural origin: “We judge that the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, truly appeared on the 17th of January 1871, to Eugène and Joseph Barbedette, Françoise Richer and Jeanne-Marie Lebossé in the hamlet of Pontmain.”
The Barbedette barn was converted into an oratory. A great twin-spired church rose on the spot of the apparition, and pilgrims went there in great numbers. As is usual in places where a true apparition from Heaven occurs, cures and conversions took place.
Today, the whole word can be compared to the France of 1870, with half of it conquered and the other half in terror of being conquered. In fact, it is even worse today - for sin increases in gravity and number. In mercy for Her wayward children, Our Blessed Mother returned to earth many times - to Knock, Ireland, to Fatima, Portugal, to Akita, Japan and in a few other manifestations which the Church has judged to be supernatural (which means of God, and not by other means, natural or not). Since the 1917 Fatima apparitions, all true Marian events echo the Fatima Message. In a word, God reminds us through the Virgin Mother to "pray and work" to cooperate with Our Lord's Redeeming Passion, to love Him instead of offending Him, and by making all we do a sacrifice for conversion of sinners.
"History repeats itself, but never in same way twice." Our Lord chose to first come to the world through the Virgin; His second Coming will also be through the Virgin but in a way we cannot even imagine. All we know is that the time will be universally recognized as "The Age of Mary," an era of peace granted to the world only because the Collegial Consecration of Russia finally took place. At that time, the majority of the people will possess real charity, which means a great love of God and neighbor. Over the whole earth will spread the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
For those of us who hope that we, our children and everyone else in the world may soon live in that blessed era, may we every day "pray and work" for the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, over which the Virgin, Our Lady of Hope, bore a red Cross at Pontmain.
Epilogue
"They that serve her shall be servants of the Holy One; and God loveth them that love her." (Eccl. 4: 15)
Before the Pontmain apparition, Curè Michel Guérin was already known as “the good Virgin’s priest” due to his life of prayer and devotion “to Jesus through Mary,” won the souls of his parishioners by also helping them in practical ways. It was he who also gave a gift of a little statue of Our Lady to each household, built the chapel and the school, erected little crosses on the roadsides, and more. From the time the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary was solemnly defined as a dogma of the faith (on December 8, 1854), this good priest also lit four candles on the Virgin’s altar at every parish service. In 1860, he had the chapel’s vault painted blue, with a sprinkling of stars. Through his efforts, the daily Rosary became a way of life among the parishioners. Although the parish priest did not see the Virgin at Pontmain, it is very likely that Our Lady chose to appear there due to the Curè’s fidelity to God and the souls entrusted to Him, whom he led "to Jesus through Mary." Due to his faith and good works, he had many times proved himself to be Our Lord and Our Lady’s devoted son of predilection. Curè Michel Guérin passed away on May 29, 1872.
As for the four children, ages 9-12, who saw the Lady at Pontmain...
"And they to whom she shall shew herself love her by the sight, and by the knowledge of her great works." (Eccl. 1: 15)
Eugène Barbedette, the first child to see Our Lady of Pontmain, became a secular priest (Abbé Eugène Barbedette) and eventually became rector of Chatillon-sur-Colmont. He lived until 1927.
Joseph Barbedette, the second child to see the Virgin at Pontmain, became an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, the order placed in charge of the shrine of Pontmain. He was called from this world while at the house of his Congregation in 1930.
Jeanne-Marie Lebossé, the third child to behold the Blessed Mother, became a religious of the Holy Family nuns and went into eternity at Bordeaux in 1933.
Francoise Richer, the fourth child also graced to behold the Mother of Mercy, lived a life of chastity and poverty in service as the housekeeper of her fellow visionary, Abbé Eugène Barbedette. Her earthly life came to a close in 1915.
~+~+~+~
Excerpts and direct quotes from individuals were taken from Don Sharkey, The Woman Shall Conquer. All Scripture quotes from the Douay-Rheims Bible. Other information about the Pontmain apparition were gleaned from various sources. Etchings and photos are from the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Pontmain.
0 comments:
Post a Comment