Marie de Nazareth
To Jesus, through Mary
The village of Pontmain is an important place of pilgrimage to Our Lady, who appeared to four children on January 17th, 1871. On that day, at half past five in the evening and for more than three hours, the Virgin Mary illuminated the sky over Pontmain. She delivered a message of hope, on a banner which was read and spelled out by the children: “But oh! do pray, my children; God will answer you very soon. My Son lets his heart be touched.”
Do you know the prayer to Our Lady of Pontmain, Mother of Hope and Queen of Peace?
Let us pray together:
Most gracious Virgin Mary, by your apparition at Pontmain,
you remind us of the importance of prayer,
you fortified in our hearts the hope and trust in God,
and you gave us peace.
Listen now with favor to our fervent prayers,
so that peace may be restored in our hearts,
In our families, in our country and in all nations:
PEACE, the fruit of justice, truth and charity.
Inflame in our souls the wish to live fully our Christian faith,
without any compromise, in all circumstances of our life.
Help us to understand our brethrenand to love them in God from the depth of our hearts.
Amen.
Pontmain is a picturesque village in the department of Mayenne, in the Loire region, with less than 900 inhabitants: (the demonym in French is “Pontaminois”). Pontmain is renowned particularly due to its sanctuary of Our Lady of Pontmain, from the name of the Virgin who appeared to some children. It is 45 minutes away from the towns of Laval and Rennes.
A high point of Christian pilgrimage, the sanctuary of Pontmain, in Mayenne, was built after the Virgin Mary’s apparition to some children of the village of Pontmain in 1871. The imposing neo-gothic basilica, constructed in the XIXth century near the site of the apparition, harbors in its choir a beautiful display of stained glass windows illustrating the Virgin’s apparitions at Pontmain, Lourdes and La Salette, in addition to scenes of the life of Christ. The Barbedette barn, from where the children saw the Holy Virgin in 1871, has been made into a place of prayer and spiritual retreat. Following the apparition and its canonical recognition, Father Michel Guérin, parish priest of Pontmain, arranged for the pilgrims to be received by the nuns at the local school. But after his death, in 1872, the bishop called upon the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to accompany the first pilgrimages and preach in the region. The number of pilgrims flowing to Pontmain increased rapidly, which led to the need of building a sanctuary. Mgr. Wicart asked the architects to construct a church which could accommodate 1,000 people (nowadays, the site can hold 1,280 people).
The basilica of Our Lady of Pontmain, also known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain was built at the end of the XIXth century in Pontmain, near the site of the Marian apparition of Pontmain. The Basilica of Pontmain, built in neo-gothic style, following the plans of the architect Eugène Hawke, was raised to the category of minor basilica in 1905. Built in granite, it includes has 39 bells and harbors large stained glass windows representing the principal Marian apparitions and some scenes of the life of Jesus.
On June 18th, 1873, Mgr. Wicart, bishop of Laval, placed the cornerstone of the Basilica of Our Lady of Hope (an expression which the faithful rapidly started using to qualify the apparition).
From a civil viewpoint, the hamlet of Pontmain, which depended on the town of Saint-Ellier, became a commune. After a certain degree of slowness in the works, the basilica of Pontmain was consecrated by Mgr. Pierre Geay on October 15th, 1900.
On July 24th, 1934, the statue of the Virgin was crowned. Pilgrims flowed from all over France and from beyond. In 1946, the feast of the 75th anniversary of the apparition was celebrated by Mgr. Roncalli, Apostolic Nuncio, and future John XXIII.
Below is a list of things we can suggest that you do at in Pontmain:
The Marian apparition of Pontmain occurred on January 17th, 1871, in the little village of Pontmain, in the Mayenne region of. While the Franco-Prussian war was raging, 38 young men from the parish had set off to war on September 23rd, 1870, and nothing had been heard of them since: these were days of anguish and fear. Additionally, the typhoid epidemic began to regain strength. However, after the arrival of the parish priest, Father Michel Guérin, in November 1836, all the families in the parish began praying the rosary every day.
On the evening of January 17th, 1871, two children, Eugène (aged 12) and Joseph Barbedette (aged 10), were helping their father in the barn. It was about 5:30 pm and already dark. Jeannette Détails, an old woman, came over to give some news she had gathered somewhat further away, from escapees of the defeated Loire Army. Making use of this halt in their task, Eugène went to the door to “have a look at the weather”. Suddenly, in the sky above the front of house, he saw a “Beautiful Lady” reaching out her arms, as in a gesture of welcome. She smiled at him. She was wearing a blue robe dotted with golden stars (like the vault in the church of Pontmain, painted in that manner in 1860). On her head, the Lady wore a black veil topped with a golden crown which, in turn, was fringed with a red border halfway up. On her feet, she wore blue shoes with golden buckles. She stood in the middle of a triangle formed by three large stars. The smile of Our Lady of Pontmain was the only dialogue as, during the whole apparition, the Beautiful Lady did not utter one single word. Joseph, the younger brother, who had come to the door, also saw the “Beautiful Lady”, whereas the grownups did not see anything other than the three stars. Two other youngsters, Françoise Richer (aged 11) and Jeanne-Marie Lebossé (aged 9) cried out: “Oh! The Beautiful Lady! Isn’t she beautiful!”, and described her too.
People set off to warn the parish priest, while more and more people flocked to the site and began praying. When Abbé Guérin joined his parishioners, the children (who had been separated to prevent them from communicating amongst themselves) cried out: “V’là d’qué qui s’fait!” (“Voilà quelque chose qui se fait”) “Something new is happening” and they described a large blue oval which had surrounded Our Lady of Pontmain. Throughout the rosary, following the rhythm of the Hail Marys, the Beautiful Lady grew slowly. The oval grew in the same proportion and the number of stars on her robe, and around her, increased. Between the foot of the oval and the roof of the house, a large banner unrolled, on which gold-colored capital letters began to be written out. “It’s an M” – “An A” – “An I” – “An S”. The word “MAIS” (French for “BUT”) hung there alone until Joseph Babin, a cart driver, returning from Ernée, 20 km from there, arrived and cried out to the crowd: “You can jolly well pray; the Prussians are at Laval”. Just then, the word “PRIEZ” (“PRAY”) was spelled out beside “BUT”. The message continued to be written, one letter after another. At the end of the litanies which are sung after the Magnificat, the children could read a first line ending in a large period:
BUT PRAY MY CHILDREN GOD WILL ANSWER YOU VERY SOON.
At the beginning of the prayer of the Inviolata which followed, letters began to appear, spelling out a second line:
MY SON LETS HIS HEART BE TOUCHED
There was no final period here, but this second line was underlined with a broad golden line, like the letters.
“Let us sing our canticle to Mary”, said Father Guérin then. After that came another canticle, “My sweet Jesus”. The children, who were happy, became very sad, like the face of Our Lady of Pontmain. “We had never seen such sadness on a human face”, reported the children. At that point, a deep red cross appeared before the Virgin. Jesus was on the cross, of an even deeper red. At the top of the cross, on a white cross-piece, the words: “JESUS CHRIST” were written. The Virgin took the cross in both hands and presented it to the children, while the crowd prayed in silence and many people wept.
The Prussians, who in all likelihood would have seized Laval that evening, did not enter the town, and retreated the following morning. The armistice was signed on January 26th and published on January 28th, 1871. All 38 young men from Pontmain returned safely. Among the four youngsters who saw the Blessed Virgin, who became Our Lady of Pontmain, the two boys joined the priesthood, the youngest of the girls became a nun, and the other, the housekeeper of a parish priest.
On February 2nd, 1872, after the enquiry and corresponding canonical process, Mgr. Wicart, Bishop of Laval, who went in person to interrogate the young witnesses, published a pastoral letter in which he declared: “We acknowledge that the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, genuinely appeared on January 17th 1871 to Eugène Barbedette, Joseph Barbedette, Françoise Richer and Jeanne-Marrie Lebossé in the hamlet of Pontmain”.
The Virgin of Pontmain, also known as Our Lady of Pontmain, is the name given to the Virgin Mary at her apparition in Pontmain on January 17th, 1871. The Virgin of Pontmain is represented wearing a golden crown, a long blue robe scattered with many stars and holding a red Cross on which her Son, Jesus Christ crucified, can be seen, under the inscription “Jesus Christ”. With eyes downcast, the Virgin of Pontmain looks sad, as reported by the children who witnessed the apparition: “We had never seen such sadness on a human face”.
Although the apparition of Pontmain and Our Lady of Pontmain have been known for a long time, it is only over the last few years that historians have focused on the figure of Father Guérin. Michel Guérin, born in Laval in 1801, was ordained a priest under the July Monarchy. He was the parish priest of the little village of Pontmain for 32 years, from 1840 until his death on May 29th, 1872. As in the case of Saint Jean Marie Vianney in the village of Ars, Father Guérin wished to restore religious life in Pontmain, in this country locality of 400 or 500 souls, much neglected since the Revolution. Father Guérin enlarged and embellished the little church, spread the devotion to Our Lady of Pontmain to whom he consecrated his parish, and built, in 1842, a school run by two nuns from the region. Nowadays, it is considered that it was thanks to Father Guérin that the apparition of Our Lady of Pontmain in 1871 was so readily accepted amongst the local population. Father Guérin’s beatification process was opened on June 1st, 2013 by Mgr. Thierry Scherrer, current Bishop of Laval.
Our Lady of Pontmain is also called: Mother of Hope and Queen of Peace. If you are looking for an evening prayer to find peace, this is the prayer for peace written by pope Saint John Paul II:
Hear my voice, Lord,
For it is the voice of the victims of all wars
And violence
Among individuals and nations…
Hear my voice,
For it is the voice of all children who suffer
And who will suffer
When people put their faith
In weapons and war…
Hear my voice
When I beg you to instill
Into the hearts of all human
Beings
The vision of peace,
The strength of justice
And the joy of fellowship…
Hear my voice,
For I speak for the multitudes
In every country and in
Every period of history
Who do not want war
And are ready to walk the
Road of peace…
Hear my voice
And grant insight and strength
So that we may always
Respond
To hatred with love,
To injustice with total
Dedication to justice,
To need with the sharing of self…
Oh God, hear my voice,
And grant to the world (especially to the Middle East)
your everlasting peace.
Amen