Charlemagne, Mary’s Son (II)

In 778, Charlemagne was ready to surrender, wearied by the obstinate resistance of the Saracen Lord Mirat in the citadel of Mirambel (the current site of Lourdes). He was on the very point of raising the siege, when his companion Bishop Turpin, bishop of Puy-en-Velay, had an inspiration and obtained the authorization to go negotiate with the besieged. He proposed to Mirat to surrender, not to the sovereign, but to the Queen of Heaven. The proposal actually pleased the Moor chief who laid down his weapons at the feet of the Black Madonna of the Puy and asked to be baptized. The day of his baptism, Mirat took the name of Lorus that, transmitted to the city, became Lourdes at a later date. One thousand years before Saint Bernadette, the Blessed Virgin had already taken official possession of the place where she would one day appear.