“I am the Virgin Mary”

On August 10, 1519, a woodcutter named Jean (John) de la Baume climbed Mount Verdaille (France), where he began his work day by praying. Suddenly the Virgin Mary appeared to him, with the Child Jesus, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Catherine the martyr and the archangel Saint Michael. Our Lady was standing with her feet resting on a crescent moon. She said to Jean:

"Go and tell the Consuls and the clergy of Cotignac to build a chapel here, dedicated to Our Lady of Graces, and to come in procession to receive the graces that I want to grant."

It was decided to erect a chapel there. On September 14th, feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, while digging the foundations of the church, the workers discovered in the ground large quantities of bones, nails, ivory boxes and a crystal ball, the evidence that Christian martyrs had been buried there before. In fact, Provence was Christianized in the first century AD, and persecutions ceased only in in the year 311 in Europe.

A sweet perfume exuded from of the grave and several sick people who were present on that day were cured. It was the beginning of the great graces which have since been pouring out at Cotignac, as the Virgin Mary had promised.

Father François Guilloud, csj

Rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Graces

Cotignac, France