Mary called him to the Catholic faith

Leo de Bondt was born in 1941 in Holland and raised in a Protestant family. In 1962, he met Joanna, who was Catholic. In order to marry her, he accepted to become Catholic, but without much conviction. On the day of their wedding, his wife asked him if he could pray and put flowers in front of a statue of Mary. He did it, but he still did not understand the special attachment Catholics have for Our Lady.

Leo and Joanna had 2 children. The eldest, Monique, contracted acute leukemia and died at the age of four in 1972. Her parents both fell into deep depression. Leo hated God for letting Monique die. He stopped believing and remained an atheist for the next 15 years.

On June 6 of the Marian year 1987, his son brought home a newspaper containing a very beautiful image of Mary, as she is represented at the church of St Andrea delle Fratte in Rome.

Leo was looking at this picture… when Mary called him! From that moment, his life completely changed. The Blessed Virgin brought Leo back to Jesus, like the famous convert Alphonse Ratisbonne. He did not have an apparition, he simply had an experience of Our Lady in the form of a special grace for his family.

In 1988, his nephew became critically ill with Guillain-Barré syndrome. He became completely paralyzed and stayed in a hospital. Leo turned to Mary: "Mary, what do you want from me? If you really exist, give me a sign and heal this child." That evening, there was a wonderful smell of pure flowers in his room. Two days later, his brother telephoned to say that his son had fully recovered.

After the miraculous healing of his son, Leo's brother, also a Protestant, converted to Catholicism too.

Adapted from Marypages by Leo de Bondt for A Moment with Mary