The Blessed Virgin wept over the scandals of the French Court

A touching miracle took place on Pentecost Monday, 26th May 1670, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Cléry, in central France. Town records claim that the statue of the Madonna wept on Pentecost Monday, exactly 350 years ago, as stated in 1926 by Canon Lucien Millet, then senior priest of the Basilica of Our Lady of Cléry, in a small book written in honor of this shrine built in 1280 after the miraculous discovery of a statue of the Blessed Virgin by peasants.

The author devotes a large part of the book to "the miracle of tears," quoting the 1882 testimony of Marie-Thérèse Bonamy whose grandfather saw the Blessed Virgin "blush, become pale, and cry."

41 testimonies were gathered in the course of an investigation initiated by the religious authorities immediately after the occurrence, which is described as follows: "The miracle took place from about 4:00 to 7:00 pm; during the span of at least two hours, the statue of the Madonna and Child came to life, changing complexion several times, from a death-like pallor to a very vivid redness, becoming covered with sweat and shedding tears."

The author adds: "In order that the certainty of the fact may be better established, God allowed a skeptic to express his unbelief publicly: "This man was a squire, chief of the guards of the Duke of Orleans. He was trying to explain the phenomenon by the reverberation of the sun, when he saw the statue of the Madonna and Child come to life, change color, and tears flow from their eyes. Surprised and moved, he knelt down to pray, hiding behind the altar to weep to avoid being seen," Canon Millet wrote.

The miracle took place in the royal church of Cléry, during the reign of Louis XIV. Since the king was the first canon of the collegiate church, he was informed of the miracle. According to Canon Millet, "King Louis XIV had many reasons to think that the Blessed Virgin had wept over the scandals of the Court." Regretfully, the author adds that "the king, too blinded by his passions, and too intoxicated by his pride, took little heed of the Mother's tears and the Son's warnings."

Adapted from: Larep