Saved at Saint Mary's Oratory

Saint Lievin was a man of God, famous for the wonders, prodigies and miracles that God worked through him. He was born into a noble and powerful Scottish family, at the end of the sixth century.

One day, at Pentecost, Lievin’s father, accompanied by the powerful lords of the court, took his nine-year-old son to a monastery dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, to attend the divine office and receive the Holy Eucharist.

On the way, they saw two men being dragged towards Saint Mary's Oratory. They seemed possessed by the devil—in fact, one of them had murdered three people, including two women, and the second, had killed his children, as well as their unfortunate mother!

Touched by this horrific spectacle, as well as by the fate that was reserved for these miserable men, Lievin begged his father to stop for a moment. "Allow me," he said, "to implore with you the goodness of Almighty God, so that through our intercession He may deign to manifest His glory."

Then, without showing the least bit of fear and animated by that spirit of faith that moves mountains, according to the expression of Our Lord, the young Lievin stretched his hands over the heads of those possessed men, and pronounced these words: "In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, may all the snares of the devil withdraw from you, and may you be glorified as a chosen vessel, to be the dwelling of the Holy Spirit."

At the same moment, a gust of thick black smoke came out of the mouths and nostrils of these wretched slaves of the devil, as well as a great number of insects that rose up and flew away. Delivered from these evil spirits, the men were converted by this saintly boy, who armed them with the cross of Jesus Christ.

Adapted and translated for A Moment with Mary, from Histoire de saint Liévin, archevêque et martyr, by M. l'abbé Robert, E. Lefranc (Arras), 1856