The Saint Mark Sessions: A Marian Pedagogy

Historically, Mary’s apparitions have usually lasted from several days to several weeks. They are to be understood as processes of conversion, and schools of discipleship.

Interestingly enough, when the Lourdes apparitions started in 1858, a parish mission had just begun. The parish priest Father Peyramale had been looking for a priest to preach a 15-day retreat, but had found no one, so he had started preaching it himself. At the exact same moment—he didn’t know it then—the Immaculate Conception began catechizing Bernadette and a whole crowd of people.

In December 1947, in the French town of L’Ile-Bouchard, Mary taught some children how to pray, over the course of seven days, hence her name of Our Lady of Prayer. She literally provided a prayer day camp. Similarly, many other apparitions are a kind of Sunday school.

Father Paul Dollié, a parish priest in Paris, noticed Mary’s special teaching method, and created the Saint Mark Sessions (in French, le Parcours Saint Marc). These sessions offer a one-week or a one-year school of conversion for practicing Catholics who wish to take a "medical exam" of their soul. Based entirely on the Gospel of Saint Mark—one of the best catechisms there is—the sessions use the formation that Jesus Himself gave to His disciples.

The Saint Mark Sessions are a beautiful path of discipleship that follows the Virgin Mary's recommendation to "do whatever He tells you" (John 2).

The Marie de Nazareth Team