Benoîte is so much like us!

“Benoîte is so much like us!” This is how Father Ludovic Frère, rector until 2023 of the shrine of Notre-Dame-du-Laus (Hautes-Alpes, southern France) in the diocese of Gap and Embrun, describes Benoîte Rencurel (1647-1718), the shepherdess who lived an exceptional mystical experience for 54 years.

During these 54 years, the Virgin Mary appeared to Benoîte on an average of every two months. She was also visited by angels, saints and Jesus himself, who strengthened her in her mission.

“What I find touching about Benoîte Rencurel,” explains Father Ludovic Frère, “is her practicality, her common sense, which Heaven made use of during these 54 years of apparitions, in the difficult economic context of the late 17th century.”

Benoîte sees a woman walking barefoot in the snow? She gives her her clogs. A destitute man wants to prostitute his wife to the pilgrims? To avoid this disaster, she gives him her winter's supply of wheat!

Father Ludovic observes: "Benoîte thus witnessed the charity of Heaven…a charity that is overflowing, even unreasonable, and that comes to permeate her entire spiritual life. Educated in a very rigorous conception of religion, in the fear of God and his punishment, she received the revelation of a God who wants the best for us, who is on our side."

Adapted from: www.lepelerin.com