Une Minute avec Marie
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On September 1, 1639, during a naval battle off the coast of Genoa (Italy) between the French galleys and the much more numerous Spanish galleys, a French soldier named Jean Démotian, from the town of Grasse (southern France), invoked the Virgin Mary during the battle.
He prayed to Our Lady of Bargemon (1), promising her to make a pilgrimage to her shrine in southeastern France and offer Masses there, if he escaped slavery and death.
His prayer was so perfectly answered that his coat alone served as a shield, even though he had been shot several times by muskets, and their bullets stopped in the folds of his coat without daring to hit the man who had placed himself under the protection of this miraculous Lady, while most of his fellow soldiers on his galley were killed or wounded!
On his return from battle, Jean placed his bullet-riddled cloak at the feet of Our Lady of Bargemon, and his testimony was recorded in the book of the Treasures of the Mother of God, at the shrine in Bargemon.
Brother Raphaël
Author of the collection of miracles of Notre Dame de Bargemon
Excerpt from Le Trésor inconnu (Editions Bénédictines), a book of testimonies to the many miracles obtained by Mary at Bargemon, in Haute Provence. The miracle is recorded on page 37.
(1) Bargemon is a small village in the upper Var region of France, home to a Marian shrine that has become very popular since the rediscovery of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary that took place there in the 17th century. Pilgrims who come here to pray are once again treated to numerous miracles.