OUR LADY OF LOIGNY

Day 204: December 02

Our Lady of Loigny, Loigny, France

General Louis-Gaston de Sonis, commander of the Papal Zouaves, was a fervent devotee of the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was seriously wounded in the battle of December 2, in the same place where, in 1429, St Joan of Arc put the English to flight. While the general languished in his great suffering, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him to console him.

The Battalion of Papal Zouaves was created on 1 January 1861 on the model of the Zouave Corps of the French Army. The corps was made up of volunteers, mostly French, Belgian and Dutch, who came to defend the Papal States threatened by the desire of the new Kingdom of Italy to complete the national union with Rome by making it the capital of the kingdom. Its history is identified with the last decade of the life of the Papal State (1860-1870). The regiment was dismissed on 21 September 1870, after the capture of Rome.

On the night of December 1, 1870, the Zouaves were ordered to pass Patay, where St Joan of Arc had won a famous victory against the British. General Louis-Gaston de Sonis was asked by Colonel Athanase de Charette, who did not have his own flag, to lend him that of the Zouaves.

The banner in question had been given to him in September by the Benedictine nuns of Paray-le-Monial, just as the Papal Zouaves regiment was dismissed. It contained the image of the crowned Sacred Heart, with the motto, “Coeur Sacré de Jésus, Espoir et Salut de la France” (Sacred Heart of Jesus, hope and salvation of France). It was therefore this flag that would carry the soldiers into battle, giving them courage.

The flag of the Sacred Heart, of the papal Zouaves, had been placed one night before the battle of December 2, 1870 on the tomb of St Martin of Tours.

On December 2nd, General Sonis arrived at Loigny and tried to rekindle the soldiers' spirits by recalling Joan of Arc's valiant victory, but part of the army deserted him. He addressed Colonel Charette in an evangelical tone: "Do you also want to abandon me, Colonel, as these have done?" "No, no!" replied the Zouave, "Long live Pius IX! Long live France."

Their colonel's cry was echoed by all the remaining men throughout that long and bloody day. By morning, they had all confessed and received absolution. At 3:00am, Sonis led the 1st Zouave Battalion, shouting: "My friends, two regiments have just escaped! Now it's time for you to show these cowards how brave men fight; hurrah for the Zouaves!"

German infantry and artillery were positioned in the adjacent woods, through which they had to pass to reach Loigny. The battle began, but enemy fire was too heavy, so General Charette ordered them to fix their bayonets and storm the woods. With Sonis, Charette and their senior officers leading the way on horseback, the Zouaves gained ground and, passing through a hail of bullets, managed to surround the enemy. General Sonis was wounded in the thigh and Charette fell to two bullets. Captain Montcuit, who had lost an arm at Castelfidardo, was also wounded. One of the participants, Sergeant Wibaux, wrote of the battle a few days later: "... it is impossible to explain in words, it was a real slaughter; the Zouaves, literally exhausted, were beaten like butter."

The woods were cleared of the enemies and hundreds of Germans were taken prisoner. But the battle was not over yet. Sonis' infantry refused to help the Zouaves and his artillery was now devoid of ammunition, so they were forced to retreat and again the Germans advanced with their artillery and automatic weapons. The fire did not cease until the earth was literally covered with the dead. Only 3 of 14 officers returned to camp that evening.

Three flag-bearers were killed in succession, and the fourth was returned by some wounded: it was the Sacred Heart flag. Of the battalion's 300 Zouaves, 218 had been killed. Yet the remainder of the battalion, made up of the few men who had not deserted it, were victorious the following day. But it was here that a prodigious event occurred.

The Virgin Mary appeared on the battlefield to the wounded General Sonis, assuring him that all was not lost and that France would celebrate the survivors. Only the Zouaves and a handful of other units had maintained order and discipline; most had fled. The remainder of the 17th Corps retreated to Poitiers. When the surviving Zouaves reached this refuge, they were greeted with delirium by the populace. Deeply saddened by the plight of his former champions, Pius IX sent a message to them: "Tell Charette and her heroic children, as quickly as possible, that my wishes, prayers and memories follow them constantly wherever they go; that just as they have been beside me ever present, so I am now close to them in heart and soul, constantly imploring God for all mercy, that He may protect and save them and their unhappy country, whom I bless completely and especially today in His name and with all my heart."

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"This total offering of oneself to Mary [Consecration to Jesus through Mary] includes: (1) our body and senses, (2) our soul and its faculties, (3) our present and future material goods, (4) our spiritual goods, (5) all the merit of our past, present and future deeds and the normal right that we have to dispose of them as we please."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Father, Newark, 1997, p. 420)