OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS

Day 294: March 02

Our Lady of the Angels, Toulouse, France



In the year 1212, three merchants from Angers were crossing the forest of Bondy in France, when they were attacked by thieves. After being robbed, they were tied to trees and left to their fate. Since it was a wild and lonely place, known for being the haunt of thieves, their chances of rescue were slim. They prayed ardently to God and Our Lady, and after a day and a night, the angels came in visible form and freed them.

The men discovered a spring near the place where they had been bound, which they considered miraculous. They decided to establish a shrine of Our Lady on the spot in thanksgiving for their release. The first statue they put in the shrine was only meant to be temporary, to be used until something better could be made or purchased. However, almost immediately a stream of miraculous healing began among those who prayed in front of the small rough statue. In the years that followed, fervent pilgrims came en masse to the sanctuary, as evidenced by the numerous shacks found during archaeological excavations carried out on the site.

The same statue remains today, but it has been richly covered and adorned with jewels. In 1260 the small chapel was enlarged to enclose the spring as well. In 1663 the chapel was rebuilt and redecorated, and remained so until the French Revolution, when it was completely destroyed. However, after the terror had passed, the chapel was rebuilt in 1808.

One of the many graces of thanksgiving in the chapel is a ship suspended above the altar, like an ex-voto of a group of sailors who were saved from shipwreck through the intercession of Our Lady.

On Sunday, September 9, 2012, the diocese of Saint-Denis celebrated the 800th anniversary of the pilgrimage to Notre-Dame-des-Anges in Clichy-sour-Bois, under the leadership of Bishop Pascal Delannoy. The pilgrimage to the small shrine always takes place on the second Sunday in September, and is considered by some to be the second oldest pilgrimage site in France.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"As every suffering of Jesus was your suffering, so too every grace, every glory, every child of those sufferings is also your grace, your glory and your child!"

(Justin Russolillo, Spirit of Prayer, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, Newark, 1996, p. 158)

Comments

Post a Comment

Hot Picks

OUR LADY OF MELIAPORE

Image
Day 47: June 26 This is the shrine in the East Indies, where Saint Francis Xavier often retired to pray during his eleven years with the people of India. The Blessed Virgin Mary was Francis’ constant source of strength and inspiration. The image before which Saint Francis used to pray is called Mylai Matha in Tamil, or Our Lady of Mylapore in English. It is an ancient statue about three feet tall, Our Lady of Meliapore can still be venerated at the church. The church of Saint Thomas of Mylapore – spelled somewhat differently from the above – contains Mary’s shrine. According to tradition, the Apostle Saint Thomas came to India in 52 AD. Due to his success making converts to the True Faith, he was persecuted and finally martyred in the year 72 AD. Saint Thomas is buried at the shrine of Our Lady of Meliapore, and there are relics of Saint Francis Xavier. There was a church known to be in Mylapore going back to the 1st century, and built by St Thomas. According to tradition, there was a ...
Read more

Marian Year 2025-26

Image
  MARIAN YEAR The year 2026 marks the first centenary of the apparition of Our Lady to St Justin Russolillo, the Founder of the Vocationists. As the feast of Our Lady of Divine Vocations falls on May 11, the year preceding to that year (May 11 2025 – May 11 2026) has been declared to be celebrated as Marian Year by the Vocationists. The reason behind this year-long celebration is, as Pope Pius XII decreed prior to the Marian Year in 1953 on the occasion of the first centenary of the definition of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Mother, “that the faith of the people may be increased and their devotion to the Virgin Mother of God become daily more inflamed.” As Rev. Fr. Louis Caputo SDV rightly points out, “the life of Fr. Justin here on earth began with the…apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary…, it developed in the shadow of Mary and ended in union with Mary.” The birth of Justin was preceded by an announcement by the Blessed Virgin Mary to Fr. Sa...
Read more

OUR LADY OF DIVINE VOCATIONS

Image
The Devotion to Our Lady of Divine Vocations The devotion to Our Lady of Divine Vocations has its foundation on the Marian Apparition that St Justin Russolillo had on May 10, 1926. He was praying breviary near a hut made of straws called pagliarella. St. Justin describes it in his diary (Book of the Soul) "May 10, 1926, first day of the Rogations. It was given to me the certainty that the Blessed Trinity has given the Blessed Lady the Office of the Immediate Superior of the Society of Divine Vocations and therefore of all the offices, mansions, studies, works, spheres and everything. She is the authority of the Society. Glory and thanks to God and Mary. Therefore, the established practice of having one person always present and on guard in the room dedicated to Our Lady to honor and venerate her perpetually." After the Marian Apparition, St Justin rushed to the rectory of St George's parish in Pianura where he used to be the parish priest. He asked Fr Luigi Diodato to pre...
Read more