By 1871, France had been devastated by war, and a large part of French territory had fallen into the hands of the Prussian army.
But a miraculous apparition of the Virgin in the little village of Pontmain (like the miraculous Lady of a small village in Lebanon, whose statue is modelled on this apparition) changed the course of history: the Virgin asked for prayer so that she would intervene, and France was saved.
Here is the story in detail:
The bishops of France had called for a novena of prayer to Our Lady of Victories for the deliverance of France; the call was public and covered the whole of France.
On the evening of 17 January 1871, in the little village of Pontmain, César and Victoire Barbedette and their two sons, Joseph and Eugène, aged 10 and 12, were finishing their work in the barn. Eugène looked out and saw a patch of sky without stars above the neighbours’ house, and then suddenly saw the Virgin smiling at him. Joseph saw her too; this is how he described her later, when he had become a priest:
“She was young and tall, dressed in a blue gown. Golden stars covered her dress, and her shoes, of the same blue, were also decorated with gold. A black veil covered half her head, hiding her hair and ears, and fell to her shoulders. Above the veil was a crown like a diadem, higher at the front and wider at the sides. Her hands were small and stretched out toward us, as on the Miraculous Medal. Her face was extremely delicate, her smile infinitely sweet, and her eyes full of indescribable tenderness. Like a true mother, she seemed happier to look at us than we were to look at her.”
That night the sisters from the parish school and the parish priest were called.
The villagers began to pray the Rosary, and the stars on her gown multiplied until it was all golden. As they prayed, letters appeared, spelling out messages on a banner beneath her feet: “But pray, my children”, “God will soon answer you”, “My Son allows himself to be moved”. The apparition lasted about three hours.
That same night, the Prussian troops advancing on Laval halted, just as the apparition at Pontmain began. In this way the Virgin saved France from the war. It is said that General von Schmidt, who was about to move on Laval, ordered his men not to take the city, telling them: “We cannot go any further; it seems a Lady is blocking our way.”
The little village of Pontmain is proof that prayer can change the course of history. A year later, on 2 February 1872, the bishop of Laval, Bishop Wicart, officially recognized the apparition of Pontmain.
As for the church of the Miraculous Lady of Bechouat, it was built about 250 years ago by the Kairouz family and restored in 1998. The name “Our Lady of Bechouat” comes from the Egyptian saint Anba Bishoy, who lived in a monastery built by the Jacobites on the site of the old church. The faithful come to this church from everywhere and from different religions to receive blessings and ask for graces. In this humble shrine there was an icon of “Our Lady of the Shepherds” depicting the Virgin Mary, brought to the village in 1904. In 1906 a fire caused by oil and candles broke out in the church and the icon burned; in its place, to the left of the altar, a statue of the Virgin in a blue gown decorated with stars was set up, in the likeness of Our Lady of Pontmain.
After the wonder that took place in 2004, when the Virgin spoke to a nine-year-old Jordanian boy, Mohammad al-Hawadi, the wonders are said to have continued for six months without a break: the statue opened its eyes, its gown moved and it blessed with the cross. This brought a great flood of visitors and faithful from all over Lebanon and from different countries around the world.
Prepared by Rita of the Sawt el Rab team
