Today, 150th anniversary of Our Lady’s Apparition at Pontmain. In our times of gloom and doom at home and abroad, let our hope be kindled again through the wondrous account of the Pontmain Apparition. It was winter like now, the national situation was desperate like now, adults and children prayed, led by their priests, and Our Lady gave the message: “But pray, my children. God will hear you in time. My Son allows Himself to be touched. “
Our Lady of Pontmain, also known as Our Lady of Hope, is the title given to the Virgin Mary on her apparition at Pontmain, France on 17 January 1871.
The Apparition
The Franco-Prussian War (War of 1870) was the culmination of years of tension between the two nations, which finally came to a head on 19 July 1870, when Emperor Napoleon III of the second Empire declared war against Prussia. From the first days of the war, defeat followed defeat. By January 1871, Paris was under siege, two-thirds of the country was in the power of the Prussians, and they were advancing.
The apparition is said to have occurred at the height of the Franco-Prussian War. Pontmain, a hamlet of about 500 inhabitants, lay between the oncoming Prussian army and the city of Laval. The Barbedette family consisted of father César, his wife, Victoire, with their two sons Joseph and Eugène, aged ten and twelve, and another older boy who was away in the army. On the evening of 17 January 1871, the two boys were helping their father in the barn when the elder, Eugène, walked over towards the door to look out. As he gazed at the star studded sky he suddenly saw an apparition of a beautiful woman smiling at him; she was wearing a blue gown covered with golden stars, and a black veil under a golden crown.[3]
Norte-Dame d’Esperance de Pontmain
His father, brother, and a neighbour came out to look and Joseph immediately said he too could see the apparition although the adults saw nothing. The mother, Victoire, came out but she too could see nothing.[3] The boys’ parents could not see what their children were seeing that night and called for Sister Vitaline, the local school teacher. She, like the boys’ parents, could also not see the apparition, and called for two girls, Françoise Richer and Jeanne-Marie Lebosse, aged nine and eleven. Sister Vitaline suggested that perhaps Our Lady was visible only to the children. Without any knowledge of the apparition, these two girls looked into the night sky and began describing Our Lady in the same exact detail as the Barbedette boys had described.[4]
A crowd gathered to pray as word quickly spread among the anxious villagers. Children saw the beautiful Lady, and gleefully pointed up to her. Adults, however, only saw three stars forming a triangle. As they prayed the Rosary, the children saw the garment’s stars multiply until it was almost entirely gold. Next, the children saw a banner unfurl beneath the Lady. Slowly, a message appeared: But pray, my children. God will hear you in time. My Son allows Himself to be touched. Upon hearing the message read aloud, the crowd spontaneously began the hymn “Mother of Hope”. As they sang, Our Lady laughed and joined in the singing.[5]
The children squealed with delight as her hands kept time with the music. When the crowd began “My Sweet Jesus,” her expression changed to profound sadness and a red crucifix appeared in her hands, with the words “Jesus Christ” above it. Her eyes mournfully contemplated the cross during the hymn. As the people sang the “Ave Maris Stella,” the cross vanished and her smile returned, though with a touch of melancholy. Two small white crosses then appeared on her shoulders before Our Lady disappeared behind a cloud.[5] As the night prayers came to a close, the apparition ended. It was about nine o’clock. The Apparition had lasted about three hours.
The Description of the Lady
Years later, Joseph Barbedette, who later afterwards became a priest of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, recounted:
She was young and tall of stature, clad in a garment of deep blue, … Her dress was covered with brilliant gold stars. The sleeves were ample and long. She wore slippers of the same blue as the dress, ornamented with gold bows. On the head was a black veil half covering the forehead, concealing the hair and ears, and falling over the shoulders. Above this was a crown resembling a diadem, higher in front than elsewhere, and widening out at the sides. A red line encircled the crown at the middle. Her hands were small and extended toward us as in the ‘miraculous medal.’ Her face had the most exquisite delicacy and a smile of ineffable sweetness. The eyes, of unutterable tenderness, were fixed on us. Like a true mother, she seemed happier in looking at us than we in contemplating.[5]
After the Apparition
That same evening the Prussian forces inexplicably abandoned their advance.[6] General von Schmidt of the Prussian Army who was about to move on the city of Laval towards Pontmain, received orders from his Commander not to take the city.
On the evening of 17 January 1871, the Commander of the Prussian forces, having taken up his quarters at the archiepiscopal palace of Le Mans, told Msgr. Fillion, Bishop of that diocese: “By this time my troops are at Laval”. On the same evening, the Prussian troops in sight of Laval stopped at half-past five o’clock, about the time when the Apparition first appeared above Pontmain, a few miles off. General Schmidt is reported to have said on the morning of the 18th: “We cannot go farther. Yonder, in the direction of Brittany, there is an invisible ‘Madonna‘ barring the way.”
The sudden stopping of the Prussian forces in sight of Laval, and their retirement the following morning, meant, together with the saving of Brittany, the turning back of the tide of conquering soldiery from that part of France. The war was practically at an end. On 23 January 1871, the long-hoped for Armistice was signed. Soon all the thirty-eight conscripted men and boys returned home unscathed.
Authorization of Our Lady of Hope
After that the devotion to the Blessed Virgin under the title of that of Notre Dame d’Esperance de Pontmain, Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain, was authorized by the ecclesiastical authorities, and the confraternity of that name has been extended all over the world.
After the apparition of Our Lady of Hope on 17 January 1871, pilgrims made up of both the clergy and the laity came to Pontmain. At the same time, inquiries and investigations were made about the apparition; the visionary children were submitted to various intense interrogations. Finally, on the Feast of the Purification, 2 February 1872, Msgr. Wicart, Bishop of Laval, issued a pastoral letter giving a canonical judgment on the apparition. Thus, the veneration of Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain was given official Church recognition and approval.
Joseph Barbadette became a priest of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate; his brother Eùgene became a secular priest. He was assisted by one of the girls who had seen Mary as his housekeeper, and the other, Jeanne-Marie Lebossé, became a nun.[3]
Veneration
In May 1872, Bishop Wicart authorized the construction of a sanctuary, which was consecrated in October 1900. In 1905 Pope Pius X elevated the Sanctuary to the status of a basilica.[7]
Pope Pius XI gave a final decision regarding the mass and office in honor of Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain. A final papal honor was given to Our Lady of Hope on 16 July 1932 by Cardinal Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, by passing a decree from the Chapter of St. Peter’s Basilica that the statue of the Blessed Lady, Mother of Hope, be solemnly honored with the crown of gold. The Lady then was crowned in the presence of archbishop, bishops, priests and the laity by Cardinal Verdier, Archbishop of Paris. The coronation took place on 24 July 1934.[7]
At Pontmain, it was a matter of a message of prayer, very simple in the dramatic circumstances of war and invasion. At Pontmain, Mary is a sign of hope in the midst of war. A place of pilgrimage, it attracts annually around 200,000 drawn from among the people of the region, with some international pilgrimages, especially from Germany.[8]
✅Are you among the 99% of Catholic parents currently homeschooling during the lockdown? 🧐Would you be interested in a Classical Hybrid academy? 😍Have you seen our latest video? 💻Are you free for an hour on 22nd January?
Then register your interest in our Virtual Open Day!
As well as the centre in Bedfordshire, there’s been interest to open an RCA in:
– Warrington – South East (Sevenoaks area) – South East London
Thanks be to God, the latest restrictions announced by the government do not affect public worship in England. Therefore, our Mass schedule continues as advertised.
Weekdays:
11:00am-1:30pm (Confessions
11:40am-12:05pm; Holy Mass 12:10pm)
Saturdays:
10:00am-1:30pm (Eucharistic
Adoration 10:00am-12noon, with ongoing Confessions; Holy Mass 12:10pm)
Daily Holy Mass
online with homily: on LiveMass.net > Warrington: Sun
11:00am; Mon-Sat 12:10pm, and the same on demand 24hrs after 3pm upload
for weekday Masses, and over 7days for Sunday Mass.
Safeguarding: If
you have concerns about children or vulnerable adults, please
contact the Archdiocesan Safeguarding Department on 0151 522 1043
or e-mail safeguarding@rcaol.co.uk, or speak with Clare Fraser, St Mary’s
Safeguarding Officer. Thank you for your awareness.
Ask
us for a Gift Aid form to increase your donation by 20% at no extra cost to
you. Gift Aid envelopes can be obtained from our
Secretariat. Standing orders are easier and quicker
for us to process than cash: Lloyds Bank ; Sort Code: 30-80-27 ;
Account number: 30993368 ; Account name: FSSP
Warrington
COVID: Please
observe social distancing, sanitizing and one-way system as signed, and kindly
cover your face with a mantilla, scarf or mask unless exempt.
We thank our
stewards who generously give their time to secure a safe environment for
all visitors to St Mary’s. Please make sure to follow their instructions and
abide by the regulations (unless exempt from some), including social distancing
and one-way system.
Use Priory
Court Car Park through automated
gates. Do ask the clergy for the access code on your next visit. Please park on
any spaces to the FRONT & RIGHT of the pedestrian gate into the Presbytery
garden and church, as the spaces on the LEFT of that gate are for office users.
Holy Mass booklets, rosaries for
sale. Ask us after Holy
Mass. Cash only.
WELCOME TO OUR VISITORS THIS CHRISTMAS!
Frs de Malleray, Verrier, Stewart and Jolly wish
you a blessed feast of the Nativity of the Lord and assure you of their
prayer at the altar. They thank you for your dedication and support to the
liturgical, devotional and material life at St Mary’s Shrine.
EXTRA CONFESSIONS: 24 Dec: 11pm-11:50pm; 25 Dec: 10:30am-10:55amThree reminders:
☞While the Nativity of the Lord is not a holiday
of obligation this year due Covid, every able Catholic should attend
Holy Mass that day: either Midnight Mass (even before midnight), or the
Dawn Mass, or the Mass of the Day (Holy Communion can be received at the Midnight
Mass and also at one of the two others if one wishes).
☞To
receive Holy Communion: one must be a Catholic, in state
of grace, one-hour fasting at least. In the EF liturgy, Holy Communion is
received kneeling (unless unable to) and always on the tongue. Thank you in advance.
☞FSSP
clergy do not retain Christmas and Easter collections for personal
use. All Christmas collections will be used for the day-to-day running of
St Mary’s Shrine (which includes the food, lodgings, pension allowance and
salary of your priests).
Heartfelt congratulations to and prayers for: Martin and Georgie
Turner on the birth of their first child Tamara last 13th November;
Matthew and Gemma Stankiewicz on the Holy Baptism of their first child Theresa
Agnes last 12th December; Lewis & Arran Hartley, Nicholas Tang
on their Holy Baptism last 11th December; and lastly John Sunderland
on his Reception into the Church and Confirmation on 18th December
last. We include in our prayer a further three young adults under instruction
to become Catholics, and any converts received at St Mary’s over the past few
years.
Well done St Mary’s children who sang carols at nearby elderly home,
with all Covid protections in place.
St Mary’s logo freshly printed on mugs and coasters: £10 for 1 mug + 1 coaster altogether (or £7/mug and £3/coaster). Buy yours before Christmas after Sunday 11am Mass in the Narthex (cash only).
Thank you to the families at St Mary’s
Wednesday Educational Meeting for their very generous support to our Advent Charity Fund raising
‘soup kitchen’ amounting to £111.71 for the upkeep of Priory Court.
To date, Covid-19 vaccination is optional civilly and morally. No one should be forced to take it. Furthermore, even though the production of one such vaccine be proven to have no connection with the “abominable crime of abortion” (Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes, 51), the UK death rate so far doesn’t justify more stringent precautions against Covid than against flu. In addition, the Government and vaccine producers have warned against negative side-effects including serious risks to pregnant women and persons with severe disabilities. Classical moral theology teaches that remote material cooperation in evil (in this case, for vaccination with abortion-connected vaccines) could be justified if: 1) There must be no realistic alternative; 2) One must make known the moral objections; 3) There must be a sufficiently grave, proportionate reason.
Since the UK death rate has not exploded so far compared with past years, and since a vaccine totally free from connection with abortion is to be hoped for, conditions 1) and 3) are not met in the present UK situation. Currently, one might choose to take a vaccine free from any connection with abortion if the threat of Covid contamination were felt greater than the known and unknown side-effects of Covid vaccines.
Homilies for Sundays and major feasts will be uploaded regularly. Thank you to our LiveMass/YouTube operators.
Annual Vocation Weekend: Fri 29 Jan 2021 at 17:00 – Sun 31 Jan 2021
at 14:00. For single Catholic men 18+. St Mary’s Priory, Smith Street,
Warrington WA1 2NS, England. Contact malleray@fssp.org.
[Obviously subject to Covid regulations in late January: check our website for
updates.]
Prayer intentions for our sick: Frances Fawcett, John Marechal, Hilda Creagan, John
Sunderland, Steve Humphrey.
HOLY MASS INTENTIONS
No bookings for our Masses, including Christmas. However, if you travel from a distance, we recommend that you arrive by 11:30pm on Christmas Eve for our carols service and confessions. This way you will be absolutely sure to have a seat. Late comers who could not have fitted in at Midnight will have the option to attend right after Midnight Mass a Low Mass (starting at about 1:30am, ending around 2:00am). Midnight Mass will start at midnight. Further Christmas Masses are 9:00am Low Mass and 11:00am High Mass.
Sun 20
IV Sunday of Advent, I Class
5pm
Vespers
11:00am6:00pm
All St
Mary’s Faithful
Holy
Osman recovery
Mon 21
St.
Thomas, Apostle, II Class
12:10pm
Fr
Donnelly
Tue 22
Feria,
II Class
12:10pm
Peter
Mulihern
Wed 23
Feria,
II Class (No Men’s Group)
12:10pm
Teresa
Jeffs
Thu 24
Vigil
of the Nativity, Carols 11:30pm
12:10pm
All St.
Mary’s penitents of the week
Fri 25
Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
00:00am9:00am11:00am
All St
Mary’s Faithful
Thanksgiving
St. Joseph
Thanksgiving
for St. Marys’ Priests
Sat 26
St. Stephen, Protomartyr, II Class
Adoration
& Confessions 10:00am-12noon
12:10pm
Ethan Jones
Sun 27
Sunday in the Octave of the Nativity, II Class
11:00am6:00pm
All St
Mary’s Faithful
Rev Fr
Peter O’Neil (R.I.P)
Mon 28
Holy
Innocents, II Class
12:10pm
Fr
Gilbride FSSP
Tue 29
5th
Day in Oct. of Nativity, (St. Thomas,
B. Martyr, I Cl)
12:10pm
Ronald
Hannah
Wed 30
6th Day in the Octave of the Nativity,
II Class
12:10pm
Fr
Joseph Bibby
Thu 31
7th
Day in the Octave of the Nativity, II Class
12:10pm
Kevin
King
Fri 1
Octave
of the Nativity of the Lord, I Class
12:10pm
All St.
Mary’s penitents of the week
Sat 2
Saturday of Our Lady, IV Class
Adoration
& Confessions 10:00am-12noon
Fri 29 Jan 2021 at 17:00 – Sun 31 Jan 2021 at 14:00
St Mary’s Priory, Smith Street, Warrington WA1 2NS, England
[Obviously subject to Covid regulations in January: check our website for updates.]
Is God calling ME? Matrimony, celibacy, monastery, seminary, Fraternity?
If you are a single Catholic man between 18 and 29 years of age, come and discern with us at St Mary’s Priory & Church. Shrine Rector Fr de Malleray, FSSP will lead the Weekend, assisted by Fr Ian Verrier, FSSP and Fr Alex Stewart, FSSP. There will be talks, prayers (Divine Office in our beautiful church), Holy Mass and informal chatting with fellow guests. Possibility of private meetings with a priest, and of confession.
[No sign up sheet for the FSSP at the end of the Weekend!] Feel welcome confidentially to call, email or write for any questions. Residential, at St Mary’s Priory: 2 nights and 2 days. FREE for unwaged and students. Others: £60 per person in total.
COME & SEE. Please share the information with your friends!
BOOKINGS & CONTACT: [not via Facebook] malleray@fssp.org (read by Fr de Malleray only); 01925 635664 (Priory’s Landline).
—————————- VOCATION NEWS: 12 FSSP UK (& Ireland) PRIESTS IN 18 YEARS
We have currently six young men from England & Wales in formation at our two international seminaries. Three of our deacons from England were ordained priests at St Mary’s Warrington in the past few years by Archbishop McMahon, OP of Liverpool. Those were the first EF priestly ordinations by a diocesan bishop in England in fifty years.
In total, 43 young men were admitted into our two seminaries this past autumn including 1 from England.
We give thanks for 12 priests from the UK & Ireland over the past 18 years: Fr Konrad Loewenstein in 2002; Fr Brendan Gerard in 2006; Frs Matthew Goddard and William Barker in 2009; Fr Simon Harkins in 2010; Fr Matthew McCarthy in 2011; Fr Ian Verrier in 2015; Fr James Mawdsley in 2016; Frs Alex Stewart and Krzysztof Sanetra in 2017; Fr Seth Phipps and Fr Patrick O’Donohue (incorporated) in 2018.
Reminder: the restrictions imposed by the Government prevent many faithful from meeting the usual conditions to gain the plenary indulgences on behalf of the Holy Souls in Purgatory during this month of November. Thankfully the Holy See has granted more flexible conditions, allowing nearly every one to help one or several holy souls enter heaven this month.
In particular, entering a church or a cemetery is now dispensed with. One can gain the indulgence from home if unable to travel to a church or cemetery. Anyone able to travel is of course expected to make use of the provision for private visit and private prayer to one’s local church, which can include on individual request Confession and private Holy Communion.
Great news! The High Mass of Reparation for Abortion scheduled for next Saturday 14 November at 12 noon is going ahead. Because of current circumstances, it has to be held behind closed doors and will be live-streamed: see the Latin Mass Society website events section: https://lms.org.uk/events.
The celebrant will be Fr Seth Phipps FSSP, with Fr Gabriel Diaz as Deacon and Fr Michael Cullinan as Subdeacon. Matthew Schellhorn will be playing and singing.
Please join us via live-streaming and pray for an end to abortion and the loss of those millions of innocent lives whose deaths do not reach the news headlines.
As you will be aware, the Government’s new lockdown legislation calls for the cessation of public worship. Please sign this petition and write to your local MP to challenge this blatant and unnecessary violation of liberty. You will be pleased to note that the Bishops Conference has challenged the Government on this point, as have several bishops including Bishop Egan. Please pray that these restrictions are lifted quickly.
During the lockdown, we will strive to keep the founts of sacramental grace flowing. Please note that, commencing Friday 6th November, St William of York Church will be open for private prayer at the following times, during which a priest will be available for Confession. Furthermore, 20 minutes before the end of each period of opening, Holy Communion will be distributed at the altar rails.
Sun: 9am to 10.30am (with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament) Mon: 12pm to 1.30pm Tue: 7am to 8.30am Wed: 12pm to 1.30pm Thu: 10am to 11.30am Fri: 7.30pm to 9pm Sat: 8am to 9.30am
The Mass intentions noted in the previous bulletin (planned before the lockdown was called) will still be fulfilled, at the priests’ private Masses on the given days.
At Christ the King Church, Bedford: Confessions will be available on Sat 7th November from 2.30pm to 5.30pm.
At Our Lady’s Church, Chesham Bois: We are planning to be available for confessions on a Saturday afternoon later in the month – to be announced on the next parish email on 13th November.
NB: The Mens Group is cancelled but the Ladies Group will go ahead as planned on Sat 7th. The Confirmations planned for 22 November are postponed again – they will be a priority once public worship resumes.
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