The Marian Era Part 1: Saunière and the Virgin Mary

 

Saunière’s Medal

Over the front door of the Villa Bethania hang two stained glass windows. For some, they have been seen as evidence of Saunière’s devotion to the cult of the Sacred Heart. But upon closer inspection, as Corjan de Raaf has pointed out, that is not the case. The two symbols refer specifically to the first of the three most important apparitions of the Virgin Mary in France in the 19th century.
For some, the night of July 18, 1830 was a night that changed the history of the world. It was the night that the Virgin Mary ushered in the modern Marian era. It had been almost 300 years since the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531, but on this night in 1830, She began a series of apparitions, manifestations and ecclesial events that were to succeed one another, down to our modern era. Pope Paul VI (1963-1978) later declared, “Our era may well be called the Marian Era”.

A night in Paris

The first person to learn of the Virgin’s plans and revelations of the future was a 24-year old novice in the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity, on the Rue du Bac in Paris. That novice, St. Catherine Labouré, was awakened by an angel, who called her softly several times. She saw him as a beautiful child about five years old, whose vesture was dazzlingly bright. The Angel said, “Come to chapel; the Blessed Virgin is waiting for you.”
In the sanctuary, she knelt by the chair that the Director used when giving conferences to the Sisters. Suddenly, she heard the rustle of silk and saw a most beautiful Lady walking toward her. The Lady was dressed in an ivory-coloured dress with a blue mantle and a white veil covering her head and draping down over her shoulders. She sat down on the Director’s chair next to Catherine. The Angel told Catherine, “This is the Blessed Virgin.” Catherine leaned her hands on the Lady’s lap and looked into her Mother’s eyes.

The mission

Then, the Lady spoke: “My child, the good God wishes to entrust to you a mission.” She told Catherine that she would have to endure trials in carrying out the mission, but she would have consolation in knowing that she was working for the glory of God.
The Virgin also gave dire warnings for the future of France: “The times are evil. Sorrows will come upon France; the throne will be overthrown. The Cross will be thrown down and trampled. The Archbishop will be stripped of his clothes. Blood will flow in the streets. The side of Our Lord will be pierced anew. The whole world will be afflicted with tribulations.”
The Virgin appeared sad and could hardly speak as she said this. But as if giving a remedy, she pointed toward the foot of the altar and said, “Come to the foot of the altar. Here graces will be shed on all who ask for them. Graces will be shed especially on those who ask for them.” And thus, the altar in rue du Bac became a pilgrimage site – until this very day.

As one would expect from an otherworldly emissary, the Virgin’s predictions came true. The following week, on July 27, 1830, a revolution broke out in Paris. The King, Charles X, was dethroned. The mobs desecrated churches, destroyed statues, threw down crucifixes and trampled them. Bishops and priests were imprisoned, beaten and killed. Archbishop Hyacinth de Quelen of Paris had to flee into hiding twice to save his life.
It was not the end of France’s dire times. Another revolution broke out in 1848, when King Louis Philippe was dethroned and went into exile. Archbishop Affre of Paris was shot while trying to plead for peace at the barricades.
Then forty years later, in September of 1870, yet another French Monarch was toppled, Emperor Louis Napoleon III, through the Franco-Prussian War. Six months later, a revolution broke out in Paris. It lasted only two months, but before it was over, the sorrows and tribulations that had been predicted by Our Lady would be a matter of historical record. Many churches in Paris were desecrated, including the venerable church of Our Lady of Victories. Sacred objects had been publicly profaned. Even the graves and bodies of the dead were sometimes not spared. Many priests had been arrested; thirty of them were executed, including Archbishop Darboy. But amidst all of these perils, true to Her promise, the Vincentian Communities had been saved.

Saunière, the monarchist

It is known that Saunière was a monarchist. Some may consider a priest hoping for a return of a king on the French throne a century after the Revolution an anachronism, but it is clear that the above overview makes it clear that France was anything but stable in the century that followed the 1789 revolution.
The priest’s interest in Marian apparitions is not a secret. It is known that late in his life, ill, he nevertheless still found the energy to go on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the most popular of sites where Mary had appeared, in 1858.
There is a statue of the Virgin as she appeared at Lourdes on top of the Visigothic pillar in the garden in front of his enigmatically illustrated church. On the pillar, he also wrote the words “Penitence! Penitence!”, which were the words of the Virgin when she appeared at La Salette in 1846.
One pillar thus incorporates two of the main apparitions. His stained glass window above the entrance to the Villa “confirms” his interest in “the Marian era”, and specifically, the apparition of the rue du Bac. In short, his estate has three references to the three most important apparitions of the Virgin Mary: rue du Bac, La Salette and Lourdes. The fourth, Fatima, would occur only in 1917, shortly following Saunière’s death.
Intriguingly, on the Visigothic Pilar, Saunière had also carved “Mission 1891”. It seems that somehow Saunière felt that his own mission began in 1891. The question is: was his mission a part of the mission the Virgin had for Mankind?

God’s mission

After having revealed the future to Catherine in 1830, the Virgin spoke to her about many other things that were for Catherine alone. Such “secret revelations” would be “the trend”, as similar secrets were given at La Salette and Fatima. Then, She disappeared. The Angel, after having led Catherine back to the dormitory, also disappeared, just as the clock struck two in the morning. The groundwork for Catherine’s mission was now laid.

Further details of the mission that God wanted to entrust to Catherine were made manifest to her on November 27, 1830. It was the mission of making and distributing the “Medal of the Immaculate Conception”, now known as the Miraculous Medal. It was this medal that Saunière incorporated into the stained glass window of the Villa Bethania.
This time, the Sisters were gathered in the chapel as usual for prayers at five-thirty in the afternoon. Suddenly, the Virgin appeared to Catherine. At first, Mary appeared to be standing on a globe and dressed in white, dressed in a long white veil that fell to her feet. The Virgin held in her hands, at the height of her shoulders, a golden ball which she seemed to be offering to God as she raised her eyes to heaven. Her fingers were covered with rings whose precious jewels sparkled brilliantly and showered down innumerable rays of light on the globe beneath her feet, almost obscuring the view of her feet. Mary lowered her eyes and looked directly at Catherine. Mary said nothing, but Catherine heard this message: “The ball which you see represents the world, especially France, and each person in particular. These rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The jewels which give no rays symbolize the graces that are not given because they are not asked for.” Then the apparition changed.

The medal

What she changed into, would become depicted on the “Miraculous Medal”. The Virgin appeared with a white dress, a blue mantle, and a white veil which draped back over her shoulders. She was still standing on the globe, and had one foot on the head of a serpent that lay at her feet. Such a depiction of the Virgin can be seen in the middle of a fountain, in the park in front of the basilica of Notre-Dame de Marceille, near Limoux. As that site too was linked with the Lazarists, founded by Vincent de Paul, a man who was instrumental to Labouré, the presence of such a statue in Notre-Dame de Marceille may not be coincidental.
The year 1830 was marked on the globe. The Virgin had her arms and hands pointed downwards, and a cascade of rays was falling down from both hands onto the globe. An oval frame formed around the Blessed Virgin, and written around within it, in letters of gold, was the beautiful prayer, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.” This was the front side of the medal that was to be made.

Then the vision revolved, to show the reverse side of the medal. Catherine saw a Cross with a bar at its feet with which was intertwined an “M”. Beneath the “M” were the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, both surmounted by flames of love, one having a crown of thorns, and the other pierced with a sword. Encircling all of this were twelve stars around the oval frame.
With the depiction of the two hearts, namely the Sacred Heart of Jesus encircled with a crown of thorns, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword, the prophesy of Holy Simeon was fulfilled. He had said that the Son who was destined for the sign of contradiction, dying on the Cross, and the Mother pierced with a sword of sorrow beneath the Cross “so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2, 34-35).

A prophecy of Fatima… and the Apocalypse

Some have seen in the union of the two Hearts a precursor to Her message at Fatima in 1917. Lucia, the key visionary of Fatima, said that “the Sacred Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at His side.”
But the crown of twelve stars should not be overlooked. This can be seen as a reference to the “the Great Sign” in the Book of Revelation: the “Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” The inclusion of a snake is therefore also a reference to the Woman engaged in battle with the “huge red Dragon… the ancient serpent, who is called the devil, or Satan” (Apoc. 12:3 & 9).
As such, if for one pope, the year 1830 was the start of the Marian Era, and the apparition herself seemed to consider this year as important (marking it on the globe), another question needs to be posed: did certain people believe that the time of Apocalypse – the End of the World – had begun from 1830 onwards? Was the Marian Era the same as the End of Times?
If so, we should not be surprised to see that some commentators on the apparitions of the rue du Bac have argued that “the Miraculous Medal [is] a symbol of the whole history of salvation from Genesis to Apocalypse, and we can see the vital role that the Victorious Woman is destined in the final defeat of the devil.”

“Have a medal struck …”

The body of St Catherine, in the church of rue du Bac, Paris

The design of the Miraculous Medal was created. What to do with it? Catherine heard the voice telling her, “Have a medal struck after this model. All who wear it will receive great graces. They should wear it around the neck. Graces will abound for persons who wear it with confidence.” So this was the mission entrusted to Catherine: to see to the making of this medal and to spread its use. It is almost as if those who carried it, would be spared the perils of the Apocalypse and the temptations of the Beast?
During the remainder of 1830 and 1831, this vision of November 27 was repeated six times, to encourage Catherine in fulfilling her mission. Today, the medals are given out by the thousands, if not millions – pilgrims flock to the rue du Bac to purchase them, and hand them out to friends and family, mimicking and aiding Catherine in fulfilling her mission. But for a young nun, creating such a project was obviously a daunting, if not apparently impossible, project to achieve.

Catherine begins her mission

Initially, Catherine spoke to no-one about her visions and her mission except her Spiritual Director, Fr. John Marie Aladel. He himself was only thirty years old in 1830, and this was no small task that was thrust upon him either. He and Catherine had many confrontations before the first medals were struck in June 1832.
It was in January 1832, after almost two years of stormy discernment, that Aladel took advantage of a visit to Archbishop Hyacinth de Quelen of Paris to talk about the visions and the request of the Virgin for a medal to be struck. The Archbishop listened carefully and questioned Aladel in detail, but gave his permission for the medals to be made.
With this blessing, the first medals were struck and even the Pope requested one. By 1836, the firm of Vachette had already sold several million medals. Eleven other engravers in Paris had done the same and four engravers in Lyons were hard pressed to meet the demands for the medal.

Canonical Inquiry

The altar of the Virgin, rue du Bac, where the apparition occurred

Archbishop de Quelen also instituted a Canonical Inquiry, which began on February 11, 1836. The conclusions of the Inquiry were that the Medal was of supernatural origin, and that the wonders worked through it were genuine. This Inquiry helped win approval of the Holy See in 1895 for a feast in honour of the Medal (November 27), and helped in the process of beatification and canonization of Sister Catherine (whose feast day is November 28).
1895 obviously marks the timeframe when Saunière began the construction of his Villa Bethania, which he may have seen as the completion of his own mission, apparently begun in 1891. If so, his mission incorporated a reference to Catherine’s mission.

A.A.

The story of Catharine Labouré is well-known, but it has a dimension that is seldom touched upon: the link to Vincent de Paul. De Paul is of interest, for he was instrumental in an intriguing secret mission in the 17th century, apparently involving the Pope, as well as the creation of the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, which in turn was at the origin of St Sulpice… as well as apparently the secret continuation of this organisation, the A.A., a type of secret terrorist-type network of priests.
First, it should be pointed out that the first apparition occurred on the night of July 19, 1830, the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul. Second, she lived in a convent of followers of Vincent de Paul, whose body was buried around the corner, in Rue de Sevres. In fact, after the apparitions in the rue du Bac, his heart would be removed from his resting place and incorporated into the church of rue du Bac.
Third, if not most importantly, it seems little known that the apparition of the Virgin was not the first vision Catherine had had. Once, as a child, when she was in the village church, she saw a vision of an old priest saying Mass. After Mass, the priest turned and beckoned to her with his finger, but she drew backwards, keeping her eyes on him. The vision moved to a sickroom where she saw the same priest, who said: “My child, it is a good deed to look after the sick; you run away from me now, but one day you will be glad to come to me. God had designs for you. Do not forget it!”

Vincent de Paul

The altar of Vincent de Paul, whom Catherine saw in her first apparition

Catherine’s father invited various suitors to seek her hand in marriage, but she always stated that she would never marry; “I have promised my life to Jesus Christ.” When she was 22, she asked her father’s permission to become a Daughter of Charity. He refused and to distract her, sent her to Paris to work in a coffee shop run by her brother Charles. A year later, her aunt enrolled her in the finishing school she directed at Chatillon. While there, while visiting the hospital of the Daughters of Charity, she noted a priest’s picture on the wall. She asked the nun who he was and was told: “Our Holy Founder, Saint Vincent de Paul.” It was the same priest Catherine had seen in her vision when she was a child. And it seems that this revelation was eventually able to win over her father, who granted Catherine permission to enter the convent, where almost immediately, she would see her next vision, that would begin the Marian Era.

continued >>

Filip Coppens
We would like to thank Corjan de Raaf for his material on Saunière and
the apparitions of the rue du Bac, as well as Philippe Canal.