OUR LADY OF CHATILLION-SUR-SEINE

Feast Day: January 29

Saint Bernard is said to have had a great devotion to Our Lady of Chatillion-sur-Seine, due to the miracle which was wrought by the Blessed Virgin Mary in his favour.

Bernard, the third of seven children, educated specially because while yet unborn, a devout man had foretold his great destiny. At the age of nine he was sent to a famous school in France at Chatillion-sur-Seine, kept by the secular priests of Saint Vorles. He was an intelligent student, greatly devoted to Our Lady. He later wrote several books about the Mother of God, and it is thought by many that no one speaks as sublimely of the Queen of Heaven as he does. Mary appeared to Bernard as he wrote and inspired him with heavenly words and wisdom. The most hardened sinners, heretics and agnostics Mary brought to him and she proved a bulwark to his efforts to lead men to her and to Christ, her Divine Son.

As Bernard grew into adulthood, he fell sick, so sick that he prepared for death. Feeling useless and barren, his infirmity and the pains he experienced increased to such a degree that Bernard asked two of his brethren to go to the church and beg for heavenly relief from God.

The Blessed Virgin Mary herself soon appeared to Bernard in his cell accompanied by Saints Lawrence and Benedict. The trio approached Saint Bernard and touched the most aching parts of his body, bringing immediate relief. Saint Bernard also had another ailment, a simultaneous flow of saliva which would not cease, and that was also healed.

Bernard recuperated gradually. Though he used his time well, producing his first treatise on humility and pride, and “his light began to shine as the morning star.”

*from The Woman in Orbit