King Louis XIII and Queen Anne of Austria couldn’t believe it when they heard about the apparition in Cotignac. (Approved) They had said many prayers for a son. God heard the prayers of the King and Queen for an heir and sent Our Lady with a message. She promised a child. The child to be born was to be King Louis XIV. He was the one to whom was addressed the urgent plea of St. Margaret Mary Alocoque to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To emblazon the image on the flags of battle. For the soldiers to wear the image in the many wars.
Had France been consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus the Reign of Terror would probably not have been ….
The year is now 1638. It is one hundred and fifty one years before the Reign of Terror in France:
Our Lady Appears in Cotignac and Promises a King for France
“1638. The kingdom was worried. After 22 years of marriage, King Louis XIII and Queen Anne of Austria were without children. The Queen continued praying fervently for an heir to the throne, but had many miscarriages. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace in Cotignac would soon play a big role in the answer.
On November 3, 1647, not far from the Louver, the Blessed Mother appeared to an Augustinian monk named Brother Fiacre while he was in prayer in the monastery of the church of Notre Dame des Victories.
The apparation was about the King and Queen.
The cry of a toddler had distracted him, explains an official history given by Our Lady of Victories. It describes what happened on the first quarter hour visititation to him from Mary as recorded in the monasterys archives and countersigned by the vicar general and the priest.
He had turned his head to the side of the voice … and saw the Sacred Virgin surrounded by a beautiful and agreeable Light, with a child in her arms, dressed in a blue robe with stars, her hair hanging on her shoulders, three crowns on her head, sitting on a chair and saying: ‘My child, do not fear, I am the Mother of God.”On this he threw himself on the ground to worship the child she held in her arms, thinking that it was Jesus Christ, but the Holy Virgin said to him: “My child, it is not my Son, it is the child God wants to give to France.”
Then Our Lady asked for three Novenas from the Queen, and the son will be granted. Specifically, one novena prayed at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Another there at Our Lady of Victories, and the last at an unknown shrine called Our Lady of Graces.
The monk was perplexed. Mary said “to spare any doubts, my child, to show you that I want the Queen to make three novenas to me, here is the same picture which is at Our Lady of Graces in Provence and the appearance of the church.
The monk and his superiors still had doubt, but in less than a week a babys cries again awakened Fiacre. Again he sees Mary showing the child. Fiacre believes and begins the novena for the Queen on November 8. When the Queen is told, she too prays the novenas Our Lady requested in honor of her. Then King Louis XIII orders Fiacre to find the sanctuary of Our Lady of Graces in Provence to pray the last novena there.
The trip to Cologne near the southeastern tip of France was trying. When Brother Fiacre arrived, he was unsure if he had found the right shrine. Once he entered the chapel, he saw a painting being restored. The very same image the Blessed Mother has shown him when she appeared November 3. It was the chapel she requested.
Fiacre finished the Novena on December 5. Exactly nine months later, on December5, 1638, their first child was born to King Louis XIII and Queen Anne. They named him Louis-Dieudonne which means God -Given.
Overjoyed, the King declared a national act of thanksgiving and consecration of all of France to the “very Holy Virgin and Glorious Mary as special Protress of Our Land:
The King declared that on the feast of the Assumption each year he should commemorate “our present declaration at High Mass. We similarly exhort all people that have a special devotion to the Virgin Mary on that day to implore her protection that God will be served and revered in such a holy way that we and our subjects may finally reach the happy end for which we all have all been created. Such is our wish.”
The consecration continued annually.
Louis XIII also named Our Lady of Victories in Paris and had it built in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He credited her intercession for his victory over the Hugenots (Protestants) at LaRochelle which guaranteed the stability of the region.”National Catholic Register; ‘Mary’s Little Known Appearance in France’ March 2017
The year after Queen Anne died in 1666, her son Louis XIV, had a plaque placed in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Graces to honor his mother’s memory and as a reminder that he was given to the people by the vows Anne made. It remains there.
Louis XIV, the son of Anne of Austria and Louis XIII, would become the longest reigning of the Bourbon Kings … the longest reigning of European monarchs – 72 years.
It was to him, Louis XIV, that St. Margaret Mary Alocoque sent a letter requesting that France be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
St. Marguerite Marie Alocoque! She who talked with Jesus. She to whom He gave His Heart!
To Be Continued