STORY OF THE ONLY TIME SAINT JOSEPH APPEARED ALONE

I am Joseph, move it and you will drink

On June 7, 1660, Saint Joseph appeared to a young shepherd on Mount Bessillon, in the French town of Cotignac, the only apparition in which the Holy Custodian of the Family of Nazareth appears alone and is recognized by the Catholic Church.

According to the website of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon , “on June 7, 1660, around 1:00 p.m., Gaspard Ricard, a young 22-year-old shepherd, was tending his flock on Mount Bessillon”.

“The heat was stifling and I was thirsty. Suddenly, she perceived 'a man next to her', who pointed to a large rock and said: 'I am José, move it and you will drink'”.

Some accounts from the time indicate that the rock was so large that it would have taken the strength of about eight men to move it.

The diocese's account notes that “to the surprise and doubt of the young pastor, the apparition reiterated his advice. Gaspard complied, moved the rock smoothly and discovered a spring where he drank his fill.”

The young shepherd then went to his village to give the news of the fountain that had sprung up where never before had there been a spring of fresh water.

According to the website of the Benedictine monastery located in Cotignac, after hearing the news, on August 9 the inhabitants of the region began to build a chapel in the place of the apparition, where many sick people came back "healed or consoled before their ailments."

The chapel was completed in 1663 and was entrusted by the then bishop to the Oratorian Fathers, who built a sanctuary around the fountain.

To this day, an inscription taken from the book of Isaiah can be seen on the site: "You will draw water with joy from the fountains of salvation."

In March 1917, the then Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, Msgr. Félix Guillibert, stated in a letter that the brevity of Saint Joseph's message in the 1660 apparition shows that the Holy Custodian “is not talkative. Nothing simpler, or poorer than that intervention, the only apparition of Saint Joseph of this type in the entire history of the Church, in a land that Our Lady had already reserved for herself.

The apparition of Our Lady of Graces

The Bishop thus made reference to the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1519, under the patronage of Our Lady of Graces, who also visited Cotignac.

The website of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon notes that “on August 10, 1519, on the feast of Saint Lawrence, the Virgin Mary, accompanied by Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Bernard, appeared in the field to a very pious named Jean de la Baume.

The Mother of God then “ordered him to tell the clergy and the community of Cotignac on his behalf to go in procession to Mount Verdaille and to build a church, under the invocation of Our Lady of Graces, for their desire to grant many graces and favors to those who invoke her in that place.”

Among the famous pilgrims who came to that place is King Louis XIV, who thanked her for the gift of her birth.

Nowadays, many people go on pilgrimage to ask for the gift of a child or to be thankful for having received some grace. Pregnant women also visit this place to thank the gift of life.

ACI Prensa