16 FEB - OUR MOTHER OF THE THORN (FRANCE)

 On the night of the Feast of the Annunciation 24th March 1400, some shepherds tending their flocks were attracted by a bright light coming from the Chapel of 

    Saint John the Baptist near Chalons. They saw a thorn bush fully engulfed in flames, and they discovered a statue of the Blessed Virgin standing unharmed 

    in the midst of the flames. In fact, though the fire burned brightly, the branches and leaves of the thorn bush were unaffected by the flames. 

    The miracle continued all that night and into the next day, and news of the miracle spread quickly. 

    Mobs of people crowded around the burning bush that was so reminiscent of the one witnessed by Moses on Mount Horeb. The Bishop of Chalons, Charles of Poiters, 

    also witnessed the burning bush and the miraculous statue unaffected by the fire. When the flames finally did die down, 

    the Bishop reverently took the statue and carried it in his own hands to the nearby Chapel of Saint John. Our Mother of the Thorn became a place of pilgrimage very rapidly.




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