23 APRIL OUR MOTHER OF ARDENTES (FRANCE)

 A wax candle is kept in the Cathedral of Arras, which is held to have been brought here by Our Mother in the year 1095. 

    There was a terrible epidemic that ravaged the countryside in 1105 and all felt that they were in the clutch of the specter of Death. 

    There were at that time two minstrels, Itier who lived in Brabant and Norman who lived in the Chateau de Saint-Pol. 

    They had vowed a mortal hatred, as Norman had killed Itier’s brother. One night they both had the same dream: the Virgin Mary, dressed in white appeared to them and told 

    them to go to the Cathedral. Bishop Lambert then understood that the Blessed Virgin had sent the two men to be reconciled. The Bishop spoke to each separately and then put 

    them in each other’s presence and asked them to give each other the kiss of peace and then spend the night in prayer inside the Cathedral. In the year 1105 at about 

    three o’clock in the morning, the Virgin Mary appeared to the two minstrels in the Cathedral. 

    Norman and Itier witnessed a sudden light as the Blessed Virgin descended from the height of the nave, carrying a lighted candle in her hands. 

    She gave the men the candle intended for the healing of the sick. All who believed were healed. The two minstrels distributed the miraculous water and the epidemic was stopped, 

    for the patients would regain their health after they drank of the water mixture. This relic, the Holy Candle, can still be seen today.




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