The Catholic Defender:The Reported Apparitions of The Blessed Virgin Mary at L'Ile Bouchard, France 1947

Please note: This apparition has been approved for faith expression at the site but the authenticity of events has never been confirmed.

At the liberation of France in 1945, a Communists takeover had been barely avoided. The Communists were still the most organized political force in the country and again they were on the verge of revolutionary success. Obedient to Moscow, they had committed sabotage, derailed trains, captured arsenals and were economically strangling the country with a general strike. Food shortages were more severe than during the war and blood was being shed. Events were out of control and the elected leaders were powerless to avert what seemed a hopeless situation.

The apparitions began on the feast of the Immaculate Conception; December 8, 1947. On that day three other events also occurred. One was the funeral of general Leclerc. Liberator of Paris in 1945 and devotee of the Virgin, Leclerc had been called back to France in the emergency but was killed in an airplane crash in Africa before his return. The state funeral drew together French patriots and kindled patriotic sentiment at this crucial moment.

In another part of France Father George Finet paid a visit to the famous holy woman; Marthe Robin.

"Marthe" he said, "France is finished; we're going to have a civil war."

"No, Father" she replied, "the Virgin Mary is going to save France by the prayers of little children."

In Turenne, in the district of fle-Bouchard, situated in the Loire valley, from December 8 to 14, in 1947, the Virgin Mary appeared to four girls from the ages of eight to twelve years old: the sisters Jacqueline and Jeannette Aubry, their cousin Nicole Robin, and their friend Laura Croizon.

In the parish church of St Gilles, in L'Ile Bouchard south of Tours, from the 8th to the 14th of December 1947, four children witnessed the apparition of the Virgin Mary and an angel. She asked that they pray for France and construct a grotto at the location.