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Benoîte Rencurel (1647-1718) was a shepherdess “My name is Lady Mary”
to whom Our Lady appeared in the village of Laus, in One day in May 1664, the young girl, who was
the diocese of Gap, in France, from 1664 until she working as a shepherdess for farmers in the area,
died 54 years later. This lengthy duration is a rec- was tending sheep in a little valley, the slopes of
ord in the history of Marian apparitions. Our Lady which had holes from faults that resembled shallow
told Benoîte: “I want a church built here in honour of grottos. Benoîte was reciting her Rosary when she
my Dear Son. Many sinners will be converted.” This perceived a beautiful Lady on a rock, holding the
church would become the ‘Our Lady of Laus, Refuge hand of a child of singular beauty. “Beautiful Lady!”
of Sinners’ sanctuary. she said to her. “What are you doing up there?
The apparitions were officially recognized by the Would you like to have a snack with me? I have a lit-
Church on May 4, 2008, and Benoite Rencurel was tle bit of good bread—we could dip it in the spring!”
declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on April 3, The Lady smiled at her simplicity, and did not say a
2009. A miracle attributed to her intercession is being word to her. “Beautiful Lady! Would you like to give
investigated in Rome which could lead to her future us this Child, Who would make our hearts so glad?”
beatification. Following is the biography of venerable The Lady smiled again without answering. After hav-
Benoîte Rencurel drawn from the April 2003 letter ing stayed a while with Benoîte, she took her Child in
published by the Saint Joseph of Clairval Abbey. her arms and disappeared in the cave in the side of
by Dom Antoine-Marie, O.S.B. the rock, where the shepherdess saw her enter and
go out several times.
“The sin of the twentieth century is the loss of
the sense of sin,” declared Pope Pius XII on October
26, 1946. A half-century later, the crisis in the sacra-
ment of Penance, abandoned by so many Catholics,
shows that the Pope’s opinion is still quite true to-
day. However, “to the eyes of faith no evil is graver
than sin and nothing has worse consequences for
sinners themselves, for the Church, and for the
whole world” (Catechism of the Catholic Church,
CCC 1488). Our present day is not the first to en-
dure a crisis in the sacrament of Penance. The Most
Blessed Virgin Mary has often been the messenger
of God to men and women to turn them from sin
and bring them to love of their Creator. Over the
last centuries, she has intervened on several occa-
sions, particularly at La Salette, Lourdes, and Fat-
ima. But before these, she deigned to appear to a
poor girl from the Alps, Benoîte Rencurel.
On September 16, 1647, Benoîte Rencurel
was born in the little free town of Saint-Etienne
d’Avançon, in the southern Alps. Her parents were
good Catholics, and lived modestly from the works
of their hands. When Benoîte was born, they already
had a daughter, Madeleine; a third daughter, Marie,
would be born four years later. The father, Guillaume
Rencurel, died when Benoîte, full of life and high
spirits, was seven years old. For the widow and her
three daughters, this death would lead to material
destitution. There was no school in Saint-Etienne
d’Avançon, so Benoîte never learned to read or write. Over the course of four months, the Lady ap-
Her only instruction came from Sunday Mass. She peared every day, talking very familiarly with the
learned there that Mary is the most merciful Mother young girl. To prepare her for her future mission, she
of God, which awakened in her a desire to see her. instructed her, correcting her vivaciousness and her
Benoîte, a contemplative soul, loved to pray for long abruptness, her stubbornness and her attachment to
periods of time. things and animals. Benoîte related her visions to her
employer, who at first did not believe her, but who,
Left: Painting of Benoîte Rencurel found in the one morning, secretly followed her to a small val-
nave of Our Lady of Laus Basilica. ley, the Vallon des Fours. There, she did not see the
Lady, but she heard the words that the Lady spoke u

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