Mary, Refuge of Sinners, pray for us!

The year was 1836. Father Desgenettes, the parish priest at Our Lady of Victories Church in Paris, was discouraged. For four years, his zeal had been unable to overcome the indifference of a middle class bogged down by material interests. He thought seriously about resigning. This temptation hounded him until Saturday, December 3^rd, when, as he was celebrating the Mass at the altar of the Blessed Virgin, he received this interior word several times: “Consecrate your parish to the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary.” When Fr Desgenettes placed his parish in the hands of the Virgin Mary everything changed: his church became a “refuge of sinners,” to the point that its renown spread worldwide.

Our Lady of Victories Church was founded on December 8, 1629 in commemoration of King Louis XIII’s victories, particularly over the Protestants in La Rochelle, France. It was entrusted to the Discalced Augustinians. A very popular humble monk, Br Fiacre, was the originator of Marian devotion at this shrine. In November 1637 he had received the mission from God to announce the imminent birth of the Dauphin (heir apparent to the throne), the future King Louis XIV, and to hasten the official consecration of France to the Blessed Virgin. Through his efforts, he had Mary invoked at this church under the beautiful titles of “Mother of Mercy” and “Refuge of Sinners.”

But since the 17^th century, the Revolution had done its work and Father Desgenettes counted but 40 people at the Sunday High Mass, in a parish of forty thousand souls! For four years, he traversed a desert. “It is in vain,” he said, “for the priest to mount the pulpit to break the bread of the Word when there is no one to hear him. His flock consists of a handful of Christians, who are afraid to be seen as such. The others, absorbed in calculations of interest and profit, or drowned in sensuality and passions, know neither the church, nor the shepherd.”

Following an interior locution he received during Mass on Saturday, December 3, 1836, he drew up the statutes for a prayer society for the conversion of sinners, and invited the faithful to come to the office of Vespers on Sunday, December 11^th to beg for the conversion of sinners through the intercession of the Heart of Mary. Throughout the day that Sunday, the poor pastor worried, hoping that at least a few parishioners would come. That evening, to his great surprise, 500 people showed up, including many men! Many admitted that they did not know why they had come! The assembly, quiet during Vespers, participated enthusiastically in the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. They spontaneously chanted the invocation from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary three times: “Refuge of Sinners, pray for us.” Moved to tears, the priest asked and obtained the dramatic conversion of a notorious sinner as a sign of approval of the confraternity.

Soon, Fr Desgenettes understood his mission—to lead poor sinners to the feet of Mary, and so fight Satan’s work in souls and in society. In a letter dated June 1837, he wrote, “Countless sensational conversions have taken place, and most of the converts are men between the ages of 20 and 30! My parish was the center of indifference and impiety. Well! This has given me astonishing consolations. In my whole life I have never heard as many confessions as I have since last December... All live as Christians today, many leading an angelic life.”

Adapted from Clairval