Comau saw Mary

A sighting in medieval times

"The Writer's Cramp" "The Bradbury"  "The Twelve Labours of WDC" 

It was December 25th, 1039, in a small commune in France, Soulzon, Southern France, near the Pyrenees.

The doctor's family, with three kids, Francois, Gilbert, and Loisinnes, were preparing all week for the Christmas festivities in town. They were celebrating the coming birth of the child Jesus by decorating the town hall and singing in a choir. That morning, they were all stressed out because of the recurrent dreams of all three kids. That morning, the parents found them in their beds crying because the dream had been particularly vivid and strange. All three kids were adamant about seeing the Virgin Mary in their dreams, near a well-known cave outside town.

Dr. Jean tried to comfort his kids, but they were inconsolable. Their mother stayed with them while the doctor talked to a few colleagues in the nearby towns to ask what to do with his kids. They never reached common ground; the kids forgot about the whole thing in the coming weeks, and the new year of 1040 was a fact.

In June of that new year, Comau, a shepherd's boy, took his herd near Mont Combalou in the vicinity of Rocfort-sur-Soulzon.

It was early Spring, the sun was shining, and his 14 sheep were eating the fresh grass near the plain.

He was about to sit in the cave to eat lunch when he suddenly saw a young girl passing by. Her dress was waving around the ankles, her hair braided, a beautiful sight in the sunshine.

Within a split second, he decided to leave his herd and follow the girl to see where she was heading. But after a few hours, he lost sight of her and went back to his animals. The lunch he had left near the entrance of the cave was all tainted, and mold was growing where cheese had been. The sun had done its devastating job; the lunch was no good.

Maybe I can find my fishing rod in the cave, the boy thought. I think I left my gear there the other day. I might go to the stream nearby to get myself some fresh lunch.

When he entered the cave, a strong wind pushed him inside, and he fell on his knees. As he was adjusting himself, he stumbled forward and was shocked to find another person inside what was his cave. Not only was another person sitting near his fireplace, but it was a woman, a girl, and a beautiful one at that.

Comau was flabbergasted. It was not common to find a woman sitting in the mountain area near the Pyrenees. He didn’t recognize her, although one second he thought of the young girl he followed earlier. But she didn’t look at all like that girl. This woman had long golden hair waved around a gentle face with the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen. She wore a brown, cloaked dress with a rope around her slim waist.

He apologized for his humble appearance before addressing himself to her.

"Gentlewoman, you are sitting in my cave. Are you lost? Can I help you? Do you want some fish for lunch? Have you eaten at all?"

But the woman smiled without answering him.

He introduced himself as Comau, a shepherd, and asked for her name.

"I am Mary", she stated, and she looked at him as if she was assessing his answer.

"Welcome, Mary", said Comau. "Can I help you?"

"I am the mother of Christ", the woman said, still smiling. "Do you believe me?"

A sudden whirlwind entered the entrance of the cave, and the whirl shook everything inside. The bundles of wood, the clothes he stored inside the cave, and even some animals in his herd who had been following him inside were taken upwards, and all were scattered around as if hit by an explosion.

The sheep were making distress sounds, and all were confused. Comau was confused most of all. He closed his eyes in panic, and when he opened them again, he found himself alone. The woman was gone, and so were his sheep.

He stumbled over the debris toward the entry of the cave, but the sheep were no longer near the cave. There was an eerie silence. The sun was still shining bright, the grass was still waving, but he was alone.

When he looked above, he saw three objects in the blue sky. Hoovering. Then suddenly they took on speed and disappeared.

It was all too much for Comau, and he ran, and ran back to town.

There he told everybody who would listen about what happened and what he experienced inside the cave.

Nobody would believe a word he said; it was too strange a story, although they recognized that things were a little bit odd. And what happened to the herd? Nobody ever found those sheep again.

But a sighting of the Virgin Mary?

People would look at the shepherd's boy with strange eyes. Why should he be making up such an abnormal story?

Comau started acting weird and left the community. He never got over what he described as the day his world changed.

In 1140 AD, 100 years after Comau's sighting, the Catholic church recognized the appearance of the Virgin Mary as a private sighting, and people started to visit the community as a pilgrimage. The cave became a place of worship. And to this day, people celebrate Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as a holy place.

WC: 909