EVOCATION AND MEMORY

6 January 1842, Anglet - 6 January 2021, Burlada 

A heavy snowfall in Burlada evoked the memory of the origin of the Congregation. Common climatic environmental circumstances... A same spirit...?

On 6th January 1842, Bishop Lacroix came to Notre Dame du Refuge to receive the first vows of the first fourteen Servants of Mary... Father Cestac has an emotional memory of this day, which he entrusts to his diary of personal notes: "The weather was dry, but very cold. The ice-covered roads did not allow neither carriage nor horse, so the bishop had to come on foot. Poverty was extreme. We had no firewood to keep Monsignor warm or to give him some warm milk. Yet this very poverty was a source of joy and consolation... The ceremony took place and, as I have just said, an inexpressible joy burst forth in all those souls as they had the joy of consecrating themselves to the service of Our Lady…"