Goult: Our Lady of Light

A miraculous light near a chapel dedicated to the Virgin

In 1661, 63-year old farmer called Antoine de Nantes and his companions saw “a great light” near a chapel dedicated to the Virgin, in the region of Lubéron, between the villages of Cavaillon and Manosque.

According to the inquiry ordered by the bishop of Cavaillon in February 1663, several eyewitnesses saw a beautiful light during that night (despite heavy rain), as large as a full moon, which came from the hills surrounding the chapel, illuminating different places in a marvelous way as it moved, until it returned to the chapel and disappeared.

Healings

From June 1663 to January 1666, the Carmelites in charge of the shrine recorded 202 cures, including that of Antoine de Nantes who had a bulging hernia.

A pilgrimage

The bishop of Cavaillon authorized the restoration of the chapel, where hundreds of pilgrims converge during the annual pilgrimage to Our Lady of Light each year on August 15^th.

Biblical parallels

God is Light: "The Lord is my light and my salvation" (Ps 4:7, 19:9, 27:1).

Christ said, "I am the light of the world" (Jn 8:12, 11:9).

Saint John returns to this theme constantly in his first epistle: "God is light, in him there is no darkness ... we walk in the light, as he is in the light" (1 Jn 1:7) .

The light of love itself

Mary radiates the light of God, she radiates his love. This is especially expressed in the vision of the book of Revelation (Rev 12: 1) with the images of the sun, the moon and the stars.

Our Lady of Light invites us to see everything in the light of God.

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B. COUSIN Notre-Dame de Lumière. Trois siècles de dévotion populaire en Lubéron, Paris, 1981;

P. SBALCHIERO article "Goult", in: René LAURENTIN and Patrick SBALCHIERO, Dictionnaire encyclopédique des apparitions de la Vierge. Inventaire des origines à nos jours. Méthodologie, prosopopée, approche interdisciplinaire, Fayard, Paris 2007.