the essential
Émile, 2 and a half years old, disappeared on Saturday July 8 at Le Vernet in the Alpes de Haute-Provence, remains untraceable. Around parents, fervent Catholic believers, Catholics are mobilizing everywhere in France.
It was two days after the disappearance of her son, on Monday July 10 at the start of the afternoon, that Marie, the mother of Emile, the child who mysteriously disappeared in Le Vernet in the Alpes de Haute-Provence, published a first post on Facebook. She writes :
“Please pray to the venerable Sister Benoîte Rancurel, mystic of the Laus apparitions. The devil regularly took her to the mountains to persecute her and the angels brought her back”.
The message written by Emile’s mother.
Facebook Snipping
An intriguing message at first sight. Benoîte Rancurel is a shepherdess to whom the Virgin Mary would have appeared for the first time at the age of 17 in a field in the Southern Alps in 1664. The Virgin would have asked the teenager to build a church to confess the pilgrims . On the spot the basilica of Notre-Dame-du-Laus was born to the east of Gap. 170,000 visitors visit the basilica each year. As for the message from Emile’s mother, it refers to an episode in the life of Sister Benoît Rancurel.
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Disappearance of Emile: who is Benoîte Rencurel, the clairvoyant called for help and in prayer by the child’s mother?
A Facebook group: “Pray for Emile”
On the same day of July 10, a Facebook group called “Prions pour Emile” was created by “Mathilde du GT”, a friend of Émile’s parents, who lives in the Rennes region. Objective: to identify “group initiatives”. 13,300 people are already part of it. Within a week, the group became the virtual meeting place for many Catholics from all over France to share their thoughts, hopes and prayers with Emile’s family.
fervent believers
Emile has a large family. His mum, 26, is the eldest and has nine siblings. The parents of the little boy, Colomban Soleil and Marie Vedovini live in La Bouillandisse 30 minutes from Marseille. A family “very religious, very discreet”, according to Mayor José Moralès. Every Sunday, the parents, Emile and his little sister of just under a year went to mass in Latin in Marseille at the Saint-Charles church, according to Provence. It presents itself on its website as a “parish of traditional rite”.
Emile’s family attended Latin Mass on Sundays.
St-Charles Parish Photo
The priest of the church of La Bouillandisse knew the family even if they did not come to his services. “I met the little boy in the street with his mother on the way to the Post Office”, remembers Father Maximilien Duc. “They sometimes took a break in the church. His mother came to meditate and the little one accompanied him”, he tells the Figaro. Very pious, the family organized a classical music concert every year in the church of Vernet where the maternal grandparents have a secondary house.
The church of Vernet, Monday July 10, 2023.
Photo MaxPPP
Burst of prayer for Emile
Since the child’s disappearance, Catholics have been mobilizing in prayer, turning to Heaven to ask for comfort in the ordeal for Emile’s family. These prayer initiatives are shared on the Facebook group “Prions pour Emile”: North, Provence, Var, Versailles, Rennes, Vannes, Bourg-en-Bresse, Clermont-Ferrand and even Mexico, Brazil and Tahiti. Messages are sent from Lourdes or from Lisieux. Mohammed, a Muslim from Nantes, even invites “all sincere Muslims to pray with our Christian brothers and sisters”. There are also Internet users who invite fasting in these tragic circumstances.
In the comments, Catholic Internet users say that they recite the rosary and share their hopes: “May the guardian angel of this tiny Emile bring him back to his dear parents”, “Mary, you cannot remain insensitive to the distress of the family of little Émile”, “Lord may you bring Émile safe and sound to his family who are waiting for him with open arms”, “Lord do not abandon this family, be present with them and Emile” , “Let’s pray for little Émile hoping that God will show him the way back to his family safe and sound”, “I light a candle every day since July 8. The Lord is his shepherd”.
Emile’s family, who remain united in their house in Haut-Vernet, whose access remains blocked by the gendarmerie until Monday evening – participated in a mass at the Sainte-Marthe church in Vernet on Saturday at the end of afternoon.
