Apparition
Apparition of Saint Joseph at Cotignac
Private revelation · Mont Bessillon, Cotignac, Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, France, 1660
On 7 June 1660 a young shepherd named Gaspard Ricard, exhausted and parched on the slope of Mont Bessillon near Cotignac, saw a man who pointed to a boulder and said: I am Joseph; lift that rock and you will drink. The shepherd moved the stone, which several men could barely shift afterwards, and a spring came forth that flows still.
Background
The Bishop of Fréjus acted at once: within months the place was entrusted to the Oratorians, and a sanctuary was consecrated there in 1663. Cotignac is the only place in the world with a recognised sanctuary of an apparition of Saint Joseph, and it stands a short distance from Notre-Dame de Grâces, where Mary had been venerated since 1519 and where Louis XIII consecrated France to her. The Church has never issued a decree on the supernatural character of the event; she has approved and sustained the cult, and Cotignac remains a diocesan shrine of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon.
Location
Mont Bessillon, Cotignac, Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon
Country
France
Approved status
Private revelation
Year of apparition
1660
Visionaries
- Gaspard Ricard
Message highlights
'I am Joseph; lift it and you will drink' — the only words handed down from the apparition.
Subject
saint
Decision year
1661
Content subtype
unapproved_apparition
Decision authority
Bishop Joseph Zongo Ondedei of Fréjus, who entrusted the place of the apparition to the Oratorians in January 1661