THE SAiNt JOSeph shrine
BESSILLON
This high place of Provençal piety commemorates the apparition of San José on June 7, 1660.
In Mont Bessillon, on June 7, 1660, a young shepherd Gaspard Ricard grazed his
Sheep in intense heat. Exhausted by thirst, he fell on the burning ground and
suddenly a man of imposing height stopped near him and pointed at him a rock,
telling him:
“I am José, take it off and you will drink.”.
The stone was heavy. Afterwards, eight men will be barely able to lift it. Gaspard thought that it was a joke, but the ‘old man’, as the stories of the time say, reiterated his order. Gaspard obeyed, easily moved the rock and discovered that he was beginning to water fresh. He drank eagerly, but when he got up he was alone.
Gaspard does not doubt the reality of the fact, nor the inhabitants of Cotignac. With extraordinary speed the news spread, the source came pilgrims from all over the province and the bordering countries, sick and sick of all species, most of whom returned cured or consoled in their illnesses.
