1 Testimony of the Events Leading to My Membership in the Army of

Testimony of the Events Leading to My Membership in the Army of Mary
Gatineau, January 25, 2005
I came to know of the Work of the Army of Mary through the Pilgrim Virgin. I should also
mention that a spiritual journey was already in progress at the time of the Pilgrim Virgin’s first visit
to my place. The illness and death of my father-in-law had set this journey in motion. In my prayers,
I was asking the Blessed Virgin to help me get back on the right road.
One of the first gestures to be made in order to get back on the right path is to go to
confession. That is what I did with much humility and a perfect contrition, for it had been a very long
time since I had done so. Only God knows how much I wept over having deserted my Catholic
religion. Many interior struggles preceded that confession. Anyone who, like me, finally returns to
the right path, knows what it has cost him and how painful a desertion has been for others. We cause
much suffering to those around us.
It all began after Mass one Sunday. As I was leaving, my eye was drawn to a leaflet on a table
at the back of the church, which said: “Receive the Pilgrim Virgin, a source of great graces for all
those who receive it with love.” And there was a name and telephone number. I picked up the leaflet
and put it in my purse. When I got home, I took it out and put it on my dresser. It stayed there for a
few days before I finally decided to receive the Pilgrim Virgin.
So, I telephoned the person in charge, and the next day, she came to my house with a
beautiful niche in which there was the lovely Virgin of Fatima. The person before me was extremely
generous. Thus, my young children (2 and 4 years old), this person and myself said a few prayers.
She gave me miraculous medals for myself and the children, and I immediately pinned it on them.
Then she left, saying that she would return in nine days, the time it takes to make a novena.
This novena was a terrible battle between good and evil. I had placed the Virgin’s statue in
my bedroom. I did not sleep for one entire night and I was tormented several times during that night
without my husband being a witness, however, to this torment. I really think the Virgin had foreseen
this, for my husband slept very deeply that night.
At the end of the novena, everything had become peaceful; my prayers had been heard. I
could now walk straight ahead. The person who had brought me the Pilgrim Virgin came back to
pick it up and we chatted. She gave me another little leaflet with a consecration to the Virgin and
other prayers on it and she said that I could keep the Pilgrim Virgin for another novena if I wanted
to, because no one else had asked to receive it. Without any hesitation, I accepted it a second, and
then a third and then a fourth time. And that is when my husband and I took the decision to move
to the country. We agreed that the children’s development would be better in peaceful surroundings
and what better place to foster this than in the country. The Virgin Mary was waiting for me there.
After the move, I wanted to receive the Pilgrim Virgin again for a novena. I could not find
the little leaflet concerning the Pilgrim Virgin, but I remembered the other little leaflet which, being
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smaller, I had put in my purse. So I consulted it in the hope it would have a name and telephone
number on it. Fortunately, the name and telephone number were there. For the first time, I read all
the little leaflet of the Army of Mary, and I read the consecration to Mary. My reaction after having
read the consecration was: “A person like me can’t be part of a movement like that” (I did not feel
worthy to be a member).
So I called this person again, but she could not come, unfortunately, because I had moved.
However, she gave me the name of another person who lived closer to me. I called this person and
she is the one who was to introduce me to this wonderful and great Work of the Army of Mary.
Great changes were to upset my life, and all for the better. Here I must say that all these
events and those that followed were always marked by a very great freedom being left me. Never in
the Army of Mary, to this day and in those to come, did I feel myself obliged to do anything
whatsoever. My freedom was always treated with much respect.
From that moment on, the journey was not easy. But something inside me pushed me to keep
walking straight ahead. It was at this time in my life that I remembered a dream I had had as a child.
I was about nine years old and my parents were witnesses to this dream because they had to console
me. Here, I will take the liberty of recounting it.
In this dream, two roads stretched out before me. I was standing before both of them. One
was beautiful, straight and lined with lovely flowers, while the other was rugged, winding and dark.
However, the one thing they had in common was that both lead to heaven. I had to choose and I
chose to take the more difficult road. As I was climbing this latter, the devil was pulling at one of
my legs to bring me down, but the more he tried to draw me downwards, the more I resisted and the
higher I went. It was difficult and I was afraid. I woke up crying and screaming, and my parents
rushed into my room. I told them everything, they looked at each other and they consoled me, and
we never spoke of it again. But this event always stayed in my memory.
This person invited me to assist at the first Saturdays of the month, the processions in honor
of the Virgin and the different Marian feast days. The children always accompanied me. It was
recommended that I read Life of Love. There again, I was left entirely free to accept or refuse; I
accepted. The reading of the first volume was a revelation that I had difficulty accepting. I felt a great
battle going on inside me and when I finished reading it, I violently threw the book in a corner and
I wept, for I did not know what to think anymore. I was desperately searching for the truth.
Some time later, I was invited to attend a ceremony of the Army of Mary in Montmagny. I
asked my husband if he had any objection to my going and he simply replied that he would never
place himself between God and me. So I went with his blessing, if I can put it that way. I thought to
myself that I would really see what the Army of Mary and the foundress Marie-Paule were all about.
Things would then finally be clear in my mind.
There was prayer and a spirit of recollection throughout the entire trip. When we arrived
where the gathering was to be held, and as I was about to get off the bus, I saw a great white mass.
Previously, I had seen members of the Army of Mary dressed in white, but here there were hundreds
of them. Inside me, I was always asking myself this question: “Am I good enough to be a part of the
Army of Mary and to dress in white?” I was afraid of myself and I was afraid of being judged. And
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if I were making a mistake... and if... and if... I had doubts, temptations of all kinds. My faith was
shaken and this struggle was torturing me. After all, I thought to myself, what if this Work were
authentic and willed by God, as is mentioned in Life of Love... I prayed and asked the Lord to
enlighten me and give me a sign to dissipate completely my anxiety.
So I followed the group. The Expodrome in Montmagny was full and there were even people
standing in the back. So many people and especially entire families. I only saw smiles and a great
charity in all things, and what can be said of the order that was to be seen there! I felt only love round
about me. The first part of the day did my soul such a great amount of good. After the noon meal,
I went outside to get a breath of fresh air. It was a magnificent day! I began to walk, and seeing a
church steeple, I decided to go there.
I wanted to enter the church to pray, but alas! all the doors were locked. I was really
disappointed, because I would have liked to recollect myself there before returning for the second
half of the day. As I was leaving there, I noticed that there was a side door, and I thought to myself
that perhaps it would not be locked. To my great surprise, the door was unlocked. I entered and there
I saw before me a huge painting of Saint Thomas putting his finger in Jesus’ side, and on the bottom
of the painting, there was the inscription: “My Lord and my God!” I threw myself on my knees at
the back of the church and I wept, saying in my turn, “My Lord and my God!” I stayed there and
wept. All doubts disappeared, I was filled with a great inner peace and I believed. The Lord, in His
kindness and great mercy, had just enlightened me. “Blessed are they who will believe without
having seen.”
I piously walked back to the Expodrome for the second part of the day. My soul was at peace
and a great serenity enveloped me. The Holy Mass celebrated by the Sons of Mary was filled with
a very deep respect and recollection, and this was striking.
At the end of the ceremony, a few people encouraged me to go and meet Marie-Paule. I did
not want to, I did not dare, I felt very unworthy. But finally, I decided to go anyway. There were so
many people around her who wanted to see her and talk to her. I felt embarrassed and I thought to
myself: “Why would she want to see me; I am not even a member of the Army of Mary?” And yet,
my eyes sought her, and I saw her hand going out to reach for mine. She took my hand as she asked
me my name. I told her simply that I was an acquaintance of such and such a member of the Army
of Mary. Marie-Paule told me that she knew her very well. She smiled at me and I smiled back. I was
won over and I felt such warmth coming from this woman whose eyes were filled with unconditional
love. Never before had I felt this with another human being. I had the impression that our souls were
communicating together. Once again, a great peace flowed over me, like it had in the church earlier
in the afternoon. This first trip was the first of many others to follow; the only difference was that
then I too was wearing the white dress.
The week after that event, I asked to be received as a Knight of Mary with my children. A
year later, I was received as an Oblate-Patriot. Today, I am praying, in union with the Knights of
Mary, for our fidelity, in spite of the tempests of this life.
I often saw Marie-Paule again since then, and her regard has always left traces on my soul.
I give thanks to God every day for having led me to this Work which is the Army of Mary
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and its foundress.
Before having any knowledge of the Army of Mary and at the beginning of my spiritual
journey, I had asked one single thing of Our Lord: that I be part of those men and women who would
recognize Him in His second coming. Several years ago, I had just finished saying my rosary and I
asked the Lord who He was and He replied to me: “I am He who comes.”
The road is rugged, winding and dark, but I know that the light is at the end of the road. I
have found the truth in Life of Love. The road has brought me to that point and I know that the
journey is not over. “Straight ahead, Knight!” Fiat!
May the Lady of All Peoples protect our fidelity.
United in prayer in Jesus and Mary for the fidelity of all.
Éveline Beaudin
Gatineau
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