Pilgrimage with Saint Michael the Archangel
Part 4


Mont Saint Michel

Mont Saint Michel in Normandie, France

Mont Saint Michel in Normandie, France

Saint Michael appeared the 9th of October 708 to Saint Aubert, bishop of Avranches in Normandie and asked him to build a sanctuary to his honour on an island not far from the coast. The sanctuary was inaugurated the 16 th of October 709. Soon after the apparition many sick people became well and at least 12 blind people got their sight back.

All French kings up to Charles the Great dedicated their kingdom to St. Michael. For a very long period a Benedictine monastery formed an adjoining church. Under the French Revolution it became a prison. At a jubilee recently measures were taken for some Benedictines to return. About half a million people annually walk up la Grande Rue to visit this sanctuary. St. Michael is a surety for freedom and thus this sanctuary also became a symbol of the allied landing in Normandy during the Second World War.


Mount Saint Michael, off the coast of Cornwall

Mount Saint Michael located on an island in Mount's Bay along the southern coast of Cornwall

Even England has its Mount Saint Michael, off the coast of Cornwall. It is less famous than the French sanctuary but a revelation of St. Michael is supposed to have taken place there.

 Mount Saint Michael located on an island in Mount's Bay along the southern coast of Cornwall, Mount Saint Michael is a castle built on sharp peaked hill. It is so named after the angel Michael appeared at this site in the fifth century. It has been the home to Benedictine monks under Edward the Confessor, to Saint Keyne of Ireland, and, likely, to earlier native religious cults who may have worshipped the sun on the mount.