Père Lamy was a French Priest who lived in the early half of the 20th century. He was blessed with the ability to interact with the supernatural to such an extent that it was a normal part of his day-to-day life. Thus, with charming candor and simplicity he relates supernatural events.

One of many mystical anecdotes in his life took place towards the beginning of 1915.

Père Lamy and a fellow priest, the Curé of Violot, were setting up a statue of Our Lady. Its gilded coating had flaked off over time, and so the good priests decided to put the statue under a protective glass dome. It covered the statue more than sufficiently, except that there wasn't room for the Virgin's crown.

Père Lamy continues the story:

"The Curé said, 'The shade won't be big enough to cover Her [wearing the crown].'

"I said, 'Won't be big enough? How much longer must it be? I am going to ask.' "

Sure enough, Père Lamy prayed that the Blessed Virgin enlargen the dome according to his companion's specifications.

"The Blessed Virgin heard my prayer and the globe drew out a little, according to the words of the Curé of Violot. There is now a little bend in it; you must be in the sun to see it. The Blessed Virgin left it on purpose. Before, it was perfectly rounded."

Thus, instead of making it simply a new and larger dome, She heightened the globe and left a small indent, as a reminder of Her loving touch.

Unfortunately, the miraculous new size was not to Père Lamy's liking. He thought back with some annoyance of his companion’s choice of words.

"He should have said, 'the whole hand's breadth.' But he said, 'Three fingers, that will be quite sufficient;' " Père Lamy mused to himself.

"You could not say the whole hand?" he chided his friend aloud. Not lengthened more than requested, the globe just exactly covered the statue and crown. The top of the crown, in fact, was touching the globe. The Curé of Violot, however, was not looking for it to be any taller.

"It well get as long as a stove pipe," he said, in a chaffing tone, to Père Lamy.

The two priests had a squabble over it, and Père Lamy did not pray for a second lengthening. As if almost to end the debate, the Curé of Violot, who sat on a chair wiping the glass shade, sent Père Lamy on another errand.

"Wipe the statue on the altar, which is white with dust," he said.

Père Lamy obeyed, though he noticed that there was hardly any dust at all. Nevertheless, he took a clean handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the statue. He was not expecting what happened next:

"At the actual moment, I felt that I was passing the linen over a person's face. I let go the statue and bowed profoundly before the Virgin and Child. You can easily tell the difference between a piece of wood and a human face.

"The Blessed Virgin was there, smiling. She had heard all the discussion. She must have said to Herself, 'There are two old men squabbling.' "

He noted that the Child Jesus was also smiling. Our Lady spread Her arms, completing the gesture which is imitated in the statue, as if to welome and bestow love. Here was a vivid example of how keenly She is aware of the attention given Her. As treasured mementos bring to mind a loved one, the Blessed Mother sees and feels all the affection and care aroused from the use of Her paintings and statues.

Looking only to the heart and the intention, Our Lady is ever vigilant to return the love of Her children. Père Lamy was overwhelmed and ended his story with the simple beautiful truth of this experience:

"She is protectress. She is the Virgin Most Powerful. She spreads Her mantle on all those who wish to come there."