Our Lady Image

The Miraculous Virgin is the sacred image through which Saint Mary-in-the-Wood presents itself as a place of divine aid. To Therese, arriving after a shepherdess’s assurances of the image’s powers, it represents the refuge and religious consolation she has been seeking. The monks instead use its reputation to attract offerings and shield their hidden practices from public scrutiny, making the image a focal point of the contrast between sincere faith and institutional fraud.

Pilgrimage and Promise

A shepherdess tells Therese that a pilgrimage is made to the miraculous image once each year and that worshippers who seek the Virgin’s help obtain what their hearts desire. She also describes Saint Mary-in-the-Wood as a house of exceptionally devout monks and presents its superior, Dom Severino, as a trustworthy guide. The account gives the image a reputation that precedes Therese’s arrival: it appears to promise access to spiritual assistance in a remote place where piety is said to flourish.

Therese is eager to pray before the image, and the promise helps determine her route. Although she has little to spare, she gives the shepherdess a crown before setting out. She follows an uncertain path through the forest, loses sight of the monastery’s tower, and continues for miles until she hears a bell. The image’s reported power thus brings her not simply to a church, but into an isolated institution whose remoteness will leave her dependent on those who control access to it.

The Image as a Means of Access

When Therese reaches the monastery, she explains that she has come to pray before the miraculous Virgin and to meet the ecclesiastics who preserve it. Dom Severino agrees that she may bow before the image the following day, after hearing her confession and arranging for her immediate needs. The devotional promise is therefore closely bound to the monastery’s hospitality: the visitor is encouraged to trust the superior and to remain within the house until she can fulfill her religious purpose.

The confession exposes how that trust can be exploited. Therese recounts her misfortunes and answers Dom Severino’s questions about whether she has relatives, friends, or anyone who knows where she has gone. He also asks whether she disclosed her destination or arranged to meet anyone on her return. After establishing that she is isolated and has no apparent protection, he takes her farther into the church, away from the expected encounter with the sacred image. The contrast between the promised devotional visit and the turn toward private control reveals the danger beneath the monastery’s welcoming religious appearance.

Fabricated Miracle and Public Reputation

The Virgin’s reputation is not merely allowed to conceal the monks’ conduct; it is actively manufactured. Omphale explains that the supposed miracles began after Dom Severino arrived and helped prevent outsiders from examining what happened inside. The house receives very few visitors during the year, but its apparent piety and austerity impress those who do come. They leave satisfied, speak well of the monastery, and thereby help preserve the monks’ impunity.

At the annual festival, the monks stage a visible miracle to reinforce this reputation. They dress Florette as the Virgin and use concealed strings to position her in a niche and make her raise her arms. The child has been threatened if she speaks or fails in her part, while the congregation sees an apparently supernatural appearance. The trick succeeds: people proclaim a miracle, leave rich offerings for the Virgin, and depart more convinced of the efficacy of the heavenly Mother’s intercession. The sacred image’s public meaning is thus supported by a performance designed to convert credulity into both praise and material support.

Religious Reversal and Significance

The festival does not end with the public deception. That evening, the monks reuse Florette’s appearance in their private proceedings, turning the visual signs that had attracted the congregation’s devotion into instruments of abuse. Therese witnesses the desecration that follows and is herself forced into the scene; the experience leaves her in profound distress. The change in setting—from a public display that seems to confirm the image’s holiness to a concealed act that profanes religious symbols—makes the gap between reputation and practice impossible to ignore.

The image therefore operates on two sharply opposed levels. For Therese, and for those who come to pray, it signifies hope, religious consolation, and the possibility of aid. For the monks, the reputation of its miracles is a cover that attracts offerings, reassures visitors, and discourages inquiry. The narrative’s criticism falls not on Therese’s faith, which remains sincere, but on the use of religious authority to manipulate believers. The image is central to the monastery’s public deception precisely because its genuine devotional meaning makes that deception persuasive.