History of the Shrine of Our Lady of Montligeon

... two years before arriving in La Chapelle-Montligeon, Fr. Buguet had been deeply affected by three deaths in his family. On the evening of 1st November 1876, his brother August had been crushed to death by a falling bell at the church of Our Lady of Mortagne. “And what about his soul?” exclaimed the young priest. This tragic accident was followed by the deaths of two of his nieces, aged 12 and 16.”One consequence that can be drawn from my meditations, is the necessity to relieve the souls in Purgatory. I have delayed too long in organising the Work that I had planned. I must work to deliver these souls”, noted Fr. Buguet in his Diary a few months later. The idea of creating a work for the “the deliverance of the neglected souls in Purgatory” germinated in his mind. It would become a reality at La Chapelle-Montligeon. One of the cares that haunted him from that time was to pray and have others pray for all the dead, especially for “those for whom no one prays”. After several attempts, in 1884 Fr. Buguet obtained approval of the statutes of the Association for the deliverance of the souls in Purgatory. He became then, as he himself says, the “commercial traveller for my souls in Purgatory”, begging from parish to parish to build up his work.

~ Excerpt from here ~

The following video is long but, in my opinion, worth the time to learn about the fascinating history of the Shrine of Our Lady of Montligeon. When Fr. Buguet was feeling a strong calling to pray for the souls in Purgatory, he thought maybe an association for the Holy Souls would also enable him to provide work for parishioners. He waited for a sign which came in May of 1884 when a mysterious lady attending Mass thanked him for his kindness of offering mass every Monday for the most forsaken soul in Purgatory.