Pontmain Retraction
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Pontmain Retraction
Q: Is it true that one of the Pontmain seers retracted her story years later?
A: You are correct. One of the seers, Jeanne-Marie Leboeuf, who became a religious, retracted herself on December 18-20, 1920. She said: "I lied. I never saw the apparition." The retraction was held secret until in 1971 it was discovered by Fr. R. Laurentin. She had lost her spontaneous certitude as a child. According to Fr. Laurentin, her testimony as a child had been clear, coherent and spontaneous but not so her retraction, as an adult. This phenomenon is somewhat typical. Distance in time and psychological development creates doubt and lack of spontaneous certitude. She never recovered her original evidence but lived a beautiful existence of service and humility.