Passadoc Gazette - No 178

No 178

Marseillaise!

She could've called herself The Montpellieraine ! André Abbe says:

By way of Escragnolles, a village located between Grasse and Castellane, during its climb to Paris in 1815, Napoleon had gone to greet the old mother who had become blind of François Mireur.

Who remembers him today? Born in Escragnolles in 1770, he became the youngest doctor in France in 1792 in Montpellier.

That same year, he went to Marseilles where he had performed in public the song of Rouget de Lisle taken up by the volunteers in Paris.

If the Marseillaise became the national anthem, it is thanks to François Mireur.

He died in 1798, becoming general, at the Battle of Damanhur, during the campaign of Egypt.

Today it is thought that he committed suicide by throwing his horse towards enemy lines. He was opposed to Bonaparte on the follow-up to this campaign.

Escragnolles – Photo by André Abbe

The Echoes of the Week
The Rock of Roquebrune
The Gardian
The old shepherdess...
Hungry lamb!

The Rock of Roquebrune

At the top of the Rock of Roquebrune, a magnificent viewpoint!

The three crosses are the work of the Provencal sculptor Bernar Venet, who was inspired by Giotto, El Greco and Grunewald, the reason why the crosses are all different.

Giant backed by the Massif des Maures, the rock peaks at 373 m. Several hiking trails lead to the summit.

– And let's not forget Brother Antoine who lived half a century alone on the rock, recalls Claude Boyer.

The hermit lived in a cave without water or electricity. By his real name Louis Chauvel, this monk who came from Mayenne and travelled to India lived more than 50 years on the Rock, at the rhythm of his readings, meditations and discussions with visiting hikers*.

In 2017, sick, he left his refuge; He died in 2021.

He is one of his friends, Laurent Seta, who takes over the spirit and chooses a life of silence and meditation.

Jérôme Allix
– I went to the Three Cross in 1991 with a guide via ferrata . Then a few years later, I met the hermit (brother Antoine).

*Searches on Décatlon Outdoor – Walks and hikes.

The Gardian!

François Abbe :
Arles, a feria day. Nice picture of this young woman...
Energy is so well captured!

The old shepherdess...

Retirement? A word she doesn't seem to know the meaning...

The years have bent her back, the sun has rinsed her face... His hands are nude, his step is slower and slower, less and less sure... but she's there, guiding the animals to the park by helping with her shepherd's stick that now also helps him climb the way.

– Rest? I'll have eternity for that.

I was born with candles.

I grew up in the pot

Of course I remind you

From the very first neon

I have experienced the great crisis

I was about to be 30

I knew the churches

With people in it

I knew horses

And the washing boards

A river so beautiful

That we could bathe

I've known the sun

Before it's dangerous

The centennial, a song by Lynda Lemay that seems written for her...

The hungry lamb!

This is Paul Goujon... A character in Roquebrune!

He loved his work and his beasts... which apparently did well to him; Don't you think this one hugs her?

Ian-Philippe Tinois
– If I remember correctly, Grandma Penat had been fed goat's milk. I don't remember the details of why, but it seems to me that she once mentioned this anecdote of her life.

Giselle Penat-Lorde
– Indeed... Mom was raised to goat's milk. And I think I drank some too, kid, because we still had a goat...
I wonder if the goats were not owned by the uncle and aunt Abbe (ownership of Sainte-Anne)...

I have often heard this anecdote because my mother's grandmother – not very maternal to mother, peace to her soul... – had no milk, hence the use of goats; It was in 1920, mother's year of birth and it was certainly our good aunt Abbe, who was very busy with mom, who had to have this idea...

Mother was born elsewhere in the castle of Bagatelle, in the outbuildings of course, where the farmers, including my maternal grandfather, were staying, before leaving afterwards on a estate in the Blavet...

Remote memories and a little confused...

Cited in The Gazette : André Abbe – François Abbe – Jérôme Alix – Claude Boyer – Jeanne Monin – Giselle Penat-Lorde – Jean-Philippe Tinois.
Editor in Chief : Jeanne Monin.