At first, as one can easily guess, Sister Josephine was very badly received. Several times, bullets whistled over her head, especially one day, while she was peacefully climbing the hill. In the property she had just acquired near the Benedictines, she had a dispensary built which she organised as best she could. People were soon astonished, then admired by this heroic worker of charity who lavished her care with such devotion and disinterestedness and without ever asking for a salary. On the contrary, she distributed gifts of all kinds that she received from France. The initial hostility of the villagers had thus disappeared, giving way to an atmosphere of respect and trust.
A native who was working on the hill discovered a line of stones outlining the apse of a church while clearing some brushwood. It was the Count de Piellat who brought the basilica to light. The foundations reveal that there was not only a basilica, the "Basilica of Flowers", but also a large monastery, the "Monastery of the Heavenly Whiteness". No sooner had the basilica been uncovered than an Ordo from the 7th century was discovered in Tiflis, Russia, with this heading: in Palestine, at Kariat-el-Enab [= Qiryat Yearim], feast of the Ark of the Lord on 2 July [4] which is also, in the past, the feast of the Visitation of Mary at Elizabeth's].
In 1912 the General Chapter took place in Marseille. Mother Célina Le Bouffo was re-elected Superior General. She immediately appealed to Sister Josephine to join the Mother House; her intention was to keep her in France, and no doubt to involve her in the government. Sister Josephine took the first boat and arrived in Marseille. But she begged the superiors to let her return to Palestine and was granted it.
Here she is back on the Holy Mountain, still active and even more prayerful. The convent of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition was completed in 1913, and the Welcome House was begun. Turning towards the West, Sister Josephine multiplied her calls to the Lord Jesus. She contemplated the sea in the distance and cried out: "Jesus! Cross the Mediterranean! Let yourself be carried on the waves: go to France to seek souls of love who will come to adore you on the Holy Mountain. Call, call souls of love! [5].
During the 14/18 war, Sister Josephine had to return to France and stayed in Lyon. She met the Revoil family, a widowed mother, two daughters (Anaïs and Julie) and a son (Joseph): she obtained the healing of the mother and announced her priestly vocation to Joseph. Anaïs became Sister “Marie de la Trinité”, and Julie became Sister “Marie de l'Arche d'Alliance”, both in the congregation of Saint Joseph of the Apparition.
After the war, the three of them gradually arrived in Qiryat Yearim, without any particular works, helped by Father Pel and by Sister Donatine, a Maltese sister who shared Sister Josephine's room in Qiryat Yearim.
It was also in Lyon that Josephine met Father Chevrier and Father Crozier, who had been a great friend of Charles de Foucauld. It was especially Father Pel, a professor at the college in Belley, who shared Sister Josephine's dream of the work of adoration planned for the "Holy Mountain". We will meet them later on the summit of Qiryat Yearim. For the time being, all these priests were eager to send Sister Josephine their girls, especially those who felt called to the religious life.
The time to return to the Holy Land finally arrived. Sister Josephine stopped at the Mother House in Marseille, where there were several elderly sisters. Pointing them out to one of her "daughters", Sister Josephine said: “You must have all these sisters in veneration. They have all been martyrs of duty...” [6].
Back in the same place as the house of Abinadab and the ruins of the first basilica of the Byzantine era, Sister Josephine continued to care for the poor sick who kept arriving from the surrounding villages. She was called "Sister Camomile" because with her good camomile tea (and her prayer) many of the sick felt better. At the same time she had the convent and the Marian shrine of the New Ark of the Covenant built.
The foundation stone of the basilica was blessed on January 8, 1920 by Cardinal Dubois, under the title “OUR LADY OF THE ARK OF ALLIANCE”. The parchment bears these words: “OUR LADY OF THE ARK OF ALLIANCE. TO THE MOST HOLY VIRGIN MARY, SYMBOLIZED BY THE ARCH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT” [7].
It was on the occasion of the laying of this first stone that Sister Josephine understood and felt that the red flames seen 50 years earlier under the feet of our Lord represented the Holy Mountain where Jesus wants to be adored, loved and consoled by souls of love.
The basilica is built in ashlar on the model of an ancient Byzantine church that was reconstructed in the 5th century; devastated by the Persians in 614, it rose from its ruins until the devastation of Hakem, the Caliph of Egypt in 1010. An ancient liturgical calendar of the 7th century mentions a festival in honour of the Ark of the Covenant. And oral Arab traditions still remember a convent or church "of the flowers" dating back to that time.
On the first Friday of February 1920, the "Holy Mountain" of Qiryat Yearim was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (text written by Father Leonide Guyot, Assumptionist, at the request of Sister Josephine). We can make this prayer our own.