Robaird O’Cearbhaill
Hong Kong Correspondent
For the 150th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Salette in 1996, Pope John II wrote a letter to the La Salette district Bishop Louis Dufaux of Grenoble. His Holiness emphasized the importance of the message of reconciliation in the vision.
“Such a commemoration has a rich potential of grace, and I want to share in it, in union with the pilgrims who come to venerate the Mother of the Lord under the title of Our Lady Reconciler of sinners.”
Pope John Paul II added: “Mother of the Savior, Mother of the Church, Mother of all, Mary journeys with each one on the pilgrimage of life. The preparation of the great Jubilee of the Redemption intensifies, and this year, consecrated to the anniversary of the apparition of Mary to (the visionaries) Maximin and Melanie, represents a significant step toward it.”
The two shepherds Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat were uneducated, illiterate, did not practice much of their Catholic faith or prayed much before the visions. For example, Melanie did not even know the full words of the Our Father.
However, despite their lack of schooling and loose religious practice, the local Bishop believed their stories were authentic.
The Bishop Brouillard of Grenoble, at the time of the La Salette vision said exactly five years later, after his enquiry, that the vision “bore in itself all the marks of truth and that the faithful are justified in believing it to be certain and indubitable.” A real conversion had taken place.
The Marian apparition occurred on 19 September 1846, on a mountain above the village of La Salette in the French pre-Alps. After the apparition, a spring of water appeared suddenly from the rock. A woman suffering from a serious illness was cured while praying and drinking the water from that spring for nine days.
The local area residents had become very lax in terms of practicing their faith, hardly attending church and not respecting the holiness of Sunday. Maximin and Melanie said that lack of religious practice was pointed out by Mother Mary’s word. Nevertheless, soon after the events, the influence of the Marian apparition turned locals back to their faith. Pilgrims arrived. According to the visionaries Mother Mary said, “My children, you will make this known to all my people” before she walked away, and disappeared in a bright light.
Pope John Paul II’s letter underlined the importance of those final words: “The message of La Salette was given to two young shepherds at a time of great suffering. Peoples were scourged by famine, subjected to many injustices. Indifference or hostility toward the gospel message worsened.”
The letter continued that: “she appeared bearing on her breast the likeness of her crucified Son, Our Lady showed herself associated to the work of salvation, experiencing compassion for the trials of her children, suffering when they strayed from the Church of Christ as they forgot or rejected the presence of God in their lives, the blessedness of his Name.”
He added that “La Salette is a message of hope, a hope sustained by the intercession of her who is the Mother of all peoples. Our alienations are not irreparable. The night of sin surrenders to the light of divine mercy. Human suffering properly accepted can contribute to purification and salvation.”
Six years after the apparition The Missionaries of La Salette order was founded, now working in every populated continent. Pope John Paul II in his letter said of them: “Missionaries of La Salette have never ceased plumbing the depths of the message of La Salette. They are especially enjoined to make known to all peoples the summons to renew Christian life. This is the mission which lies at the origin of their founding.”
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