Our Lady of La Salette
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September 6, 2025The month of September is very significant to the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, a religious community of priests and brothers to which I, Fr. Mahka, Fr. Joseph and Fr. Romeo belong, and some other priests assigned in other parishes within the Diocese of San Bernardino. This month we commemorate the apparition of our Blessed Mother Mary to two children near a small hamlet called La Salette on the slopes of Mt. Planeau (alt.approximately 6,000 ft.) near the French Alps. The title Our Lady of La Salette came from that small village where the Blessed Mother Mary appeared.For this month, I would like to share about La Salette:- as an apparition of the Blessed Mother,
- as a Marian devotion of the faithful,
- as a religious community of priests and brothers and
- as a message of hope and a call to conversion, then and now.
In September 19, 1846, two children named Maximin Giraud, 11 and Melanie Calvat, 14, separately employed by local farmers were pasturing their livestock near the small village of La Salette on the slopes of Mt. Planeau. After taking a rest on that afternoon, the two children saw a light, radiating like the sun, and unfolding before their eyes was a woman seated with her face in her hands, weeping. The image of the woman slowly a rose and crossed her arms on her breast. They were drawn at once to the lady’s tears that adorned her face like perfectly cut diamonds glimmering in the sun’s rays. She was wearing a white-satin headrest, on which rested a crown of roses, a bouquet in all shades of reds and pinks. A crucifix with pincers on one end and a hammer on the opposite end hung over her satin shawl, which was lined with more roses. That crucifix on her breast was the source of that great light.“Come near, my children,” she tenderly addressed the two who stood afar, motionless. “Be not afraid. I am here to tell you great news!” And as soon as they were in touching distance of her, she began to speak with urgency. With tears on her eyes,she spoke of sadness caused by the unwillingness of people to make room for God in their lives. She spoke of the evils of the day and the need for conversion. “If my people will not obey,I shall compel to loosen the hands of my Son. It is so heavy,so pressing that I can no longer restrain it.” She continued with her other messages and towards the end, she repeatedly pleaded, “very well my children, you will make this known to all my people.”The Bishop of Grenoble commissioned several committees to investigate and research for the said apparition. As the two children retold their story repeatedly in perfect consistency,people could not help but to be convinced that the Blessed Mary had truly appeared to them. After five years of investigation, the Catholic Church authority officially approved of it, the bishop ordered a basilica to be constructed at the site of the apparition under the name of Our Lady of La Salette. All throughout those years, thousands of pilgrims trooped to the site and had experienced the healing power of conversion. Although Maximin and Melanie were not canonized, all throughout their life, despite their weaknesses, they continued to be bearers of the message of reconciliation of our Lady of La Salette and fulfilled their mission: “very well my children, you will make this known to all my people.”