Our Lady of La Salette () is a Marian apparition reported by two French children, Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Calvat, to have occurred at La Salette-Fallavaux, France, in 1846.

On 19 September 1851, the local bishop formally approved the public devotion and prayers to Our Lady of La Salette. On 21 August 1879, Pope Leo XIII granted a canonical coronation to the image now located within the Basilica of Our Lady of La Salette. A Russian-style tiara was granted to the image, instead of the solar-type tiara used in the traditional depictions of Our Lady during her apparitions.

Places dedicated to Our Lady of La Salette outside of France include a sanctuary in Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal; a sanctuary in Gdańsk, Poland; a chapel in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico; a shrine in Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu, India; as well as a national shrine in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and a shrine in Enfield, New Hampshire, in the United States, known for their displays of Christmas lights. There is a national shrine of Our Lady of La Salette at Kayakunnu, Nadavayal, in Wayanad, Kerala, India run by Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.

Background In 1846, the village of La Salette consisted of eight or nine scattered hamlets. The population was about 800, principally small farmers with their families and dependents.Wyse, John. Manual of the Confraternity of LaSalette, London, Richardson and Son, 1855, p. 9

The apparition On Saturday 19 September 1846, around 3 p.m., two young shepherds, Mélanie Calvat (or Mélanie Mathieu), aged just under 15, and Maximin Giraud (sometimes called Mémin, and, by mistake, Germain), 11 years old,For civil status details, see Jean Stern, La Salette, documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 17-18, 20. guarded their herds on a mountain near the village of La Salette-Fallavaux (department of Isère). On the evening, they said to their masters that they had seen a lady in tears who had spoken to them. Widow Pra (also known as widow Caron), mistress of Mélanie, believed that they had seen the Blessed VirginJean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 35-41, 315, 330, 353. and the children were urged to report everything to the priest of La Salette. They did so the next day. The priest wept with emotion, took notes and, again in tears, described what had been told to him, in his sermon.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 45, 294, 353.

The Pra report

On Sunday evening, in the presence of Mélanie but in the absence of Maximin, whom his master had taken back to his family in Corps, Baptiste Pra (Mélanie's master), Pierre Selme (Maximin's master) and a certain Jean Moussier collaborated to put in writing the words addressed by the Virgin to the children. The resulting document, which is called the "Pra report", is now only known from a copy made by an investigator, Abbé Lagier, in February 1847.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, p. 45. Nevertheless, this copy agrees with earlier documents which surely derive from the original Pra report.For example, a letter from Abbé Mélin, parish priest of Corps, dated October 4, 1846, reproduced by Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 50-55.

According to later reports, the words "I will tell you otherwise" mean that the Virgin, who had first spoken in French, began to speak in the patois of Corps.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 66, 71 etc and, on the nature of this patois, 279–280. From 12 October 1846 the documents mention that during the apparition, the lady confided a personal secret to each of the two children.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 61–62, 75.

For Father Stern, the Pra report is of prime importance among the documents on the apparition.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, p. 46.

Process of harmonization between the testimonies of the two children

The Pra report was written in the presence of Mélanie and in the absence of Maximin. Father Stern, however, considers it possible that the writers of the report added to Mélanie's statements things that had been said by Maximin.

Each of the two seers had, in the first weeks, a part of the lady's message of which they were more sure than the other seer. The parish priest of La SaletteLouis Perrin, who had succeeded on October 1, 1846 to his namesake Jacques Perrin. (Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 12, 63.) noted on 16 October 1846: "All this story" (that is to say, essentially, what concerns the complaints, threats and promises of the Virgin) "is faithfully given by little Mélanie and although little Germain could not in principle give it with the same order, he always said, however, when hearing his little companion tell it, that it was indeed that. What follows" (that is to say, essentially, the account of the Coin incident, which features Maximin and his father) "was more particularly understood and remembered by little Germain, Mélanie admitting that it is certain that the lady spoke to the little boy without Mélanie being able to understand the lady."See Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 63, 73–74.

However, in the words of Father Stern, a "process of harmonization" between the statements of the two children resulted in the fixation of the "Salettine vulgate": "The way he (Maximin) presents the words of the Lady[...] in February–March 1847 certainly owes something to the stories he heard from Mélanie in the meantime. But an influence in the opposite direction, from Maximin to Mélanie, must also have existed."Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 2, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1984, pp. 296–297.

Episcopal inquiries

The story of Mélanie and Maximin was very well received by the population and, at least from November 1846, the bishop of Grenoble, Philibert de Bruillard, was convinced of the reality of the apparition,See for example a letter from Abbé Morel, pro-secretary to the bishopric of Grenoble, dated November 19, 1846, reproduced by Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Paris, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, pp. 133–138, especially p. 136. but, wishing to be able to support his judgment on indisputable evidence,Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, p. 158 he requested several reports from various commissions.See for example a report he had requested in November or December 1846 from the professors of the major seminary of Grenoble. (Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 1, Desclée De Brouwer, 1980, p. 196.)

The Ars incident

In September 1850, Maximin, who was advised by some to become a Marist, wanted to consult the Curé of Ars about his vocation.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 3, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1991, pp. 10–11. Brayer, benefactor of the two seers,Brayer was a Parisian who had moved to Corps about a year earlier "to be closer to pouring out his generosity on them". L.M.U. Similien, Nouvelle auréole de Marie..., Angers, 1856, p. 449, quoted by Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques documents, t. 3, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1991, p. 8. and Verrier, one of the partisans of the "Baron de Richemont" who hoped that the secret of La Salette related to the destinies of this alleged Louis XVII, undertook to take Maximin to the famous priest.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 3, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1991, pp. 7, 11. Maximin's guardian officially gave his consent, but the bishop of Grenoble opposed the trip. Maximin, stamping with vexation, refused to submit to this prohibition. Brayer and Verrier disregarded the will of the bishop and took Maximin to Ars accompanied by his sister Angélique, who was an adult.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 3, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1991, pp. 11, 13.

The group arrived in Ars on 24 September in the evening. They were received by the Abbé Raymond, vicar of Ars, who expressed to Maximin a total incredulity with regard to the apparition of La Salette.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t . 3, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1991, pp. 13, 153–156. The next morning, Maximin had a one-on-one interview with the Curé of Ars. After this interview, the priest, who until then had great confidence in the apparition of La Salette,Letter from the Curé of Ars to the Bishop of Grenoble, December 5, 1850, in Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 3, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1991, p. 161. declared to several people, in particular to ecclesiastics, that Maximin retracted his testimony.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 3, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1991, pp. 15, 157. One of these ecclesiastics informed the episcopal commission in charge of investigating the apparition and Abbé Gerin, a member of the commission, came at the end of October to hear the Curé of Ars.Jean Stern, La Salette, Documents authentiques, t. 3, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1991, pp. 19, 157.