First La Salette Shrine in India

When in her Apparition at La Salette the Blessed Virgin twice repeated the command, "Well, my children, you will make this (my message) known to all my people," no doubt she foresaw the day when Shrines to her honor would encircle the globe; when in every land there would be found churches and altars erected in her name where people of every clime would kneel invoking her intercession.

La Salette Devotion Comes to Madura, India

Quite naturally these Shrines to Our Lady of La Salette first made their appearance in France and gradually in other countries of Europe. And yet, strange to say, one of the oldest sanctuaries erected to the honor of the Weeping Mother, one of the pioneer centers of the devotion may be found today in the province of Madura in India, dating back to 1866.

This province is situated at the very southern extremity of India facing the Island of Ceylon, and comprises a fertile plain along the coastline where a torrid climate prevails, and the massive mountain range called the Ghates in the west, the moderate temperature of which makes it famous as a health and sum¬mer resort. On a plateau of these mountains is a town called Kodikanel, and here is located the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in India. This basilica – for such it is – owes its origin like so many other sanctuaries of La Salette, to the gratitude of a person for a cure obtained through the intercession of Our Lady of the Alps.

A Prayer and Promise

In 1858, forty years before the Missionaries of La Salette began their work in Madagascar, the Rev. Father St. Cyr of the Society of Jesus was sent by his superiors to visit the Jesuit missions on that island. While he was there, Father St. Cyr was stricken with the fever, a malady only too prevalent in Madagascar. Like a true missionary, the priest longed to return to his own beloved mission in India to carry on his apostolic work, and so he promised to erect a chapel in honor of Our Lady of La Salette in Madura should he be cured by Our Lady. His prayers were answered and Father St. Cyr was able to return to his people in perfect health.

Because of the lack of funds, the obstacle confronting all missionaries in foreign lands, the Jesuit priest was forced to wait until 1863 before even considering the erection of the Shrine to Our Lady. In that year, however, fortune smiled on him, and Father St. Cyr exerted every effort to fulfill his promise. The Jesuits had been laboring for many years in Southern India and several of the missionaries, worn out with their strenuous work, were sadly in want of a place where they could retire for a much needed rest. A spot was chosen and a house built at Kodikanel.

Here was the ideal location for the new chapel of Our Lady of La Salette. What could be more fitting than a shrine to the queen of the Alps here in this place of retreat, so that those priests no longer able to take active part in the vineyard of the Lord might join in the prayers of the Blessed Virgin for the conversion of sinners; where the newly converted Indians might learn of the tender love of Mary for her wayward children.

Circumstances favored Father St. Cyr, for while he was doing his utmost to procure funds to build the chapel, a Belgian countess, Madame d'Oultremont, was seeking a place to erect a shrine to Our Lady of La Salette. The daughter of the countess had been cured by the use of La Salette water, and the countess wished to express her gratitude by means of a lasting monument. She gladly contributed enough money to construct a beautiful chapel, henceforth to be the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in India. The cornerstone was laid by Father St. Cyr on St. Patrick's Day, 1863, and on May 28, 1866, Monsignor Canoz blessed the completed edifice.

The devotion to Our Lady soon spread rapidly and every year the natives make a pilgrimage to the Shrine on the 15th of August. They come from all the surrounding towns and villages, often travelling two or three days in order to be present for the festivities, and on the eve of the feast the hill leading to the shrine is made bright with the torches of the pilgrims.

So, in far off India we find another fulfillment of the prophetic words spoken by Mary in the Magnificat, "Behold, all generations shall call me blessed." Another nation has learned to know and love the Queen of Heaven, another nation has heard the message of La Salette.

The devotion to Our Weeping Mother has seized the hearts of many in India just as it has attracted Catholics in every country where Our Lady's message has been made known; for the tears of a mother are no less heart-rend-ing in lands obscured by the darkness of idolatry and paganism than in the cities of civilization, and day by day we realize the truth of the words of Pope Benedict XV, "The devotion of La Salette ought to spread, for it is a devotion that goes straight to the human heart."