Meet Brother Juan, A La Salette Artist

Bro,. Juan in his workshop at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Siador- Silleda, Pontevedra, Spain.

His bronze statue of Our Lady of La Salette seated, turning to welcome the two children (and us) in the Attleboro Shrine’s Garden of the Apparition.

When Our Lady appeared to the two young cowherds at La Salette on September 19, 1846, before ever she spoke a word, her presence spoke volumes. The children were first attracted by the otherworldly globe of light that surrounded her. As they approached, Maximin and Melanie's fears were quelled by the sight of Our Lady seated on a stone, her face in her hands. 

 

As she looked at them to greet them, they saw she was crying. The light from the crucifix she was wearing, the tears of a compassionate mother, the garlands of roses surrounding her head, shoulders and feet-all these things spoke to the children of the Divine Presence, and made an impact on their lives as deep – if not deeper – than the words she subsequently spoke.

 

Ever since the children described this scene, artists have tried to capture that Presence. Over the years, devotees of the La Salette Apparition have seen those attempts reproduced in paintings and sculpture. Among the many artists who have depicted that tender scene at La Salette of Mary where she spoke with the two children, we present one member of our Congregation who took seriously Our Lady's call to “make this known to all my people.” 

“A picture is worth a thousand words” runs the old saying. A work of art is able to bypass the head and grasp our hearts. Then, when we reflect upon what it is that has grasped us, we realize we are in touch with a reality beyond canvas or stone, paints or bronze – a reality that speaks a myriad of words, or that expresses too much to put into words. We are put in touch with the mystery of how God is revealed to us through the presence and gifts of others-made powerful in the presence of the Holy Spirit. This is the mystery that unites us as Church.
 

So we celebrate the presence of God in the event of La Salette, not just as it occurred 136 years ago, but as it lives in the way it continues to speak to us now. And so it is also fitting that we celebrate the talents of one of our brothers – talents he shares as a faith-response, an attempt to “make this known to all my people.”

 

Finally, we hope that such a feature might inspire you, too, to share your talents among the people of God, whatever they may be-in art, music, teaching, writing, organizing; in the work of healing, raising a family, feeding the hungry, caring for the outcast-all works and expressions of the reconciling work of God that makes us brothers and sisters in the Lord Who is risen and dwells among us.

 

 

Brother Juan is last served at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Siador-Silleda, Pontevedra, Spain. As we heard him tell the story of his life and devotion to Our Lady, we share with you the advice he gave when I asked him to do so: “I advise you to work as much as you can to make known Mary, our Mother, more and more each day, but don't waste the time making me known.” We pray that the telling of Brother Juan's story will be in keeping with his own wish.

 

He said: I was born in Congostrina, Guadalajara, Spain, on October 17, 1928. My name is Mariano Magro Andres; when I became a La Salette brother, I changed it to Juan. I am the oldest of four brothers. When I was eight years old, I started to work because my family was poor. My father died when I was eleven, so I had to help my mother by working even more so that we would have something to eat. My mother died ten years later and I had to face life with my three younger brothers – the little one only eleven years old. I can now say that this was my preparation for religious life. 

 

I joined the Congregation of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette in 1960, called to do for the people of God what I had learned to do for my own family: give. I don't have a degree or diploma. What you have noticed in my art is just natural and spontaneous. I have made some works of art, but just for a hobby and, more than anything, out of strong determination.

 

How did this particular statue – now holding a central place in the Attleboro Shrine’s “Garden of the Apparition” – come about? It is very difficult to explain. The moment of the Apparition that it represents occurred to me while visiting the site of the Apparition on the Holy Mountain. Mary is beginning to rise from her position on the rock and is addressing – not Maximin and Melanie as in 1846 – but one who now claims to be a Missionary of La Salette.

 

After the passage of so many years since the apparition, the situation in my own country can best be described as one of forgetfulness. I understood that Our Lady was challenging me about that very attitude: “Missionary, what have you done with the message that I delivered here and that the Church has entrusted you to make known to all my people?” For us, her missionaries, such a situation must concern us and such a challenge give us pause.

 

“For the people of God, Mary continues to be the Mother who invites and receives, who waits for them to be reconciled with Christ, who was depicted on the crucifix she wore on her breast.

 

“I do not know if my explanation makes it any easier to grasp the meaning of that work. I can only say that it was not born from artistic knowledge, but from a feeling in a moment of my life. And the Lord has helped me mold it into a little clay. I really cannot say why people in the United States went through such trouble and expense to obtain a copy.”

 

Perhaps we can answer Bro. Juan's question by suggesting that the situation in the United States is not so different from that in Spain. We too need to remember and hear again the call to be reconciled to God. We hope that the powerful statement of the statue might help accomplish that mission.

 

Bro. Juan continued: “Several years ago the La Salette Missionaries accepted the task of caring for the first shrine in Spain dedicated to Our Lady of La Salette — a shrine dating back to 1863. It is very small, but we have great hopes for its future. We plan a garden with the Apparition reproduced in statues – a work I hope to engage in for the future.”

 

His work shows us that making known the message of La Salette is not simply or always a matter of preaching or teaching or writing. It is a matter of giving expression to the presence of God among us that Our Lady came to affirm, in whatever way God's Spirit enables us.