Maximin Giraud
| Maximin Giraud | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 26, 1835 Corps en Isère, France |
| Died | March 1, 1875 (aged 39) Corps en Isère, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Visionary to Our Lady of La Salette |
Pierre Maximin Giraud (26 August 1835 Corps, Isère, France - 1 March 1875 Corps, Isère, France), known as Maximin Giraud, was a French member of the Corps of Papal Zouaves and a Marian visionary to Our Lady of La Salette.
Maximin Giraud was born on August 26, 1835, in Corps en Isère. His mother, Anne-Marie Templier hailed from this same region. His father, Germain Giraud was from the neighboring district of Trièves. The mother died leaving Maximin, then 17 months old, and a daughter, Angélique, who was eight years of age. Shortly after, Germain Giraud, a wheelwright by trade, remarried Marie Court. His new wife was reportedly not interested in Maximin and even neglected the child. Maximin grew up in haphazard fashion, spending much of his time with carefree abandon in the sole company of his dog and goat as they roamed the streets of Corps en Isère. Attendance at school was not compulsory and so he never frequented classes. The same was true with regard to religious instructions.
Giraud spoke the Vivaro-Alpine (Dauphinois) dialect of the Occitan language, as did everybody in town, but he did learn a few words of French as he circulated among the wagon-drivers and travelers at the stage coach relays. He was 11 years old in 1846.
On 19 September 1846, about three o'clock in the afternoon, on a mountain about three miles distant from the village of La Salette-Fallavaux, it is related that two children, a shepherdess of fifteen named Mélanie Calvat, called Mathieu, and a shepherd-boy of eleven named Maximin Giraud, both of them uneducated, beheld in a resplendent light a "beautiful lady" clad in a strange costume. Speaking alternately in French and in patois, she charged them with a message which they were "to deliver to all her people". After complaining of the impiety of Christians, and threatening them with dreadful chastisements in case they should persevere in evil, she promised them the Divine mercy if they would amend. The lady also said something in secret to each of the children. As she spoke to each in turn, the other could see her lips move, but could not hear what she said.
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