Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette
| Missionarium Saletiniensis | |
| Abbreviation | MS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1852 |
| Founder | Philibert de Bruillard |
| Type | Roman Catholic religious order |
| Website | http://www.lasalette.org/ |
The Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette (M.S. - Missionarium Saletiniensis) are a religious congregation of priests and brothers in the Latin Church, one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church which is led by the Bishop of Rome. They are named after the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette in France. There is also a parallel religious community of sisters called the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette. A lay fraternal group of associates also works in cooperation with the vowed religious. The Missionaries are dedicated to making known the message of Our Lady of La Salette, a call to healing of inner brokenness and personal reconciliation with God, especially as found in the first three commandments. The missionaries are popularly known as "the La Salettes."
Statues from the site of the apparition in the tiny mountain village of La Salette, in the commune of Corps France depicti Our Lady addressing two children. The distinctive La Salette crucifix bears a small hammer and pincers on either side of the cross as worn by Our Lady. The hammer traditionally symbolizes the instrument that crucified Christ and the pincers symbolize the instrument that removes the nails. The crucifix was adopted by the La Salette as their distinctive symbol.
Worldwide, the religious institute numbers over one thousand members located in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. In North America the members work in more than a dozen U.S. states and in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The congregation helps maintain devotional religious shrines, such as the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and works in various Catholic parishes throughout the country. The La Salette Shrine in Attleboro is particularly well known for its Retreat Center and its "Festival of Lights" during the Christmas season which attracts over 250,000 visitors yearly.
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