The devotion to Our Lady of the Snow at Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier

Our Lady of the Snow at Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier

The 23rd of July 1944 the parishioners of Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier, members of the Female General Catholic Action group of France had made this wish if the village of Saint Pierre de Colombier was protected from the German down fall, they would build a statue of the Blessed Virgin. The village were indeed protected .The Germans didn’t pass through Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier, no inhabitant were killed. The Father who had been named priest of this parish on the 11th of February 1946, understood the importance of the wish in 1944 of the erection of the statue. He presented himself to a sculptor from Lyon: mr Bachini. Who accepted to work on the statue of three meters but he proposed only one model: the statue of the rue du Bac. It was without the sculptor knowing the model of the statue erected on the Mount Miandon, on August 5, 1945. The Father, who had dreamt of the form of Our lady of Fatima or of that of Our lady of the Snow of Gavarnie, concluded that the Divine Providence wanted that Our lady of the Snow be revered by our community in the form of the statue of the Rue du Bac. Our lady of the Snow is the Mother of God she is also our Mother and our Mediator of grace.

Let us quote this extract of the act of the consecration of Our lady of the Snow by our Father the 15 December 1946: “ with all our soul we want this consecration. Because in your heart is found the overflowing spiritual richness poured in to him by God not only for you but for which overflow on to us, we desire each time that we look at your image placed on our rocks, not just looking at your image we see inside of your heart full of grace to take from it the courage and the light which helps us go forward on the narrow path, stony, hilly and painful, that true disciples of Jesus must follow.” Can these words of our Father help all the families that welcome a pilgrim virgin of Our lady of the Snow!

The Feast of Our Lady of the Snow and our Mission

 Our Father seek to develop each year the Feast of Our Lady of the Snow on the 15 of December. To allow the pilgrims who do not live in the area of Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier to take part in this Feast, it is celebrated on a Sunday between the 8 and 15 of December. With Mother Marie Augusta, they understood the importance of the development of the devotion to Our Lady of the Snow: it is her who guides and directs our mission. We have to guide and lead our friends to Our Lady of the Snow so that she may grant them of favours. We should also be the apostles of her Immaculate Heart to lead and to carry out the Olympic combat of purity. This expression - attached to our charisma and used for the first time by our Father and Mother in 1948 - reveals an important aspect of the devotion to Our Lady of the Snow : the teaching of love according to the hearts of Jesus and Mary.

 The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary on December 15, 1996, presided by Monseigneur Bonfils bishop of Viviers, has marked a decisive stage in the development of the Feast of Our Lady of the Snow. This Feast was prepared by a novena of the month It took place on Sunday December 15 as in 1946; our bishop authorizes us to celebrate the liturgy of the solemnity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. More than 1000 pilgrims participated at this Feast.

The celebration of the sixtieth anniversary on Saturday December 16, 2006, presided by Monseigneur Blondel, gave a new impulsion. The members of the Missionary Family and their friends prepared the Feast by a novena of weeks: 1300 pilgrims participated.

 This Feast was a strong sign of the unit and the uniqueness of the mission of our Family: many understood that there is no a mission of such or such home but the mission of the Missionary Family of Our Lady whose Great Feast is the Feast of Our Lady of the Snow at Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier.

This Feast highlighted by many given graces the importance of the brightness of Our Lady of the Snow, “Mater and Magistra” = Mother and Mistress, Teacher of the hearts to the beautiful love, which leads us to Jesus in the spiritual rise.
The conviction of the Chapter of January 2007

“The Feast of Our Lady of the Snow should in future reside in the Great Feast of our Missionary Family of Our Lady of the Snow and all our friends. It will be the occasion to bring up to date what the Cardinal Rode told us in Rome, on October 16, 2006:

“you are the Family of Our Lady “.

The Father was convinced that during the Feast of Our Lady of the Snow, the Blessed Virgin received permission from God to give many “gifts“. All the Domini will have to understand that they are members of the Family of Our Lady, that does not only mean that they are members of a religious family who have a devotion to Mary which speaks about Our Lady, but moreover, they are members of a Family of whom Our Lady is the Mother, first in line, the guide who leads us to Jesus.

If they have this conviction they will prepare year after year, the Great Feast of Our Lady of the Snow and they will have in their hearts to invite all their friends to come to the foot of the statue at Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier, the place chosen by Divine Providence to be at the Centre of devotion of the Domini Family has of Our Lady of the Snow. All the other Homes, even if they are established in various countries of the world will depend on this privileged place”.

O Our Lady,
We put all your trust in you,
in your blessed allegiance
and in your very special care
Today and every day,
we entrust our souls and our bodies in you
we entrust all our hope
and our consolation in you,
all our fears and miseries,
our life and the end of our life,
so that, through your very holy intercession,
and through your merits, may all our deeds
be conducted according to your will
and your Son’s will.
Amen

I am all yours, Mary, Holy Virgin.
All I have is yours, Mary, Pure Virgin
Be my guide in all things, Mary, Our Mother.