Two illiterate shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat (14) and Maximin Giraud (11), were watching cows in a high alpine meadow when they saw a globe of light in a small ravine. Within the light stood a woman seated and weeping, her face in her hands. She rose, spoke to them in French and then in patois, and gave them — in addition to a public message about the desecration of Sunday and the abuse of God's name — a personal secret to each.
Mary's reported tears, and the spring of cold water that immediately appeared at the site, drew immediate pilgrims. Cures and conversions were reported in the following years. The local bishop, Bishop Philibert de Bruillard of Grenoble, formally recognised the apparition as authentic on September 19, 1851 — five years to the day after the event — and approved devotion to Our Lady of La Salette. The sanctuary at 1,800 metres altitude is one of the highest pilgrimage shrines in Europe.