"Well, my children, you will make this known to all my people."

When the Blessed Virgin spoke these words to the shepherd children on the mountain she knew well that hose simple children could only begin the work of telling her story to the world.  Though no one then realized it, in all her wisdom she looked far across the mountains, over the vast seas, seeing scores of dedicated servants carrying her timeless message to all peoples everywhere - the Missionaries of Our lady of La Salette.

Since the Virgin first spoke to the shepherd children in 1846, not many pages had turned in the book of history when, at the end of the century, France was swept by an anti-religious uprising.  The dark forces which sparked this persecution misled mobs to strike at all Religious without regard.  The relatively new Order had not the numbers, houses nor strength to withstand the persecution of governmental legislation and mob violence.  The La Salette Superiors and the priests moved to friendlier countries of Belgium, Switzerland and Italy.  They left their beloved France not to run away, but to preserve their strength so they could help her again when the time came.  And come it did, eventually.  Meanwhile, the move turned the Order's eyes still to other lands, lands where they could bring the La Salette Story to countless more and in turn draw new strength for the Community.

So it was that in 1892, Fathers Pajot and Vignon took leave to sail for America where, two weeks later, they landed in Montreal, Canada. They were warmly welcomed by the Archbishop but there were so many religious Orders already part of the Archdiocese that the Bishop had to refuse them permanent residence. 

With characteristic La Salette optimism and faith, two priests set out for the United States though they knew but a few words of English.  In the United States they met with Bishops of New York, Brooklyn, Albany, Syracuse, Ogdensburg and Newark, New Jersey.  All welcomed the priests of La Salette but all had valid reasons why acceptance of the Order in their dioceses was impossible.  But then, undoubtedly guided by the presence of Mary, the two priests stopped at Hartford, Connecticut where at the Cathedral they met Father William Harty, a member of the Bishop's Council.  Father Harty had promised the Blessed Virgin to work for the establishment of a religious Congregation devoted to her and he welcomed the two priests as envoy of his promise.

It was not long before the Congregation was received into the diocese of Hartford, their first firm root in the United States.  But this root was to grow rapidly as the Fathers not only staffed a parish in Hartford, preached retreats and missions, but spread the warmth of the La Salette Story, the wondrous story of the two children who triumphed over all small and cynical people through devotion to our Lady.  In telling the story, the Congregation began the development of shrines, beautiful oases of peace and tranquility where the event on the mountain were created, where the Blessed Virgin waits to greet the visitor.

Among the members were several language groups and the American Bishops were happy to make use of them in better caring for the needs of their parishioners of first-generation or foreign-born extraction among the Polish, French, Italian and Lithuanian peoples.

In 1937 a new milestone was reached when a foreign mission was started in Arakan, Myanmar by the first American Province of Our Lady of the Seven Dolors, headed by Father Thomas Newman⁺ who became Bishop of Prome, Myanmar.  Other mission countries have been confided to the two other American Provinces:  Madagascar by the province of Mary Queen and the Philippines (Ina ng Pag-asa Province) by the province of Immaculate Heart of Mary.¹

Indeed, the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette have become a part of the American and Foreign Mission scene, laboring for Christ under the inspiration of Our Lady of La Salette.

¹ There is now only one Province in the United States:  Mary, Mother of Americas Province