This is the title that Father Noailles chose when he consecrated the Association
of the Holy Family to Mary.
This title was beloved of Fr Noailles because it brought to mind the great
favours obtained throughout his life through the intercession of Mary.
It was during his seminary days that he developed the habit of invoking
Mary under this title:
“At Issy, the
statue of the Virgin venerated by the name of Our Lady of All Graces was
placed in a little chapel covered with ivy in the garden. The young students
liked to visit it with their prayers and homage, placing their hopes and
desires at the foot of the altar.”
(Cf.
H. Foucault—Life
of P.B. Noailles, tome I pp. 53-54)
Not only did Pierre-Bienvenu speak of
her in his sermons, instructions, correspondence, he even wanted to build
a Sanctuary, a place of pilgrimage where people would come to honour her;
entrust their lives and interests to her or beg and obtain all kinds of
favours from her.
In November 1831, Fr. Noailles acquired some land near the little village
of Martillac a few kilometres from Bordeaux. He gave the name La Solitude
to this property. The Good Father was then able to do what he had always
wanted: arrange La Solitude as a place of prayer and create an island dedicated
to Mary.
“If the streams that run through the property were widened, and the
water from St. Rose’s fountain and those that come from the Cape were
brought together, we could provide running water around the waste land and
convert it into an island. This island would be dedicated entirely to Our
Lady. The Virgin would have her altar, her devotions and homage there. I
would like her to be like a Queen there, dispensing all graces.
Mary is the source from
which all the blessings and favours of heaven flow. Here she will be invoked
under the title Our Lady of All Graces.”
(Mother
E. Bonnat, Souvenirs de Martillac, 1862, pp.78-79)
And ... what appeared to be only a dream became a reality. Soon he could
carry out what he so desired: to turn La Solitude into a place of
prayer and create an island dedicated to Mary.
We can already cite numerous graces obtained through the
intercession of Our Lady of All Graces in this island dedicated to her.
The present statue of Our Lady of All Graces was also placed
in the chapel. This was the work of Mr. Bareme, an artist from Angers, given
as a gift by a lady from Paris who was helped and welcomed at the Solitude
for a while by Fr. Noailles when she was in a difficult situation. On receiving
the statue, The Good Father, in his filial devotion to Mary, had the following
words, so meaningful for him, engraved on the pedestal:
"BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER"
Mary is the mother of all the disciples
of Jesus. All Christians can invoke her … God has wished that she be honoured in a special way in some
places and that she show her power by abundant graces. God also desired that
the members of the Holy Family have their sanctuary where Mary’s tenderness
for them would especially shine. This is the reason for the island of All
Graces.
Visited mainly by priests, religious,
associates, it is there that Mary grants the graces and favours reserved
to the Family and several have obtained miracles …
It is there that all should come to obtain the:
1. Family spirit;
2. virtues proper to their vocation;
3. gifts and strength specific to the mission.
Ah! Come with confidence!
Come often to present your desires to Mary in her Sanctuary…
How consoling and lovely it is to see the members of the Holy Family from
all places and all the works stretching out their arms often to their common
Mother, Our Lady of All Graces, losing themselves in the same love and thus
creating a foretaste of that union that will make of it a specific family
in heaven.” (Instructions Vol. 3, p.
306)
According to the Rule of 1851 the 12th June was chosen for the celebration
of the Feast of Our Lady of All Graces because that was the date of the first
pilgrimage held in her honour on the island dedicated to her, and inaugurated
by Mgr Donnet, the Cardinal Archbishop of Bordeaux.
This date has been approved the Congregation for Divine Worship.