Consequently, this devotion is invested with every guarantee of authenticity that the severest criticism could exact. A church of the Byzantine style and graceful appearance is erected upon the holy mountain, near where the apparition took place. The identical spot remains uncovered, and the grass still grows upon the soil hallowed by Mary's sacred footsteps; a series of crosses, fourteen in number, to which are attached the indulgences of the _via crucis_, indicate the path she took. The spring, formerly intermittent, has been inexhaustible since the apparition, and its waters have worked miracles. Near the church, a convent has been built to accommodate the numberless pilgrims, who daily resort hither in the favorable season. Numerous chapels, dedicated to Our Lady of La Salette, are scattered throughout Christendom, and abundant graces repay the faith of those who in these sacred shrines invoke her intercession. * * * * * _II.--The Children of Mary.--1847._ Rome, the guardian of our Faith and Catholic traditions, has given municipal privileges to the Children of Mary, in consecrating to them a chapel in one of her most celebrated churches, St. Agnes Beyond the Walls. The Italian sodalities are all inscribed there, and represented by a group of the children of Mary surrounding this young Saint, who in the third century was martyred for her virginity. They seem to say to her, "Agnes, you are our eldest Sister, the well beloved of Jesus Christ and His Mother." This place of honor, this representation proclaims most eloquently, that the Children of Mary form in the Church, a family as ancient as Catholicity itself. Nearly nineteen centuries ago, Jesus, our Redeemer, was in the agony of death upon the tree of the cross, which his love had chosen as the instrument of our redemption; "seeing," says the Evangelist, "that all was consummated" for our salvation, He wished to place the seal upon His work, by making His last will and testament. Looking first at Mary, His Mother, and then at John, the beloved disciple, he made John a Child of Mary in these memorable words: "_Ecce Mater tua, ecce filius tuus_: Behold thy Mother, behold thy son." Such is the origin of the Children of Mary. We believe with the holy Church, that the eternal Word, after becoming incarnate to render men redeemed with His blood, the Children of His heavenly Father, gave them also, at the hour of His death, His own Mother to be theirs. We know likewise, that among the children of every family, there is always one most tenderly attached to the mother, for instance, Jacob and Rebecca; John and Mary. Even so, in the bosom of the great family of Catholicity, do we find in all ages, souls jealous of rendering to Mary the most intimate filial devotion, selecting her in an especial manner, for their model and protectress.