Maximin Giraud

Pierre Maximin Giraud (26 August 1835 – 1 March 1875) was a French man known for his Marian visionary of Our Lady of La Salette.

Early life

Maximin Giraud was born on 26 August 1835, in Corps, Isère. His mother, Anne-Marie Templier hailed from the same region. His father, Germain Giraud was from the neighboring district of Trièves. The mother died leaving Maximin, then 17 months old, and a daughter, Angélique, who was eight years of age. Shortly after, Germain Giraud, a wheelwright by trade, remarried Marie Court. His new wife was reportedly not interested in Maximin and even neglected the child. Maximin grew up in haphazard fashion, spending much of his time with carefree abandon in the sole company of his dog and goat as they roamed the streets of Corps en Isère. Attendance at school was not compulsory and so he never attended classes. The same was true with regard to religious instructions.

Giraud spoke the Vivaro-Alpine (Dauphinois) dialect of the Occitan language, The lady also said something in secret to each of the children. As she spoke to each in turn, the other could see her lips move, but could not hear what she said.

The apparition was approved by Mgr. Philibert de Bruillard, Bishop of Grenoble 16 November 1851 under the title of Our Lady of La Salette. Both secrets were written down by the visionaries and sent to the pope in the same year.

Maximin's secret

The edition of 3 July 1851 was reproduced on request of Benjamin Dausse, a friend and trustee of Maximin. A second edition followed on 11 August 1851. A third edition was produced on 5 August 1853 at the request of Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac, the new bishop of Grenoble, who was unacquainted with the secret.

Interpretation Sociologist Michael P. Carroll hypothesizes that the apparition may have grown out of an initial hallucination, shaped by an unconscious desire on the part of Maximin to punish his step-mother for mistreating him. Indications that Maximin may have on occasion gone hungry would be reflected in the predicted punishments relating to famine. Both Melanie's and Maximin's initial impression of the weeping woman was that of a possible victim of domestic violence. In one interview, Maximin said that he thought of a woman "whose son had beaten her and then left her".

Life after the apparition During the three years following the apparition, his half-brother Jean-François, his stepmother and his father died. His mother's brother, called oncle Templier, became Maximin's guardian. Failing the state examinations, he went to work in a pharmacy.

In 1865, the Marquise de Pignerolles gave him a trip to Rome, where in April, Maximin enlisted as member of the Corps of Papal Zouaves, who were responsible for the defense of the Papal States and the protection of the Pope. Because of his time at the Paris Medical School, in 1862 he was assigned to the Health Service as a nurse. His time in the Zouaves combined a religious element, with his interest in the military, and his medical training, in an atmosphere of camaraderie. While there, he worked on his memoirs, an account requested by Madame Jourdain. In his subsequent writings, Giraud noted with pride his service with the Zouaves. Giraud saw no major battles and after his enlistment ended, he returned to Paris.

The newspaper La Vie Parisienne published an attack on la Salette and the two children. Giraud protested and the newspaper printed a correction. In reaction towards this, in 1866 he published a short work called Ma profession de foi sur l'apparition de Notre-Dame de La Salette.

It was during this time that the Jourdain family, a couple devoted to him, brought a measure of stability into his life, and, at financial risk to themselves, cleared his debts. In 1869, Giraud then entered into a partnership with a liquor dealer who used his now-famous name to increase sales. Giraud was fraudulently abused by him and failed to profit from the association.

Giraud was buried in the cemetery of Corps. He wanted to underscore once again his love for La Salette and solemnly proclaimed: