Our Lady Consolata is the patroness of the city of Turin, in northern Italy. Blessed Joseph Allamano was rector of the sanctuary from 1880 to his death in 1926.
Consolata Shrine in Turin
Inside this sanctuary is an ancient icon of Our Lady, whose origins are discussed, but that probably comes from an old devotion to Our Lady at the People’s church in Rome.
In Catholic spirituality, the mother of Jesus has often been associated with compassion, tenderness and consolation. In the apparitions of La Salette in 1846, Mary is presented as a mother in tears who needs the consolation of humanity; the humanity consoles her by working in the Kingdom of her son. The Consolata is primarily the “Consoled”.
Mary is also the one who gives true comfort to mankind, in the person of Jesus the Messiah and Savior of the world. She is Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the mother of all comfort.
Joseph Allamano, who founded two institutes of the Consolata Missionaries in order to bring the Good News of God’s Kingdom to the ends of the world, has clearly understood.
At a meeting of all IMC superiors in 1999, it was recalled that: “From the beginning, the first missionaries of the Consolata chose works and means that today would be called a consolation. They were guided by the She who inspires us a mission for that God who comforts his people and has compassion on his miseries. The mission is born of the heart full of love of God and bears the consolation to humanity.”