In 1014, Arduino, Marquis of Ivrea, who was then seriously ill, had a vision of the Blessed Virgin. Our Lady appeared to him requesting that he build a chapel under the title of Our Lady Consolata in the Church of St. Andrew. She promised his health would be restored. The Marquis was in fact miraculously cured. Deeply touched by the favors of the Blessed Virgin, Arduino earnestly undertook the construction of the chapel. During the works of excavation, the icon of the Consolata was recovered in the midst of great joy and awe. It was then enshrined above the altar of the new chapel, and the shrine soon became for the people a “place of grace”.

In the course of the following century, the continuous civil war almost completely destroyed the city of Turin. The chapel which the Marquis had built for the Consolata icon lay, long-forgotten, in ruins.

In 1104, John Ravais, a blind man from Briancon, France, in a dream had a vision: buried under the ruins of an old church, he saw a painting of Our Lady. It was revealed to him that the site was in Turin, Italy, and that through him Our Lady would again be honored in that place. She also promised him that his sight would be restored.

He journeyed to Turin as the vision directed. Upon the blind man’s urgings, the crowds brought picks and shovels and uncovered first the remains of an old chapel and then the undamaged painting of Our Lady, the Consolata icon! It was June 20, 1104. And John Ravais’ regained his sight.

Deeply moved by the miracle which had occurred, the citizens of Turin, Italy replaced the little chapel into a large Shrine, where they have continued, through the centuries, to venerate Our Lady Consolata