Press release no. 41/19 of the 24 maggio 2019, Mary Help of Christians
Mary Help of Christians: from Lepanto to Don Bosco
History of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians
The façade recalls that of the church of S. Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, of Palladio.
On the bell tower on the right the archangel Gabriel is depicted offering a crown to Mary; on the bell tower on the left the archangel Michael waves a flag with the writing "Lepanto".
On the eardrum, the marble statues are of the Solutor martyrs, Customer, Octavius, killed on this earth (Valdocco = Valley of the Slain). On the attic, you can see the clocks above, on the right the statue of San Massimo, first bishop of Turin, on the left the statue of Saint Francis de Sales, patron of the Salesian Family.
In the central niche, under the rose window, you can see the marble group of Jesus among the children. In the side niches are the statues of St. Joseph and S. Luigi Gonzaga.
Of the two bands of high reliefs between the columns, one represents S. Pius V announcing the Victory of Lepanto (1571), the other represents Pius VII crowning Maria SS. in the Sanctuary of Savona after his liberation from Napoleonic imprisonment (1814).
The Sanctuary of Mary Help of Christians was born from the heart, by the courage of Don Bosco and his great devotion to the Madonna.
It was an undertaking marked by extraordinary events and enormous difficulties: Don Bosco never tired of repeating that it was Our Lady who wanted the church and herself, after having even indicated to him the place where it was to be built, he would also have made him find the necessary means. But we hear from Don Bosco himself the story of a "dream" he had in 1844, when he was still looking for a stable location for his oratory.
The Lady who appeared to him told him: “Observe. – And I looked and saw a small and low church, a bit of courtyard and young people in large numbers. I resumed my work.
But since this church has become narrow, I turned to you again, and She showed me another much larger church with a house nearby. Then, leading me a little closer, in a stretch of cultivated land, almost in front of the façade of the second church, he added:
“In this place where the glorious Martyrs of Turin come, Solutor and Ottavio offered their martyrdom, I want God to be honored in a very special way.".