A single hall with only one altar. Even after the 1959 intervention, it remains an expansion of a pre-existing shrine. The building has no main door, and the entrance is protected by an iron gate that allows a glimpse of the interior.
**Description:** A wooden statuary group depicting the Madonna with Mélanie Calvet-Matthieu (Melania) kneeling and Firmin Giraud (Firmino) standing beside her. It likely dates back to the church’s construction in 1880.
**In use from:** Between 1880 and 1880.
**Epiphany:** The group represents the Madonna with the children Mélanie Calvet-Matthieu and Firmin Giraud, to whom the Virgin appeared on September 19, 1846.
**Image:** Statue
**Original location of the Sanctuary:** The small size and single-hall architectural structure required the placement of ex-votos on the interior walls of the sanctuary and on either side of the sole altar.
**Notes on the collection:** The presence of ex-votos inside the chapel is documented by a photograph preserved in the Historical Book of the Pieve di Verzegnis. It shows two small ex-voto paintings, one labeled “Per grazia ricevuta” (“For grace received”) and a wooden hand, likely dating from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. Currently, it is unknown where—or if—these objects are preserved.
**Types of ex-votos:** Painted tablets, Anthropomorphic figurines
The small sanctuary was built as an expansion of a chapel erected by Giovanni Boria of Dueibis in 1850, which housed an image of Our Lady of La Salette. The first building was completed in 1880.
The chapel was constructed in 1880 by the inhabitants of Dueibis, Pusea, Sansara, Fael, Pradiel, and Pradis—some of the many communities that now form the municipality of Verzegnis. The initiative was likely promoted by these communities to secure a chaplain for their spiritual needs. From a pre-existing chapel (dating back to at least 1850), the current chapel was erected in 1880. A decisive restoration, which did not alter the original structure, was carried out between 1959 and 1960 by Don Graziano Boria, the parish priest of Verzegnis, coinciding with the establishment of the Chiaicis parish and the transfer of jurisdiction over Our Lady of La Salette.
During the inauguration of the renovated church on September 11, 1960, a procession was held on the hill overlooking the artificial lake (above which the church stands) and throughout Verzegnis before the wooden statuary group was placed back inside the church.
The new jurisdiction came with the transfer to the Parish of San Nicolò in Chiaicis, established in 1959.
Likely following a 1903 decree, jurisdiction passed into the hands of the parish priest of Verzegnis.
As previously mentioned, the building was constructed on the site of a pre-existing shrine on the initiative of Giovanni Boria of Dueibis. The initiative may have been linked to the desire to secure a chaplain who could administer sacraments and celebrate Mass for the residents of Pusea and Dueibis, which at the time had enough inhabitants to form a small parish community. Correspondence between the parish priest of Verzegnis and the bishop regarding the church’s construction reveals the priest’s skepticism about the project, which was driven and supported by all the families of the two communities.
The care of the small sanctuary was overseen first by the chaplain and later by the parish priest of Chiaicis.
For the appointment of the parish priest, as well as the chaplains of the Pieve di Verzegnis, the “giuspatronato popolare” (popular patronage) system was in place—meaning they were appointed by the assembly of family heads of the community, gathered in a “vicinia,” likely until the mid-20th century. Spiritual care was always entrusted to the chaplain (initially) and later to the parish priest of Chiaicis. Currently, the parish priest of Verzegnis also serves as the parish priest of Chiaicis.
**Address:** Via Antonio De Franceschinis, 33013 Gemona UD, Italy
