From Forums of the Virgin Mary [translated]:

The incredible story of Michele Ferrero guided by the Virgin to develop the company and its products.

Have you ever tried the delicious Ferrero Rocher candy? 

Have you heard the fascinating story behind these delicious chocolates?

You will be surprised to discover that they are not only a pleasure for the palate, but are also wrapped in a deep connection with the Catholic faith.

Did you know that the creator of Ferrero Rocher, Michele Ferrero, designed these chocolates inspired by the Virgin of Lourdes?

Furthermore, can you imagine that his entire company was based on Christian values?

Here we will discover the fascinating story of how Michele Ferrero, guided by his faith and Divine Grace, transformed his passion for pastry baking into a chocolate empire.

You will see how the Virgin Mary intervened in his life, inspiring his creativity and guiding him to success.

Prepare to be amazed by the testimonies of Michele Ferrero, who never hesitated to share his faith and attribute his achievements to Divine intervention.

Pietro Ferrero, Michele Ferrero’s father, founded the Pasticceria Ferrero company in Alba, Italy, in 1946.

And it began to produce confectionery with local ingredients, such as hazelnuts, sugar, and cocoa.

Its most famous product was a chocolate and hazelnut spread that became a hit throughout Italy.

His son Michele Ferrero worked alongside his father in the family business from a young age.

Pietro died in 1957, leaving the company to his son.

And Michele transformed the family business in a prodigious way into a global confectionery giant. He created iconic products such as Nutella, Kinder, Ferrero Rocher and Tic Tac.

Today, Ferrero is the third largest chocolate producer in the world.

But despite his business success, Michele Ferrero was known for his discretion and his philosophy of keeping a low profile, avoiding public attention as much as possible.

And this is explained because he was a deeply Catholic man.

Michele had been raised in a devout Catholic family and educated by the Somascan Fathers.

He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and wanted to honor her through his work.

And at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of his company, he expressed it clearly: “We owe Ferrero’s success to Our Lady of Lourdes; without it we can do little.”

And he put a statue of the Virgin Mary in each of his company’s 14 production facilities around the world.

Ferrero made at least one annual pilgrimage to Lourdes, taking its top managers and also organized a visit for its employees. 

Father Mauricio Elías, chaplain of the Lourdes Sanctuary, said that Ferrero “was a man who always came to the Grotto; he had a lot of devotion to the Virgin; “he confessed and lived a Christian life,” and he was a great benefactor.

Shortly before his death in 2015, a flood damaged the Lourdes sanctuary.

And Ferrero promised a large donation to recover what was lost, Father Elías said.

And after his death, his children kept their father’s promise and helped with the repairs.

The famous Ferrero Rocher chocolates have a deep link with the apparitions of the Virgin in Lourdes. 

Michele Ferrero decided to design them and give them their name in honor of the Massabielle grotto, where the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.

In fact, in French, “rocher” means rock or crag.

Ferrero Rocher praline, known for its crunchy consistency, appeared in Italy in 1979 and has been sold internationally since 1982.

This praline features a toasted hazelnut, encased in a hazelnut chocolate-filled wafer, and is topped with chocolate studded with chopped hazelnuts.

Its rugged shape was inspired by the steep shape of the Massabielle rock grotto, where a fountain miraculously emerged from which water flows to this day, to which thousands of pilgrims attribute miraculous healings through the intercession of the Virgin.

It was in this apparition that the Virgin, said on March 25, 1858, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” 

Less than four years earlier, Pius IX had declared the Immaculate Conception a dogma of faith.

But as he said, Ferrero’s commercial success was due not to his confectioner’s prowess or his marketing, but to his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and his application of Catholic principles to his company.

The year that Michele assumed management of the company, 1957, Pius XII had providentially released the Encyclical, “Le pelerinage de Lourdes,” where he warned against materialism.

In it he said, “The world, which today offers many reasons for pride and hope, is also suffering from the terrible temptation of materialism.”

“The love of money wreaks more and more havoc on modern, expanding companies and, unfortunately, determines many of the decisions that add a heavy burden to people’s lives.” 

“It encourages disregard for human life, and even life that is destroyed before seeing the light of day.”

This encyclical became Michele Ferrero’s compass, to the point that the London Guardian said upon his death: “Ferrero’s policies were linked to the fervent Catholicism of its owner, who visited the sanctuary of Lourdes at least once a year.”

This today is despised and hidden by big businessmen, for example on social networks.

Because we asked Google’s Chatgpt and Gemini artificial intelligence programs to give us all the information they could find about Michele Ferrero, in as much detail as possible, to prove this thesis, and none of them even mentioned that he was Catholic.

They only did so when we specifically asked them if Michele was Catholic and only then did they say yes.

Michelle Ferrero applied the Doctrine of the Church to his company–a contradiction for many, who maintain that the way to be successful in business is to lower personnel costs as much as possible.

However, Michele Ferrero built a family business of unprecedented economic and social success, applying Catholic principles.

This distinguishes Ferrero from other successful businessmen, who have defined that their place in the world is to enjoy all the material pleasures they can buy and abuse their power.

When Michele took over the family business, he wrote a letter to his employees in which he said,

“My only concern is that our company can guarantee the job security of its employees.

“And I assure you that I will not be satisfied until I have managed to give you and your children a peaceful future.”

Thus, the Ferrero company has been known for its commitment to ethical and social values.

And from his earliest days, Ferrero implemented policies that reflected the principles of the Church’s social doctrine.

This has meant that at the group’s parent plant in Alba in Piedmont, for example, salaries are higher than anywhere else in Italy.

And at the same time, it has implemented very relevant social policies throughout the world that distinguish it from the rest of the companies.

Well, that’s it for what we at Forums wanted to tell about how the Virgin Mary guided Michele Ferrero in the development of Ferrero products and his company with a Catholic imprint.

And I would like to ask you if you feel that the Virgin Mary has guided you in anything in your life or not.

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