La Salette, France - 1846

The apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to two children in the French Alps in 1846, in the parish of LaSalette, is one of the most powerful religious occurrences of our times. Its timeliness and its strong prophecies extend all the way to the present age, and beyond, toward an age we have not yet reached. As that age rapidly approaches, we still have in our power whatever is necessary to ensure that it be one of triumph rather than tragedy.

One little shepherd boy, 11 year-old Maximin Giraud, and a timid little shepherdess, Melanie Mathieu, aged 14, met for the first time in the little town of Corps, in the Alpine region of La Salette on September 17, 1846. Poorest of the poor, and without education, or the means of acquiring it, their days were spent grazing cattle on the verdant slopes of the mountains for various employers. The monies they earned were meager, and barely fed their families. They were virtually without religious instruction, not even knowing how to say properly the simplest Catholic prayers: the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

On September 19, 1846, the two children met on the way up the mountain of LaSalette where they were to bring their cows. Maximin was very lively and talkative, but Melanie was shy, but soon she opened to him and they had an enjoyable morning of talking and games while the cattle fed. Toward noontime they brought their cows together and ate lunch, after which they fell asleep. When they awoke, the cows were gone, and after a moment of searching, discovered they had moved to another mountainside to graze.

On the way back down to their resting places, they saw a brilliant globe of light situated over a large rock that jutted out from the ground. As they warily approached, they saw movement within the light, and then the form of a beautiful Lady seated on the rock, Her elbows on Her knees, and Her face covered with Her hands. The Woman was weeping heavily, but then raised Her tearful face and turned it toward the children, gesturing.

"Come near, My children, do not be afraid," She said in a wonderful, but sad voice, "I am here to bring news of the greatest importance."

As the children ran to Her, She arose from the rock and walked toward them. They stood so close to Her that nothing could have passed between them and Her. She was tall, ravishingly beautiful, and surrounded by a light brighter than the sun, which enveloped them as well, but didn't harm their eyes. Tears streamed continuously down Her face throughout the entire apparition, and when they fell toward the ground, disappeared in a flare of light.

She wore a high crown on Her head, bordered with multi-colored roses. Her garments covered her completely, with a chaste neckline, and ample sleeves to hide Her hands when She later folded Her arms to give Her discourse. A gold apron adorned the front of Her dress, and around Her shoulders, and front and back of Her torso another line of multi-colored roses studded the garment. Roses also outlined Her shoes. On Her breast was a dazzling gold metal chain, and in the middle was a Crucifix, shining even more brightly, with the Body of Christ blazing even brighter still. On one side of the Crucifix was a hammer, and on the other side, a pincers.

The Lady continued to speak: "If My people will not submit themselves to Me, I shall be forced to let fall the Arm of My Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that I can no longer support It.

"How long have I suffered for you! If I don't wish My Son to abandon you I am compelled to intercede for you continually. And as for you, you take no heed of it. No matter how much you pray, or how much reparation you make, you will never be able to compensate Me for the pains I have taken for the rest of you."

In the style of the Old Testament Prophets, speaking in the first person in the Name of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin continued: "Six days have I given you to work. The seventh day I have reserved for Myself; and yet no one will give it to Me. This weighs down the Arm of My Son so heavily.

"Those who drive the carts cannot swear without introducing the Name of My Son. These are the two things that make the Arm of My Son so heavy.

"If the harvest is spoiled, it is all your fault. I gave you warning last year with the potatoes, but you took no notice of it. Instead, opposingly, when you found the potatoes to be bad YOU SWORE BY THE NAME OF MY SON...WELL NOW THEY WILL CONTINUE TO ROT, SO THAT BY CHRISTMASTIME THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT."

Seeing the puzzled looks on the children's faces, Our Lady said to them: "Ah, but you don't understand French, My children! No matter, I will tell it to you another way." And the Virgin repeated everything She said in their local dialect. (Our Lady certainly knew before She appeared to them that the children did not speak French; Her reason for allowing this incident became apparent later.) When She finished the part regarding the potatoes, She continued with the rest of Her Message.

"If you have corn do not even bother to sow it. The beasts will eat all that you sow, and all that is left will turn into dust when you thresh it. A GREAT FAMINE IS COMING...Before the famine comes, children under the age of seven will be seized with trembling and die in the arms of those who hold them. EVERYONE ELSE WILL DO PENANCE BY THE FAMINE. The nuts will become worm-eaten, and the grapes will fall rotten from the vines.

The Virgin turned toward Maximin and began speaking to him, but Melanie could no longer hear anything, although she observed Our Lady's lips moving in conversation. When She finished with Maximin, She turned to Melanie and spoke directly to her, with Maximin likewise being left out of the conversation. It was during these moments that the Blessed Virgin entrusted a different Secret to each of the children. The entire contents of the Secrets were given to them in pure French, which language, as indicated earlier, they neither understood, nor could speak or write.

When She finished with Melanie's Secret, Our Lady regarded them both again, and both children heard Her together once more in their own dialect. "If the people will convert and lead holy lives, the stones and rocks in the fields will be turned into wheat, and potatoes will be found self-sown in the fields.

"Now, My children, do you say your prayers properly?"

Embarrassed, the two shepherds could only look at one another and then glance sheepishly at the Lady, softly admitting, "No, not very well Madam."

"Ah, but My children, you must say them morning and night. When you cannot do better, say at least an Our Father and a Hail Mary. But when you have time, say more.

"Only a few elderly women still go to Mass. In the summer the rest work all day Sunday, and in the winter, when they do go to Mass, they do nothing but make a mockery of religion. DURING LENT THEY GO TO THE MEATMARKET LIKE DOGS.

"Have you ever seen wheat that is spoiled, My children?"

"No Madam." they both answered together.

"Ah, but you My child," Our Lady said to Maximin, "you must have certainly seen some once near Coin, with your father. The farmer said to your father, 'Come and see how my wheat has spoiled!' You went to see, and your father took two or three ears in his hand, and when he rubbed them, they became dust. Then on your way back, when you were no more than a half hour from Corps, your father gave you a piece of bread, and said, 'Take it and eat it while you can, son, because I don't know what we'll be eating next year if the wheat continues to rot like that!' "

Confronted by such precise details, Maximin couldn't help but recall the incident. "That is quite true, Madam," he admitted to the Virgin, "I didn't remember that at first."

The Blessed Virgin began to pull away from the children and said to them, "WELL, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL MAKE THIS KNOWN TO ALL MY PEOPLE." The Virgin crossed a dried up river bed and taking two further steps, with the children following after Her, keeping themselves within Her brilliance, She again repeated, "AND SO, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL MAKE THIS KNOWN TO ALL MY PEOPLE."

Upon reaching the hillside where the children had spotted their cows from before the apparition, the beautiful Lady stopped, and turned to face the East, the direction of Rome. Rising up from the ground, She vanished within in the radiance of the light, and then the light itself disappeared.

Needless to say, the children gave a full report of the apparition as soon as they returned that evening. They would repeat their story an endless number of times over the days, weeks, months, and years, to lay people, priests and religious, to bishops and Ecclesiastical Commissions. As ignorant as they were, they never once made a mistake in telling the entire story, and even spoke fluently the parts of the Message that had been delivered by the Lady in pure French, although they did not know the language. (And to speak anything else in French that was not related to the apparition they were unable to ever do.)

Unfortunately, the famine came as prophesied, children under the age of seven being stricken with seizures before dying. The famine spread all over France and then into Europe, England, and then wreacked havoc most direly in Ireland, during the Great Irish Potato Famine that is discussed in the history books.

After the Catholic Church gave its full approval of the apparition at LaSalette as being a true appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a large Basilica was erected on the mountain. The rock on which Our Lady was seated is preserved inside the church. From the time of the apparition, the dried up river bed began to flow copiously and never dried up again, still flowing to this day, and is the instrument of many miraculous cures, such as would later occur at LOURDES, France.

As for the two Secrets of LaSalette, the two children never revealed them, except to the Pope. They were ordered to write down their secrets separately, in the presence of several priests, and then they sealed the envelopes and they were forwarded to Rome. Although the Secrets had been given to them in French, which they did not understand, speak, or write, the Pope had no trouble reading their letters which were written perfectly in their handwriting in that language. Only when Melanie was writing her Secret did she stop on three occasions to ask how the following were spelled: "shall infallibly happen," "polluted cities", and "Antichrist." These are the only words of the Secrets of LaSalette that were ever publicly revealed.

When the Pope read the Secrets, he said to those in his presence, "These are scourges with which France is threatened, but she alone is not culpable. Germany, Italy, and all of Europe is culpable, and merit these chastisements. I HAVE LESS TO FEAR FROM OPEN IMPIETY THAN FROM INDIFFERENCE AND HUMAN RESPECT. IT IS NOT WITHOUT REASON THAT THE CHURCH IS CALLED 'MILITANT', AND HERE," pointing to himself, "IS ITS CAPTAIN."

Versions of the Secrets of LaSalette have been widely published, but they are not attributeable to the seers. Only Melanie, who in her elder years became preoccupied with apocalyptic writings, spoke of the Secrets in light of current prophecies circulating at the time, but her "Secret" as published and which continues to circulate to this day is not trustworthy, simply by the dates the ghost writer has assigned to the prophecies, which have completely failed, particularly the birth of the Antichrist at the end of the nineteenth century to "a Hebrew nun."

Although neither of the visionaries gave much attention to the Catholic Faith before the apparition, they became practicing Catholics afterwards, and remained so throughout their lives, though their was nothing extraordinary in them in the practice of heroic virtue, and neither of them are candidates for sainthood in the Church.

The Great Lesson of La Salette is as timely then as it is now, (if it is not even more timely now.) We have only to look back at the consequences of LaSalette to decide if things are going to turn out the same with us after having been given the mighty warnings of GARABANDAL, Spain, and AKITA, Japan.