The Message of Fatima

Jacinta, Lucia and Francisco of Fatima, Portugal

The following article is taken from the mostholyfamilymonastery.com which is written by, and is the intellectual product of Bro. Michael Dimond and Bro. Peter Dimond, O.S.B, to whom sole credit belongs:

The Message of Fatima: A heavenly sign marking the beginning of the end times and a prediction of apostasy from the Church

Fr. Mario Luigi Ciappi, papal theologian to Pope Pius XII: “In the Third Secret [of Fatima] it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”

The message and miracle of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917 is one of the greatest events in the history of the Catholic Church. Since the miracle at Fatima, which occurred on Oct. 13, 1917, was predicted to take place in advance, and was fulfilled in the presence of almost 100,000 people, it’s probably the greatest miracle in Catholic history outside the Resurrection. The Fatima miracle and message also bear tremendous significance for our topic: The Truth about What Really Happened to the Catholic Church after Vatican II. Beginning on May 13, 1917, the Mother of God appeared six times to Jacinta (age 7), Francisco (age 9) and Lucia (age 10) in Fatima, Portugal. The Blessed Virgin told the children to pray the Rosary every day; she showed them a vision of Hell; and she made prophecies about World War II and the expansion of Communism (“the errors of Russia”), among other things.

The Vision of Hell shown by Our Lady of Fatima to the children: 

“As the Lady spoke the last words, she opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly  Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear.”

“You see Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart,” Our Lady said. 

The Fatima children shortly after the vision of Hell . . . one can see in their terrified countenances the truth of their words: that they would have died of fright at the vision of Hell if they had not been promised Heaven.

On July 13, 1917, Our Lady also told the children that on Oct. 13, 1917 she would work a miracle that all would have to believe:

“Lucia said, ‘I wish to ask you to tell us who you are, and to perform a miracle so that everyone will believe that you have appeared to us!’

‘Continue to come here every month,’ answered the Lady. ‘In October I will tell you who I am and what I wish, and will perform a miracle that everyone will have to believe.’”(Our Lady of Fatima, July 13, 1917).

Since the children had announced months in advance of Oct. 13 that the Lady would work a miracle, 70,000 to 100,000 people gathered at Fatima on Oct. 13 to see the miracle that was predicted to take place. There were also many nonbelievers who came to scoff when the predicted miracle didn’t occur. However, as even the secular press confirmed, the Miracle of the Sun – as it’s now known – did occur, just as it was predicted by the children and by Our Lady of Fatima. It stunned the gathered multitude, converted hardened unbelievers, including atheists and Freemasons, and confirmed thousands in the Catholic Faith.

The stunned crowd at Fatima on October 13, 1917 witnessing the predicted miracle by Our Lady of Fatima.

What was the Miracle of the Sun that so stunned and converted the enraptured audience of 70,000 -plus at Fatima on Oct. 13, 1917? A brief examination of the miracle and its significance will go a long way in revealing: The Truth about What Really Happened to the Catholic Church after Vatican II.

“The sun stood forth in the clear zenith like a great silver disk which, though bright as any sun they had ever seen, they could look straight at without blinking, and with a unique and delightful satisfaction. This lasted but a moment. While they gazed, the huge ball began to ‘dance’ – that was the word all the beholders applied to it. Now it was whirling rapidly like a gigantic fire-wheel.  After doing this for some time, it stopped. Then it rotated again, with dizzy, sickening speed. Finally there appeared on the rim a border of crimson, which flung across the sky, as from a hellish vortex, blood-red streamers of flame, reflecting to the earth, to the trees and shrubs, to the upturned faces and the clothes all sorts of brilliant colors in succession: green, red, orange, blue, violet, the whole spectrum in fact. Madly gyrating in this manner three times, the fiery orb seemed to tremble, to shudder, and then to plunge precipitately, in a mighty zigzag, toward the crowd.

“A fearful cry broke from the lips of thousands of terrified persons as they fell upon their knees, thinking the end of the world had come. Some said that the air became warmer at that instant; they would not have been surprised if everything about them had burst into flames, enveloping and consuming them.” 

“All over Portugal, in fact, the anti-clerical press was compelled to bear witness of the same sort.  There was general agreement on the essentials. As Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho wrote in O Ordem, ‘The sun, sometimes surrounded with crimson flames, at other times aureoled with yellow and red, at still other times seemed to revolve with a very rapid movement of rotation, still again seeming to detach itself from the sky, to approach the earth . . .’”

During the miracle the sun was seen to be speeding toward the earth and the people thought the end of the world had come. The significance should be obvious: Fatima was an apocalyptic sign; it was a sign that the end was near, that the events which would precede the culmination of the world and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ were to begin. Men must amend their lives before the end of the world really came. 

Based on some of these considerations, many have concluded that Our Lady of Fatima is the woman clothed with the sun described in chapter 12:1 of the Apocalypse:

“And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Apocalypse 12:1)

The Fatima seers also reported that Our Lady was made all of light – she was more brilliant than the sun. The evidence is very strong that Our Lady of Fatima was the woman clothed with the sun prophesied in the Apocalypse, chapter 12. In fact, there is a stunning confirmation that Our Lady’s appearance at Fatima was the fulfillment of the prophecy in the Apocalypse about the woman clothed with the sun.

The Masonic Daily Paper, O Seculo stunningly confirms without even knowing it that Our Lady was the woman clothed with the sun of the Apocalypse 12:1

The Miracle of the Sun worked by Our Lady of Fatima was reported by anti-Catholic papers throughout Portugal. The liberal, Masonic and anti-clerical daily of Lisbon, O Seculo, had its Editor in Chief, Avelino de Almeida, on hand to report on the event.  To his credit, he honestly reported on the solar prodigy. What we want to draw to your attention is the title of his article which was published in O Seculo on Oct. 15, 1917. Giving an account of the extraordinary event at Fatima on Oct. 13, his article in O Seculo of October 15 was entitled:

“How the sun danced in broad daylight at Fatima. The apparitions of the Virgin. – The sign of Heaven. – Thousands declare it a miracle. – War and peace.’’

Please notice that the Masonic, anti-clerical daily of Lisbon described the event of Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun as “The sign of Heaven.”  Does that sound familiar?

Apocalypse 12:1 - “And a great sign appeared in Heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

Are we to believe that the Masonic newspaper of Lisbon had Apocalypse 12:1 in mind when publishing this article shortly after the solar prodigy in 1917? Were the anti-clericals considering the possibility that Our Lady’s appearance constituted the woman clothed with the sun and the “sign of Heaven” described in the Bible? Of course not; not even Catholics at that time had connected Fatima with the woman clothed with the sun, let alone the anti-clericals who didn’t even believe in Sacred Scripture or probably didn’t even know about the prophecy in Apoc. 12:1! This headline, therefore, is an unknowing confirmation, by a public and anti-Catholic source, that Our Lady of Fatima and her miracle on Oct. 13 were indeed the sign prophesied in Apocalypse 12:1! 

It’s almost as if one were to ask God the question: Lord, how will we know when the great “sign of heaven,” which you predicted in Apocalypse 12:1, will occur? And the Lord responded: just read the headline in the Masonic newspaper, for when this sign will occur it will be reported even in it.

This stunning fact not only serves to confirm that Our Lady of Fatima is the woman clothed with the sun of Apoc. 12:1, but also further confirms the authenticity of the Catholic Faith and Sacred Scripture.

Therefore, to finally round out our point about Fatima and its relevance to what has happened to the Catholic Church after Vatican II, we can say: since Fatima was the sign prophesied in Apoc. 12:1, this means that we are in the Apocalyptic era, the last days of the world.

Fatima, the sign of Apoc. 12:1, and the great red dragon (Communism), the sign of Apoc. 12:3, both come on the scene in 1917.

Lending further support to the idea that Fatima was the “sign” of Apocalypse 12:1 is the fact that the Apocalypse speaks of the “great red dragon” just two verses later. Scripture seems to indicate that the two will come on the scene at the same time. 

Apocalypse 12:3 - “And there was seen another sign in Heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns: and on his heads seven diadems: And his tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven, and cast them to the Earth . . .”

Many commentators consider the “great red dragon” to be Communism, since Communism is undeniably associated with red, and was responsible for the murder of over 20 million people in Russia alone. Under Vladimir Lenin, the Bolsheviks took over Russia for Communism – gaining the significant victory which would make Communism a world power – on Nov. 7, 1917, immediately after the appearances of Our Lady in Fatima, which had warned of the spread of “the errors of Russia.” Even today we speak of Communist China as “Red China.” The Communist revolution in China was launched in celebratory fashion by men with “Enormous red banners, tens of thousands of red flags, and masses of red balloons flew over them.” The evidence that the “great red dragon” describes the Communist Empire is quite strong.

It’s also very interesting that the great red dragon drew the third part of the stars of Heaven:

Apocalypse 12:3 - “And there was seen another sign in Heaven: and behold a great red dragon . . . And his tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven, and cast them to the Earth . . .”

Is it just a coincidence that Communism, at its height, held a third of the world in its grasp?

Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 418: “As Joseph Stalin walked into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, the international communist movement which he led held a third of the world in its grasp.”

Sister Lucia of Fatima told Fr. Fuentes in 1957 that we are in the last times

One of the three visionaries of Fatima, Sr. Lucia, told Fr. Fuentes in 1957:

"Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world but she made me understand this for three reasons. The first reason is because she told me that the Devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. And a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Hence from now on we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the Devil. There is no other possibility.

“The second reason is because she said to my cousins as well as to myself that God is giving two last remedies to the world. These are the Holy Rosary and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies which signify that there will be no others. 

“The third reason is because in the plans of Divine Providence, God always, before He is about to chastise the world, exhausts all other remedies. Now, when He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever then, as we say in our imperfect manner of speaking, He offers us with a certain trepidation the last means of salvation, His Most Holy Mother. It is with a certain trepidation because if you despise and repulse this ultimate means we will not have any more forgiveness from Heaven because we will have committed a sin which the Gospel calls the sin against the Holy Spirit.  This sin consists of openly rejecting with full knowledge and consent, the salvation which He offers.  Let us remember that Jesus Christ is a very good Son and that He does not permit that we offend and despise His Most Holy Mother. We have recorded through many centuries of Church history the obvious testimony which demonstrates, by the terrible chastisements which have befallen those who have attacked the honor of His Most Holy Mother, how Our Lord Jesus Christ has always defended the honor of His Mother."

As discussed already, the main feature of the end times is an apostasy from the Catholic Faith. In “the holy place” itself (Rome) there will be “the abomination of desolation” (Mt. 24:15), and a deception so profound that, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived (Mt. 24:24). The New Testament tells us that this deception will happen in the very heart of the Church’s physical structures, in “the Temple of God” (2 Thess. 2:4). It will arise because people receive not the love of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10). That is precisely why the very last words that Our Lady of Fatima gives us in the great secret of July 13, 1917 are:

“In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved, etc.”

These are the last words given before the undisclosed third secret of Fatima. From this scholars of Fatima have concluded that the third secret undoubtedly deals with a massive spiritual crisis and apostasy from the Catholic Faith among those who purport to hold positions of authority in the Church. 

Since we don’t have the complete sentence of Our Lady’s last words of the July message, we cannot say for sure what they mean; but the sentence could be: “In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved in a faithful remnant . . .” Or: “In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved until the Great Apostasy . . .” Or: “In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved among those who heed my warnings . . .” The third secret undoubtedly deals with the present apostasy of the Vatican II sect. We will document this apostasy in great detail in this book.

As cited at the beginning of this section,“Fr.” Mario Luigi Ciappi, the papal theologian to Pope Pius XII, stated:

“In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”

Another “cardinal” of the Vatican II Church incredibly admitted that the Third Secret deals with the post-Vatican II apostasy.

“Cardinal” Silvio Oddi:“. . . the Third Secret [of Fatima] . . . is not about a supposed conversion of Russia . . . but regards the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church.”

Testimonies that Heaven asked that the third secret of Fatima be revealed by 1960 at the latest

Canon Galamba: “When the bishop refused to open the letter, Lucy made him promise that it would definitely be opened and read to the world either at her death or in 1960, whichever would come first.” (La Verdad sobre el Secreto de Fatima, Fr. Joaquin Alonso, Spanish Edition, pp. 46-47) 

John Haffert:  “At the bishop’s house (in Leiria), I sat at the table on his right, with the four Canons.  During that first dinner, Canon Jose Galamba de Oliveira turned to me when the bishop had left the room momentarily and asked: “Why don’t you ask the bishop to open the Secret?” Endeavoring not to show my ignorance concerning Fatima - which at that time was almost complete - I simply looked at him without expression. He continued: "The bishop can open the Secret. He doesn’t have to wait until 1960.” (Dear Bishop! John Haffert, AMI 1981, pp. 3-4)

Cardinal Cerejeira: In February 1960 the Patriarch of Lisbon reported the directions which the Bishop of Leiria “has passed on to him” on the subject of the Third Secret: “Bishop da Silva enclosed (the envelope sealed by Lucy) in another envelope on which he indicated that the letter had to be opened in 1960 by himself, Bishop Jose Correia da Silva, if he was still alive, or if not, by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon.” (Novidades, February 24, 1960, quoted by La Documentation catholique, June 19, 1960, col. 751)

Canon Barthas: During his conversations with Sister Lucy on October 17-18, 1946, he had the opportunity to question her on the Third Secret. He writes: “When will the third element of the Secret be revealed to us?” Already in 1946, to this question Lucy and the Bishop of Leiria answered me uniformly, without hesitation and without comment: “In 1960.” And when I pushed my audacity so far as to ask why it was necessary to wait until then, the only response I received from either one was: “Because the Blessed Virgin wishes it so.” (Barthas, Fatima, merveille du XXe siecle, p. 83. Fatima-editions, 1952)

The Armstrongs: On May 14, 1953, Lucy received a visit from the Armstrongs, who were able to question her on the third Secret. In their account published in 1955, they confirmed that the third Secret “had to be opened and divulged in 1960.” (A. O. Armstrong, Fatima, pilgrimage to peace, The World’s Work, Kingswood, Surrey, 1955)

Cardinal Ottaviani: On May 17, 1955, Cardinal Ottaviani, Pro-Prefect of the Holy Office, came to the Carmel of Saint Teresa at Coimbra. He interrogated Lucy on the third Secret; and in his conference of 1967 recalled: “The message was not to be opened before 1960. I asked Sister Lucy, ‘Why this date?’ She answered, ‘Because then it will seem clearer (mais claro).’” (La Documentation catholique, March 19, 1967, col. 542)

Father Joaquin Alonso, official archivist of Fatima: “Other bishops also spoke - and with authority - about the year 1960 as the date indicated for opening the famous letter. Thus, when the then titular Bishop of Tiava, and Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon asked Lucy when the Secret was to be opened, he always received the same answer: in 1960.” (La Verdad sobre el Secreto de Fatima, Fr. Joaquin Alonso, Spanish Edition, p. 46)

Father Joaquin Alonso: “When Don Jose, the first Bishop of Leiria, and Sister Lucy agreed that the letter was to be opened in 1960, they obviously meant that its contents should be made public for the good of the Church and the world.” (ibid., p. 54)

Bishop Venancio: “I think that the letter will not be opened before 1960. Sister Lucy had asked that it should not be opened before her death, or not before 1960. We are now in 1959 and Sister Lucy is in good health.” (La Verdad sobre el Secreto de Fatima, Fr. Joaquin Alonso, Spanish Edition, p. 46)

Father Fuentes: Father Fuentes interviewed Sister Lucy on December 26, 1957, who told him: “Father, the Most Holy Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to Her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on their way but without giving any importance to Her Message . . . I am still not able to give any other details because it is still a secret. According to the will of the Most Holy Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima are permitted to know the Secret, but they have chosen not to know it so that they would not be influenced. This is the third part [third Secret] of the Message of Our Lady which will remain secret until 1960.” (La Verdad sobre el Secreto de Fatima, Fr. Joaquin Alonso, Spanish Edition, p. 103-104)

F. Stein: “The testimonies which have announced the revelation of the Secret for 1960 are of such weight and so numerous that in our opinion, even if the ecclesiastical authorities of Fatima [in 1959 the experts themselves were still unaware that Rome had taken the Secret from the Bishop of Leiria over two years previously] had not yet resolved to publish the Secret in 1960, they would now see themselves forced to do so by the circumstances.” (Mensagem de Fatima, July-August, 1959)

Father Dias Coelho: “. . . we can use, as an unquestionable fact, this assertion of Dr. Galamba de Oliveira (in 1953) in Fatima, Altar do Mundo: ‘The third part of the Secret was sealed in the hands of His Grace the Bishop of Leiria, and will be opened either after the seer’s death or at the latest in 1960.’” (L’Homme Nouveau, No. 269, November 22, 1959)

All testimonies and statements reveal clearly that Heaven wanted the third secret of Fatima revealed to the whole world no later than 1960, because it would be clearer then.

Why would the third secret of Fatima be clearer in 1960?

It was on Jan. 25, 1959 that John XXIII announced that he had a special inspiration to suddenly call a new ecumenical council. (Jan. 25, by the way, was the same day on which the unknown light that illuminated the world prior to World War II lit up the skies of Europe. This unknown light that appeared on Jan. 25, 1938 was predicted by Our Lady of Fatima as a warning that God was going to punish the world with the things that were revealed in the second part of the secret. Was the fact that John XXIII called Vatican II on a Jan. 25 a warning about the coming punishment described in the third secret?) 

This council called by John XXIII in 1959 would turn out to be Vatican II, the disastrous results of which are the subject of this book. Is the calling of this council in 1959 the reason that Our Blessed Mother requested the third secret of Fatima to be revealed by 1960? Was she directly warning us of the apostasy that would result from this council, which truly gave birth to a new, phony Counter-Catholic Church, as we will see in this book? Truly, the only major sign that had occurred by 1960, in regard to the tremendous apostasy we are now living through that would makes things “clearer,” was that John XXIII had announced his intention to call a new council in 1959. In our view, it’s quite obvious that the third secret of Fatima deals with the apostasy resulting from a false council; otherwise the third secret wouldn’t make more sense in 1960, as Our Blessed Mother said it would.

Saint Catherine Labouré

This is the incorrupt body of Saint Catherine Labouré entombed in a glass coffin at the side altar of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal often simply called by its address, 140 Rue du Bac in Paris, France.

Catherine was born Zoe Labouré on the evening of May 2, 1806 at Fain-lès-Moutiers, Côte-d'Or, Burgundy, France to farmer, Pierre Labouré and Louise Labouré was the ninth of eleven children. The day after her birth, on the feast of The True Cross, she was baptized Catherine Madeleine Labouré.

From an early age felt a call to the religious life. When Catherine was nine years old, her saintly mother died on October 9, 1815. After the burial service, little Catherine retired to her room, stood on a chair, took our Lady's statue from the wall, kissed it, and said: "Now, dear Lady, you are to be my mother." Her father's sister suggested that she care for his two youngest children, Catherine and Tonine. After he agreed, the sisters moved to their aunt's house at Saint-Rémy, a village nine kilometers from their home.

On January 25, 1818, Catherine made her First Communion. One day she had a dream in which a priest said to her: "My daughter, you may flee me now, but one day you will to come to me. Do not forget that God has plans for you." Sometime later, while visiting a hospital of the Daughters of Charity at Chatillon-sur-Seine, she noticed a priest's picture on the wall. She asked a sister who he might be, and was told: "Our Holy Founder Saint Vincent de Paul." This was the same priest Catherine had seen in the dream. Catherine knew she was in the right place.

St. Catherine Laboure

Later, on January 1830, at the age of 24, Catherine began her postulancy at Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul at Chatillon-sur-Seine. On April 21, 1830, Catherine Labouré entered the novitiate located at their Mother House, in Rue du Bac 140, Paris taking the name Catherine. On the eve of the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, July 19, the Sister Superior spoke to the novices about the virtues of their Holy Founder and gave each of the novices a piece of cloth from the holy founder's surplice. Because of her extreme love, Catherine split her piece down the middle, swallowing half and placing the rest in her prayer book. She earnestly prayed to Saint Vincent that she might, with her own eyes, see the Mother of God.

On July 18, 1830, on the eve of the feast of St. Vincent 1830, Catherine woke up after hearing the voice of a "shining child," who she later took to be her Guardian Angel, calling her to the chapel, where she saw and heard the Virgin Mary say to her, "God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace to do what is necessary. Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you. Times are evil in France and in the world."

Several months later in the same year, on November 27, 1830, Catherine again saw Our Lady in the chapel during the community evening meditation. The Blessed Virgin Mary shown herself inside an oval frame, standing upon a globe, wearing many rings of different colors, most of which shone rays of light over the globe. Around the margin of the frame appeared the words: "Ô Marie, conçue sans péché, priez pour nous qui avons recours à vous" (O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee). As Catherine watched, the frame seemed to rotate, showing a circle of twelve stars, a large letter "M" surmounted by a cross, and the stylized Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary underneath. Asked why some of her rings did not shed light, Our Lady replied: "Those are the graces for which people forget to ask." Catherine then heard an interior voice spoke, telling her to take these images to her father confessor, Fr. Aladel, a Vincentian priest, to have a medal struck on this model, promising that  "All who wear them will receive great graces."

Click [here] for Our Lady's Messages to Catherine in Rue de Bac.

Catherine did so, and in 1836, after two years of investigation and observation of Catherine's character and behavior, Fr. Aladel took the information to the Archbishop de Quelen of Paris without revealing Catherine's identity. The Archbishop initiated an official canonical investigation into the visions. The tribunal, basing its opinion on the stability of her confessor and Catherine's character, decided to favor the authenticity of the visions. The apparitions were approved as authentic by the Archbishop, confirming that the Miraculous Medal was supernaturally inspired and responsible for genuine miracles.

The design of the medallions was commissioned through French goldsmith, Adrien Vachette and the first medal was struck on June 20, 1832. The Medal was distributed, and rapidly earned the title of the "Miraculous Medal." She urged devotion to it, and, because of the power working through it, numerous documented answered prayers, conversions, and miraculous healing, including those of people for whom there was totally no hope, were attributed to the Miraculous Medal.

The Miraculous Medal

The Medal has since been reproduced, now over a billion times and distributed around the world. It was an important element in reviving Catholic belief in France. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception had not yet been officially promulgated by the Church at the time, but the Medal with its "conceived without sin" served in preparing the way for the proclamation of the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

Catherine lived her remaining years as an ordinary nursing sister in the hospices of her Order. She was pleasant and well liked by patients and her fellow nuns. After receiving permission from the Virgin Mary, Catherine told Sister Dufes, the Mother Superior, of her visions and only a few people knew that Catherine was the one who brought the Miraculous Medal to the world. 

Catherine Labouré died on December 31, 1876 and her body was laid to rest on January 3, 1877 in a triple lined coffin  in the crypt of the chapel at Reuilly as a requirement back then for religious orders by Paris authorities. Her remains were interred there until the time of her beatification in 1933.

In 1895, her Cause for Beatification was introduced in Rome. On July 19, 1931, Catherine was declared venerable by Pope Pius XI (Decree of Heroic Virtues). 

On March 21, 1933, Catherine's tomb was opened and her body was exhumed after entombed for fifty seven years. The outer wooden coffin had already disintegrated but her body miraculously remained perfectly intact seen by several eye witnesses including representatives from the Archdiocese of Paris, the Daughters of Charity, the Congregation of the Mission, and medical examiners. A detailed medical examination of Catherine's exhumed remains concluded: "The body is in perfect state of preservation, and its joints are still supple." After a detailed examination, the body was taken to the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity in Paris. 

Months later, on May 28, 1933, Pope Pius XI beatified Catherine. After the celebration of the beatification, the body of Catherine was placed and now  lies in a glass coffin under the renovated side altar of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal (often simply called by its address, 140 Rue du Bac), Paris, one of the spots of the apparition, honoring the "Virgin of the Globe" where countless pilgrims have gathered close to pray for her intercession, and that of the Blessed Virgin, and where numerous miracles were reported at her tomb. 

On July 27, 1947, she was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII. The Feast Day of St. Catherine Labouré is November 28 (it was formerly celebrated on December 31).

The Chapel of the Miraculous Medal in Rue de Bac in Paris, France where the incorrupt body of St. Catherine Laboure lies in the side altar shown in this photograph.

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Catherine Labouré was a twenty-four year old novitiate in the order of the Sisters of Charity, when she was privileged to receive various visions of St. Vincent and of Jesus present in the Eucharist before experiencing two apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

In the first vision, Catherine was awakened about 11:30 p.m. on July 18, 1830 as she heard her name called three times. She opened the curtains of her cell and saw a "shining child," who she later took to be her Guardian Angel. He said: "Follow me to the chapel, where the Virgin Mary awaits you." Catherine hastily dressed herself and followed him to the chapel at the convent at Rue du Bac in Paris. The chapel was lit for the midnight-Mass, but she cannot see the Blessed Virgin. She then knelt and prayed. After half an hour her Guardian Angel said: "There is the Blessed Virgin Mary." Catherine heard a rustle like that of silk and to the left of St. Joseph she sees the Blessed Virgin Mary descend the altar steps and sit on the chair of the Priest. Within a moment she was on her knees in front of the Blessed Virgin, with her hands confidently folded on Mary's knees. This was the beginning of a two hour long conversation.

Our Lady spoke with her, telling her that she would have to undertake a difficult mission for her and foretold of bad times which were to come, but promised help and grace for those who prayed. She was also told of personal trials to bear and many difficulties to overcome, but that she would always have an inner certainty as to what she should do. Our Lady also spoke of the religious persecution which would break out in Paris later in the century, while also foretelling the coming events in the capital. Catherine was told to tell everything she saw and heard to her confessor and spiritual director, Fr. Aladel, a Viecentian priest, who was sceptical, but this scepticism soon disappeared when the revolution in Paris began just over a week later on July 27, 1830. 

Several months later in the same year, on November 27, about 5:30 p.m., Catherine again saw Our Lady in the chapel during community meditation. Suddenly Catherine heard, to her right, the same rustle as before; it was the Blessed Virgin Mary. She stopped to the left near the painting of St. Joseph. Our Lady was dressed in white, standing on a globe and holding a golden ball with rings on her fingers flashing with light. An inner voice told her that the ball represented the whole world and that the rays coming from Our Lady's fingers represented graces for individuals.

The golden ball then vanished as the apparition changed to represent Our Lady with her arms outstretched, inside an oval frame with golden lettering: "Ô Marie, conçue sans péché, priez pour nous qui avons recours à vous" (O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee). Then she was shown the reverse of the medal, consisting of a large "M" surmounted by a bar and cross, with two hearts, representing the hearts of Jesus and Mary, all encircled by twelve stars. Again, an interior voice spoke, telling her to have a medal struck on this model, promising that great graces will abound for persons who wear it with confidence around the neck.

Fr. Aladel was again reluctant to act, but once the medal was struck and distributed, it rapidly earned the title of the "Miraculous Medal." The medal has since reproduced, now over a billion times and distributed around the world. 

Catherine was also told by Our Lady about the new Association to be founded, the Children of Mary, of the way May would become a special Marian month, and of how devotion to the Sacred Heart would greatly increase.

Church Approval

In 1836, the Archbishop de Quelen of Paris initiated an official canonical investigation into the visions. Catherine refused to appear, wishing her identity to be kept a secret. Fr. Aladel pleaded to be allowed to keep her name anonymous. The tribunal, basing its opinion on the stability of her confessor and Catherine's character, decided to favor the authenticity of the visions. The apparitions were approved as authentic by the Archbishop, confirming that the Miraculous Medal was supernaturally inspired and responsible for genuine miracles.

Catherine worked for 46 more years in hospices of her Order until her death in December 31, 1876. Her body lies incorrupt to this day at the site of the apparition, in the convent chapel at the Rue du Bac, where miracles were reported at her tomb.

On July 19, 1931, Catherine was declared venerable by Pope Pius XI (Decree of Heroic Virtues), who in May 28, 1933, beatified Catherine leading to her sainthood in July 27, 1947 as canonized by Pope Pius XII.

The Feast Day of St. Catherine Labouré is November 28 (it was formerly celebrated on December 31).

Description of the Virgin 

"The Virgin was standing. She was of medium height, and clothed in all white. Her dress was of the whiteness of dawn, made in the style called a la Vierge, that is, high neck and plain sleeves. A white veil covered her head and and fell on either side of her feet. Under the veil her hair, in coils, was bound with a fillet ornamented with lace, about three centimeters in height or of two fingers' breadth, without pleats, and resting lightly on the hair. Her face was sufficiently exposed, indeed exposed very well, and so beautiful that it seems to me impossible to express her ravishing beauty."

The Messages of Rue du Bac

FIRST APPARITION - July 18, 1830

"My child, the good God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will have much to suffer, but you will rise above these sufferings by reflecting that what you do is for the glory of God. You will know what the good God wants. You will be tormented until you have told him who is in charge with directing you. You will be contradicted, but do not fear, you will have grace. Tell with confidence all that passes within you. Tell it with simplicity. Have confidence. Do not be afraid. "

"There will be bad times to come. Misfortunes will come crashing down on France. The throne will be toppled. The whole world will be turned upside-down by misfortunes of all kinds [...] But come to the foot of this altar. There, graces will be poured out on all those, small, or great, who ask for them with confidence and fervour. Graces will be poured out especially on those who ask for them. Grave troubles are coming. There will be great danger, for this, the novitiate and other communities. At one moment when the danger is acute, everyone will believe all to be lost; you will recall my visit and [the novitiate] will have the protection of God. But it will not be the same for other communities."

"There will be victims [...] There will be victims among the clergy of Paris; Monsignor the Archbishop will die [...] My child, the Cross will be held in contempt. It will be thrown to the ground and trampled. Blood will flow. Our Saviour's side will be opened anew. The streets will run with blood. Monsignor the Archbishop will be stripped of his vestments . . . My child, the whole world will be plunged into gloom."

"My eyes will ever be upon you. I shall grant you graces. Special graces will be given to all who ask them, but people must pray."

"The ball which you see represents the whole world, especially France, and each person in particular. These rays symbolise the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The gems from which rays do not fall are the graces for which souls forget to ask."

SECOND APPARITION - November 27, 1830

"Have a Medal struck after this model. All who wear it will receive great graces; they should wear it around the neck. Graces will abound for persons who wear it with confidence."

"This globe which you see is the world, France in particular and for every person living in it. I am praying for it and for everyone in the world. The rays which shed on the globe from my hands are the graces which I bestow for all those who ask for them. But there are no rays that come from some of the gems (from my fingers) because those are the graces which God wishes to bestow on them but they forget to ask . . ."

The Miraculos Medal

The Prophecies Fulfilled

By 1870, forty years after the first apparition, all the prophecies given at the time were fulfilled:

"There will be bad times to come. Misfortunes will come crashing down on France. The throne will be toppled."

The "throne" of King Charles X was "overturned" in the end of the year 1830;

"My child, the Cross will be held in contempt. It will be thrown to the ground and trampled. Blood will flow. Our Saviour's side will be opened anew. The streets will run with blood."

Riots broke out all over Paris and Churches were desecrated.

"There will be victims among the clergy of Paris; Monsignor the Archbishop will die."

The Archbishop Msgr. Darboy (1871) and two subsequent of Paris were murdered during this period.

"Monsignor the Archbishop will be stripped of his vestments."

The Archbishop was beaten and stripped of his clothes.

“There will be great danger, for this, the novitiate and other communities. At one moment when the danger is acute, everyone will believe all to be lost; you will recall my visit and [the novitiate] will have the protection of God. But it will not be the same for other communities.”

Some of the buildings housing religious communities were burned down; although threatened by angry crowds, the building housing the Sisters of Charity at the Rue du Bac went unharmed.

Site of the apparition at the convent chapel in Rue de Bac

Prayer to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Immaculate Virgin Mary, we honor you,

blessed from the moment of your conception

with the fullness of God's redeeming grace.

You grew in faith and in love for God

as you made the choice

each moment of your life

to allow God to be God in your life.

In calling us to the altar,

as you did St. Catherine Laboure,

you show us where to find redeeming grace.

Lead us, in your spirit of faith, hope and love

to the altar of Eucharistic Celebration

as we receive your Jesus

and say "yes" to all He asks of us.

Mary Immaculate, this beautiful chapel

was erected out of love for you

by the Fathers and Brothers

of the Congregation of the Mission,

the Daughters of Charity.

Dear Christ, You Who so fully completed Your mission, Who did so with such strength, and Who guided St. Catherine to do the same, send the Virgin Mary into our lives to guide as to our own missions. Send the Blessed Mother so that we may make use of every minute that we are on this earth. Send Your mother so that upon death we may be pleasing to You, dear Lord, and have the joy of knowing we accomplished what was assigned to us at birth.

Pray for us, St. Catherine, that we may have our eyes opened to the missions given us by our Creator, and that we may approach life in imitation of your quietness, servitude, and longsuffering. Please, Catherine, help us with a deeper devotion to the Virgin Mary and specifically to the Miraculous Medal. Ask that God grant yet greater graces in our lives as a result of this devotion, and let us too `see' the resplendent lights, the radiant grace, that Jesus gives through the hands of His most holy and Blessed Mother.

Oh Mary, conceived without sin, wash away our sins and pray for our humility, for our purity, and for the fulfillment of our life work for God the Father! Let us accept what is sent our way and realize God's hidden designs in all challenges and sufferings!

Let us pray (response: pray for us):

Oh Mary, conceived without sin,

Oh Mary, streaming grace,

Oh Mary, who steps on the serpent,

Oh Mary, who stands on the world,

Oh Mary, who grants small and great gifts,

Oh Mary, who helped save France,

Oh Mary, of the Miraculous medal,

PRAY FOR US

Act of Consecration to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

O Virgin Mother of God, Mary Immaculate, we dedicate and consecrate ourselves to thee under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. May this medal be for each one of us a sure sign of thy affection for us and a constant reminder of our duties towards thee. Ever while wearing it, may we be blessed by thy loving protection and preserved in the grace of thy Son. O most powerful Virgin, Mother of Our Savior, keep us close to thee every moment of our lives. Obtain for us, thy children, the grace of a happy death; so that, in union with thee, we may enjoy the bliss of heaven forever. Amen.

The incorrupt body of St. Catherine Laboure in the convent
 chapel of Rue de Bac where miracles were reported in her tomb.

See also: The Incorrupt Body of Catherine Labouré

Our Lady of La Salette

On September 19, 1846, sixteen years after the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Rue du Bac, Paris, and twelve years before her appearances in Lourdes, Our Lady appeared to two young shepherds: Mélanie Calvat, aged 14 and Maximin Giraud, aged 11, at La Salette in the French Alps high up on the pasture above La Salette, a village near Corps. Weeping bitterly, Our Lady spoke to them first in French, then in their own dialect, about many things that upset her Son.

Finally, before disappearing, Our Lady confided to each of the children a special secret and asked them to spread her message. Some parts of the secrets are given in a veiled manner, so that one cannot understand without faith nor without some time, effort and thought. These two secrets were sent by the children in 1851 to Pope Pius IX on the advice of Bishop de Bruillard.

Below is the "Written Statement by Maximin Giraud on July 3rd, 1851", quoted as follows:

"On September 19, 1846, we saw a beautiful Lady. We never said that this lady was the Blessed Virgin but we always said that it was a beautiful Lady. 

I do not know if it is the Blessed Virgin or another person. As for me, I believe today that it is the Blessed Virgin. Here is what this Lady said to me: 

"If my people continue, what I will say to you will arrive earlier, if it changes a little, it will be a little later. 

France has corrupted the universe, one day it will be punished. The faith will die out in France: three quarters of France will not practice religion anymore, or almost no more, the other part will practice it without really practicing it. Then, after [that], nations will convert, the faith will be rekindled everywhere. 

A great country, now Protestant, in the north of Europe, will be converted; by the support of this country all the other nations of the world will be converted. 

Before all that arrives, great disorders will arrive, in the Church, and everywhere. Then, after [that], our Holy Father the Pope will be persecuted. His successor will be a pontiff that nobody expects. 

Then, after [that], a great peace will come, but it will not last a long time. A monster will come to disturb it. 

All that I tell you here will arrive in the other century, at the latest in the year two thousand."

Maximin Giraud

(She told me to say it some time before.)

My Most Holy Father, your holy blessing to one of your sheep.

Grenoble, July 3,1851."

Melanie’s secret is much longer and more detailed than Maximin’s secret. Melanie’s secret consists of 33 paragraphs and was published in its entirety in a brochure which she herself had printed in 1879 at Lecce, Italy, with the approval of the bishop of that town. 

The story from which is quoted below, is a faithful reproduction without commentary of the original text of the Message and Secret of La Salette, November 15, 1879 edition, approved by the Catholic Church, with the "Imprimatur" of Mgr. Bishop Zola of Lecce and reprinted "ne varietur" at Lyon in 1904, a few months before Mélanie's death in December 15. 

I 

On the 18th of September (1846), the eve of the Holy Apparition of the Holy Virgin, I was alone, as usual, watching over my Master's cows. Around eleven o'clock in the morning, I saw a small boy walking towards me.  I was frightened at this, for it seemed to me that everyone ought to know that I avoided all kinds of company. This boy came up to me and said:

“Little girl, I’m coming with you, I'm from Corps too”. At these words, the natural evil in me soon showed itself, and taking a few steps back, I told him: “I don't want anybody around. I want to be alone.” But the boy followed me, saying: “Go on, let me stay with you. My Master told me to come and watch over my cows together with yours. I'm from Corps.”

I walked away from him, gesturing to him that I didn't want anybody around, and when I was some distance away, I sat down on the grass. There, I used to talk with the little flowers of the Good Lord. 

A moment later, I looked behind me, and there I found Maximin sitting close to me. Straightway he says to me:  “Keep me with you. I'll be very good.” 

But the natural evil in me will not hear reason.  I jump to my feet, and run a little farther off without saying a word and again I start playing with the little flowers of the Good Lord. In an instant, Maximin was there again, telling me he would be very good, that he wouldn't talk, that he would get bored all by himself, and that his Master had sent him to be with me, etc. This time, I took pity, I gestured to him to sit down, and I kept on playing with the little flowers of the Good Lord. 

It wasn't long before Maximin broke the silence by bursting into laughter (I think he was making fun of me). I look at him and he says to me: “Let's have some fun, let's make up a game”. I said nothing in reply, for I was so ignorant I didn't understand what games with other people were, always having been alone. I played with the flowers, on my own, and Maximin came right up close to me, doing nothing but laughing, telling me the flowers didn’t have ears to listen to me and that we should play together instead. But I had no liking for the game he told me to play. I started talking to him, however, and he told me that the ten days he was to spend with his Master would soon be over and then he would go home to his father in Corps etc . . . 

While he was talking, I heard the bell of La Salette, it was the Angelus. I gestured to Maximin to lift his soul up to God. He took off his hat and was silent for a moment. Then I said: “Do you want to have dinner?” “Yes, he replied, let's eat.” We sat down and I brought out of my bag the provisions my Master had given me. As was my habit, before breaking into my little round loaf, I made a cross with the point of my knife on the bread, and a little hole in the middle, saying: “If the devil's in there, may he leave, and if the Good Lord is in there, may he stay!” and I rapidly covered up the little hole. Maximin burst into laughter and kicked the loaf out of my hands. It rolled down the mountainside and was lost from sight. I had another piece of bread which we shared. Afterwards, we played a game. Then, realizing that Maximin must still be hungry, I pointed out a place on the mountainside covered with all kinds of berries. I urged him to go and eat some and he went straight away. He ate a few berries and brought back his hat full of them. In the evening we walked back down the mountain together and promised to come back the next day and watch over our cows together. 

The next day, the 19th of September, I met Maximin on the way up. We climbed up the mountain side together. I discovered that Maximin was a very good, simple boy, and would willingly talk about what I wanted to talk about. He was also very flexible and had no fixed opinions. He was just a little curious, for, when I walked away from him, as soon as he saw I had stopped, he would run over to me to see what I was doing and hear what I was saying to the flowers of the Good Lord. And if he arrived too late, he would ask me what I had said. 

Maximin told me to teach him a game.  It was already late morning. I told him to gather some flowers for the “Paradise”. We set to work together. Soon we had a number of flowers of various colours. I could hear the village Angelus ringing, for the weather was fine and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Having told the Good Lord what we had learned, I said to Maximin that we ought to drive our cows on to a small plateau near the gully, where there would be stones to build the “Paradise”. We drove our cows to the selected spot and then had a small meal. Then we started collecting stones to build our little house, which comprised of a so-called ground floor which was where we were to live, and then a story above which was to be, as we called it, “Paradise.” 

This story was decorated all over with different-colored flowers, with garlands hanging from flower stalks. This “Paradise” was covered by a single large stone which we had strewn with flowers. We had also hung garlands all the way round. When we had finished, we sat and looked at the “Paradise”. We began to feel sleepy and having moved a couple of feet away, we went to sleep on the grass. 

II 

When I woke up I couldn't see the cows, so I called Maximin and climbed up the little mound. From there I could see our cows grazing peacefully and I was on my way down, with Maximin on his way up, when all at once I saw a beautiful light shining more brightly than the sun. 

“Maximin, do you see what is over there?  Oh! My God!” At the same moment, I dropped the stick I was holding. Something inconceivably fantastic passed through me in that moment and I felt myself being drawn. I felt a great respect, full of love, and my heart beat faster. 

I kept my eyes firmly fixed on this light, which was static, and as if it had opened up, I caught sight of another, much more brilliant light which was moving, and in this light I saw a most beautiful lady sitting on top of our Paradise, with her head in her hands. 

This beautiful Lady stood up; she coolly crossed her arms while watching us, and said to us: 

“Come, my children, fear not, I am here to PROCLAIM GREAT NEWS TO YOU.” 

These soft and sweet words made me fly to her, and my heart desired to attach itself to her forever.

When I was up close to the Beautiful Lady, in front of her to her right, she began to speak and from her beautiful eyes tears also started to flow. 

“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much I can no longer keep hold of it. 

“I have suffered all of the time for the rest of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually. And the rest of you think little of this. In vain you will pray, in vain you will act, and you will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for the rest of you. 

“I gave you six days to work; I kept the seventh for myself, and no one wishes to grant it to me. This is what weighs down the arm of my Son so much. 

“Those who drive carts cannot speak without putting the name of my Son in the middle. 

“These are the two things which weigh down the arm of my Son so much. If the harvest is spoiled, it is only because of the rest of you. I made you see this last year with the potatoes; you took little account of this. It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes, you swore oaths, and you included the name of my Son. They will continue to go bad, at Christmas there will be none left.”

At this point, I was trying to interpret the word “potatoes” (pommes de terre): I thought I understood it to be “apples” (pommes) 1. The Beautiful and Good Lady, reading my thoughts, repeated thus:

“You do not understand, my children. I will tell it to you another way. 

“If the harvest is spoiled, it does not seem to affect you. I made you see this last year with the potatoes. You took little account of this. It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes, you swore oaths, and you included the name of my Son. They will continue to go bad and at Christmas, there will be none left.

“If you have corn, you must not sow it. The beasts will eat all that you sow. And all that grows will fall to dust when you thresh it. A great famine will come. Before the famine comes, children under the age of seven will begin to tremble and will die in the arms of those who hold them. The others will do penance through hunger. The nuts will go bad, the grapes will become rotten.”

At this point, the Beautiful Lady, who was entrancing me, for a moment did not make herself heard. I could see, however, that she was continuing, as if speaking, to move graciously her kindly lips. At this moment, Maximin was receiving his secret. Then, turning to me, the Most Holy Virgin spoke to me and gave me a secret in French. Here is this secret in its entirety as she gave it to me.

III

         

“Melanie, what I am about to tell you now will not always be a secret. You may make it public in 1858.

 “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, and the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls; there is no one left worthy of offering a stainless sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world.

“God will strike in an unprecedented way.

“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together.

“The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years.

“The Society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.

“May the curate of my Son, Pope Pius IX never leave Rome again after 1859; may he, however, be steadfast and noble, may he fight with the weapons of faith and love. I will be at his side. May he be on his guard against Napoleon: he is two-faced, and when he wishes to make himself Pope as well as Emperor, God will soon draw back from him. He is the master-mind who, always wanting to ascend further, will fall on the sword he wished to use to force his people to be raised up.

“Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops.

“May the Pope guard against the performers of miracles. For the time has come when the most astonishing wonders will take place on the earth and in the air.

“In the year 1864, Lucifer together with a large number of demons will be unloosed from hell; they will put an end to faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of hell; several religious institutions will lose all faith and will lose many souls.

“Evil books will be abundant on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. They will have great power over Nature: there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God. On occasions, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life. (That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which had lived on earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called resurrected dead, who will be nothing but the devil in this form, will preach another Gospel contrary to that of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of Heaven; that is also to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if fixed to their bodies). 2

“Everywhere there will be extraordinary wonders, as true faith has faded and false light brightens the people. Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches to protect their authority and dominate with pride.

“The Vicar of my Son will suffer a great deal, because for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis.

“The true faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be on his own and be superior to people of same identity, they will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical, all order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension would be seen without love for country or family.

“The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice.

“The mischievous would attempt his life several times to do harm and shorten his days but neither him nor his successor will see the triumph of the Church of God.

“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principal to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds.

“In the year 1865, there will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the King of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the earth.

“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other; massacre each other even in their homes.

“At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy.

“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession. And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all those given over to sin will perish and the earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshipped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the holy Church, which will be strong, humble, and pious in its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God.

“This peace among men will be short-lived. Twenty-five years of plentiful harvests will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this earth.

“A forerunner of the Antichrist, with his troops gathered from several nations, will fight against the true Christ, the only Saviour of the world. He will shed much blood and will want to annihilate the worship of God to make himself be looked upon as a God.

“The earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds (in addition to plague and famine which will be wide-spread). There will be a series of wars until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten Kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world. Before this comes to pass, there will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. But the children of the holy Church, the children of my faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God and in all the virtues most precious to me. Blessed are the souls humbly guided by the Holy Spirit! I shall fight at their side until they reach a fullness of years.

“Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles with dread at what must happen to the earth stained with crime. Tremble, earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves, tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas and his like. It will be during this time that the Antichrist will be born of a Hebrew nun, a false virgin who will communicate with the old serpent, the master of impurity, his father will be B. At birth, he will spew out blasphemy; he will have teeth, in a word; he will be the devil incarnate. He will scream horribly, he will perform wonders; he will feed on nothing but impurity. He will have brothers who, although not devils incarnate like him, will be children of evil. At the age of twelve, they will draw attention upon themselves by the gallant victories they will have won; soon they will each lead armies, aided by the legions of hell.

“The seasons will be altered, the earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, and the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the earth's globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc . . .

“Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.

“The demons of the air together with the Antichrist will perform great wonders on earth and in the atmosphere, and men will become more and more perverted. God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. The Gospel will be preached everywhere, and all peoples of all nations will get to know the truth.

“I make an urgent appeal to the earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Saviour of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honour of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends.

“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. But now Enoch and Eli will come, filled with the Spirit of God. They will preach with the might of God, and men of goodwill will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted. They will make great steps forward through the virtue of the Holy Spirit and will condemn the devilish lapses of the Antichrist. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. Voices will be heard in the air. Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? All the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent. Enoch and Eli will be put to death. Pagan Rome will disappear. The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities. All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be lead astray because they have not worshipped the true Christ who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only faith will survive.

“Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the King of Kings of darkness; here is the Beast with his subjects, calling himself the Saviour of the world. He will rise proudly into the air to go to Heaven. He will be smothered by the breath of the Archangel Saint Michael. He will fall, and the earth, which will have been in a continuous series of evolutions for three days, will open up its fiery bowels; and he will have plunged for all eternity with all his followers into the everlasting chasms of hell. And then water and fire will purge the earth and consume all the works of men's pride and all will be renewed. God will be served and glorified.”

IV

        

Then the Holy Virgin gave me, also in French, THE RULE OF A NEW RELIGIOUS ORDER. When She had given me the Rule of this new religious Order, the Holy Virgin continued the speech in the same manner 3:

“If they convert, the stones and rocks will change into wheat, and potatoes will be found sown in the earth. Do you say your prayers properly, my children?”

We both replied: “Oh! no, Madame, not so much.”

“Oh! my children, you must say them morning and evening. When you can do no more, say a Pater and an Ave Maria; and when you have the time to do better, you will say more.

“Only a few old women go to Mass; in the summer, the rest work all day Sunday and in the winter, when they are at a loose end, they only go to Mass to make fun of religion. During Lent, they go to the butcher's like hungry dogs.

“Have you ever seen any spoilt wheat, my children?”

We both answered: “Oh no, Madame.”

The Holy Virgin turned to Maximin, saying:

“But you, my child, you must have seen some once near le ‘Coin’, with your father. The farmer said to your father: ‘Come and see how my wheat's gone bad!’ You went to see. Your father took two or three ears in his hand, rubbed them, and they fell to dust. Then, on your way back, when you were no more than half an hour away from Corps, your father gave you a piece of bread, and said: ‘Take it, eat it while you can, my son, for I don't know who will be eating anything next year if the wheat is spoiled like that!’”

Maximin replied: “It's quite true, Madame, I didn't remember.”

The Most Holy Virgin brought her speech to an end in French.

“AND SO, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE”

The most beautiful Lady crossed the stream, and after two more steps, without turning back towards us, who were following Her (for we were drawn to her by her brilliance and even more by her kindness which elated me, which seemed to melt my heart), she repeated to us:

“AND SO, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE”

Then, She walked on up to the place where I had gone to see our cows. Her feet touched nothing but the tips of the grass and without bending them. Once on the top of the little mound, the beautiful Lady stopped, and I hurried to stand in front of Her to look at Her so, so closely, and try and see which path she was most inclined to take. For it was all over for me. I had forgotten both my cows and the masters I worked for. I had linked myself forever and unconditionally to my Lady. Yes, I wanted never, never to leave Her. I followed Her with no other motive and fully disposed to serve Her for the rest of my life.

In the presence of my Lady, I felt I had forgotten paradise. I thought of nothing more but to serve Her in every way possible; and I felt I could have done everything she could have asked me to do, for it seemed to me that She had a great deal of power. She looked at me with a tender kindness which drew me to Her. I could have thrown myself into Her arms with my eyes closed. She did not give me the time to do so. She rose imperceptibly from the ground to a height of around four feet or more; and, hanging thus in the air for a split second, my beautiful Lady looked up to Heaven, then down on the earth to her right and then her left 4, then She looked at me with Her eyes so soft, so kind and so good that I felt She was drawing me inside Her, and my heart seemed to open up to Hers.

And as my heart melted away, sweetly gladdened, the beautiful face of my good Lady disappeared little by little. It seemed to me that the light in motion was growing stronger, or rather condensing around the Most Holy Virgin, to prevent me from seeing her any longer.

And thus light took the place of the parts of Her body which were disappearing in front of my eyes; or rather it seemed to me that the body of my Lady was melting into light. Thus the sphere of light rose gently towards the right. I cannot say whether the volume of light decreased as She rose, or whether the growing distance made me see less and less light as She rose. What I do know, is that I was a long time with my head raised up, staring at the light, even after the light, which kept getting further away and decreasing in volume, had finally disappeared. I take my eyes from the firmament, I look around me.

 I see Maximin looking at me, and I say to him:

“Maxi, that must have been my father’s Good Lord, or the Holy Virgin, or some other great saint”5.

And Maximin throws his arms into the air and says: “Oh! If only I'd known!”

V

        

The evening of the 19th of September, we went back down a little earlier than usual. When I arrived at my master’s farm, I was busy tying up my cows and tidying up in the stable, and had not yet finished when my mistress came up to me in tears and said:

“Why, my child, why didn't you come and tell me what happened on the mountain?”

Maximin, not having found his masters who were still at work, had come over to mine and recounted everything he had seen and heard. I replied:

“I did want to tell you, but I wanted to get my work finished first.” A moment later, I walked over to the house and my mistress said to me:

“Tell me what you have seen. De Bruite, the shepherd (that was the nick name of Pierre Selme, Maximin's master), has told me everything.”

I began, and towards the middle of the account, my master arrived back from the fields. My mistress, who was in tears at hearing the complaints and threats of our sweet Mother, said: “Ah!  You were going to harvest the wheat tomorrow (Sunday). Take great care. Come and hear what happened today to this child and Pierre Selme's shepherd-boy.” And turning to me, she said:

“Repeat everything you have said.”

I started again, and when I had finished, my master said:

“It was the Holy Virgin or else a great saint, who has come on behalf of the Good Lord, but it’s as if the Good Lord had come Himself. We must do what this Saint said. How are you going to manage to tell that to all Her people?”

I replied:

“You tell me how I must go about it, and I will do it.” Then, looking at his mother, wife, and brother, he added:

“I'll have to think about that”. Then everyone went back to their business.

After supper, Maximin and his masters came over to see my masters and to recount what Maximin had told them, and decide what was to be done.

“For”, they said, “it seems to us that it was the Holy Virgin sent by the Good Lord. The words which She spoke convince us of this. And she told them to pass it on to all of Her people. Perhaps these children will have to travel the world over to make it known that everyone must observe the commandments of the Good Lord, lest great misfortunes come upon us.”

After a moment's silence, my master said to Maximin and me:

“Do you know what you must do, my children? Tomorrow, you must get up early and both of you go and see the priest and tell him everything you have seen and heard. Tell him carefully how it all happened. He will tell you what you have to do.”

The 20th of September, the day after the Apparition, I left early in the morning with Maximin. When we reached the presbytery, I knocked at the door. The priest's housekeeper came and opened the door and asked us what we wanted. I said to her (in French, and I, who had never spoken French),

“We would like to speak to Father Perrin.”

“And what have you got to say to him?” she asked.

“We wish to tell him, Miss, that yesterday we went up to watch over our cows on Baisses Mountain and after dinner, etc . . . etc.” We recounted a good piece of the Most Holy Virgin’s words. Then the church-bell rang: it was the final call for Mass. Father Perrin, the parish priest of La Salette, who had heard us, flung open his door; he was in tears and was beating his chest. He said to us:

“My children, we are lost, God will punish us. Oh! Good Lord! It was the Holy Virgin who appeared to you!” And he left to say Holy Mass. We looked at each other, Maximin, the housekeeper, and I. Then Maximin said to me:

“Me, I’m off home to my father in Corps”, and we parted company.

As my masters had not told me to return to work immediately after speaking to Father Perrin, I saw no harm in going to Mass. And so I was in church. Mass begins and after the first reading from the Gospel, Father Perrin turns to the congregation and tries to recount to his parishioners, the story of the Apparition which had just taken place, the day before, on one of their mountains, and he urges them to stop working on Sundays. His voice was broken with sobs, and all the congregation was greatly moved. After Holy Mass, I went back to my masters to work. Mr. Peytard, who still today is the mayor of La Salette came to question me on the Apparition, and when he had made sure that I was speaking the truth, he went away convinced.

I stayed on in the service of my masters until All Saint's Day. Then I was boarded with the nuns of Providence, in my home town of Corps.

VI

         

The Most Holy Virgin was tall and well-proportioned. She seemed so light that a mere breath could have stirred Her, yet She was motionless and perfectly balanced. Her face was majestic, imposing, but not imposing in the manner of the Lords here below. She compelled a respectful fear. At the same time as Her Majesty compelled respect mingled with love, She drew me to Her. Her gaze was soft and penetrating. Her eyes seemed to speak to mine, but the conversation came out of a deep and vivid feeling of love for this ravishing beauty who was liquefying me. The softness of Her gaze, Her air of incomprehensible goodness made me understand and feel that she was drawing me to Her and wanted to give Herself. It was an expression of love which cannot be expressed with the tongue of the flesh, nor with the letters of the alphabet.

The clothing of the Most Holy Virgin was silver white and quite brilliant. It was quite intangible. It was made up of light and glory, sparkling and dazzling. There is no expression nor comparison to be found on earth.

The Holy Virgin was all beauty and all love; the sight of Her overwhelmed me. In her finery as in Her person, everything radiated the majesty, the splendour, the magnificence of a Queen beyond compare. She seemed as white, immaculate, crystallized, dazzling, heavenly, fresh and new as a Virgin. The word LOVE seemed to slip from Her pure and silvery lips. She appeared to me like a good Mother, full of kindness, amiability, of love for us, of compassion and mercy.

The crown of roses which She had placed on Her head was so beautiful, so brilliant, that it defies imagination. The different coloured roses were not of this earth; it was a joining together of flowers which crowned the head of the Most Holy Virgin. But the roses kept changing and replacing each other, and then, from the heart of each rose, there shone a beautiful entrancing light, which gave the roses a shimmering beauty. From the crown of roses there seemed to arise golden branches and a number of little flowers mingled with the shining ones. The whole thing formed a most beautiful diadem, which alone shone brighter than our earth's sun.

The Holy Virgin had a most pretty cross hanging round Her neck. This cross seemed golden, (I say golden rather than gold-plated, for I have sometimes seen objects which were golden with varying shades of gold, which had a much more beautiful effect on my eyes than simple gold-plate). On this shining, beautiful cross, there was a Christ; it was Our Lord on the Cross. Near both ends of the cross there was a hammer, and at the other end, a pair of tongs. The Christ was skin-colored, but He shone dazzlingly; and the light shone forth from His holy body seemed like brightly shining darts which pierced my heart with the desire to melt inside Him. At times, the Christ appeared to be dead. His head was bent forward and His body seemed to give way, as if about to fall, had He not been held back by the nails which held him to the Cross.

I felt a deep compassion and would have liked to tell His unknown love to the whole world, and to let seep into mortal souls the most heartfelt love and gratitude towards a God who had no need whatsoever of us to be everything He is, was and always will be. And yet, O love that men cannot understand, He made Himself man, and wanted to die, yes, die, so as to better inscribe in our souls and in our memory, the passionate love He has for us! Oh, how wretched am I to find myself so poor in my expression of the love of our good Saviour for us! But, in another way, how happy we are to be able to feel more deeply that which we cannot express!

At other times, the Christ appeared to be alive. His head was erect, His eyes open, and He seemed to be on the cross of His own accord. At times too, He appeared to speak: He seemed to show that He was on the cross for our sake, out of love for us, to draw us to His love, and that He always has more love to give us, that His love in the beginning and in the year 33 is always that of today and will be for ever more.

The Holy Virgin was crying nearly the whole time she was speaking to me. Her tears flowed gently, one by one, down to her knees, then, like sparks of light, they disappeared. They were glittering and full of love. I would have liked to comfort Her and stop Her tears. But it seemed to me that She needed the tears to show better Her love forgotten by men. I would have liked to throw myself into Her arms and say to Her:

“My kind Mother, do not cry! I want to love you for all men on earth.” But she seemed to be saying to me:

“There are so many who know me not!”

I was in between life and death, and on one side, I saw so much desire by this Mother to be loved, and on another side, so much cold and indifference . . . Oh! My Mother, most beautiful and lovable Mother, my love, heart of my heart!

The tears of our sweet Mother, far from lessening her air of majesty, of a Queen and a Mistress, seemed, on the contrary, to embellish Her, to make Her more beautiful, more powerful, more filled with love, more maternal, more ravishing, and I could have wiped away Her tears which made my heart leap with compassion and love. To see a mother cry, and such a Mother, without doing everything possible to comfort her and change her grief to joy, is that possible? Oh! Mother, who is more than good; you have been formed with all the prerogatives God is able to make; you have married the power of God, so to speak; you are good, and more, you are good with the goodness of God Himself. God has extended Himself by making you His terrestrial and celestial masterpiece.

The Most Holy Virgin had a yellow pinafore. What am I saying, yellow? She had a pinafore more brilliant than several suns put together. It was not a tangible material; it was composed of glory, and this glory was scintillating, and ravishingly beautiful. Everything in the Holy Virgin carried me firmly and made me kind of slide into the adoration and love of my Jesus in every state of His mortal life.

The Most Holy Virgin had two chains, one a little wider than the other. From the narrower one, hung the cross which I mentioned earlier. These chains (since they must be given the name of chains) were like rays of brightly shining glory, sparkling and dazzling. Her shoes (since they must be called shoes) were white, but a silvery brilliant white. There were roses around them. These roses were dazzlingly beautiful, and from the heart of each rose there shone forth a flame of very beautiful and pleasing light. On Her shoes there was a buckle of gold, not the gold of this earth, but rather the gold of paradise.

The sight of the Holy Virgin was itself a perfect paradise. She had everything needed to satisfy, for earth had been forgotten. The Holy Virgin was surrounded by two lights. The first light, the nearer to the Most Holy Virgin, reached as far as us. It shone most beautifully and scintillatingly.

The second light shone out a little around the Beautiful Lady and we found ourselves bathed in it. It was motionless (that is to say it wasn't scintillating) but much more brilliant than our poor sun on earth. All this light did not harm nor tire the eyes in any way.

In addition to all these lights, all this splendour, there shone forth concentrations or beams of light and single rays of light from the body of the Holy Virgin, from her clothes and from all over Her.

The voice of the Beautiful Lady was soft. It was enchanting, ravishing, warming to the heart. It satisfied, flattered every obstacle, it soothed and softened. It seemed to me I could never stop eating up Her beautiful voice and my heart seemed to dance or want to go towards Her and melt inside Her.

The eyes of the most Holy Virgin, our Sweet Mother, cannot be described in human language. To speak of them, you would need a seraph, you would need more than that, you would need the language of God Himself, of the God who formed the immaculate Virgin, the masterpiece of His omnipotence. The eyes of the majestic Mary appeared thousands of times more beautiful than the rarest brilliants, diamonds and precious stones. They shone like two suns; they were soft, softness itself, as clear as a mirror.  In her eyes, you could see paradise. They drew you to Her, She seemed to want to draw and give Herself.

The more I looked, the more I wanted to see; the more I saw, the more I loved Her and I loved Her with all my might.

The eyes of the beautiful Immaculate One were like the door to God's Kingdom, from which you could see all that can elate the soul. When my eyes met those of the Mother of God and of myself, I felt inside me a happy revolution of love and a declaration that I love Her and am melting with love. As we looked at each other, our eyes spoke to each other in their fashion, and I loved Her so much I could have kissed Her in the middle of Her eyes, which touched my soul and seemed to draw it towards them and make it melt into Hers. Her eyes set up a sweet trembling in all my being; and I was afraid to make the slightest movement which might cause her the smallest displeasure.

Just the sight of the eyes of the purest of Virgins would have been enough to make the Heaven of a blessed creature, enough to fill the soul with the will of the Most High amid the events which occurs in the course of mortal life, enough to make the soul perform continual acts of praise, of thanksgiving, of atonement and expiation. Just this sight focuses the soul on God, and makes it like a living-death, looking upon all the things of this earth, even the things which seem the most serious, as nothing but children's playthings. The soul would want to hear no one speaking unless they spoke of God, and of that which affects His Glory.

Sin is the only evil She sees on earth. She will die of grief unless God sustains Her.

 Amen.

 MARIA OF THE CROSS, Victim of Jesus nee MELANIE CALVAT, Shepherdess of La Salette

 Castellamare, 21st of November 1878.

         “I anticipate with great pleasure the ‘Secret’ circulating at full extent; the more it spreads the more it will arouse salutary fear and numerous returns to God. Mary will bless those who help at the diffusion as she absolutely wants this passed on to all of the people. We are punished for having neglected this absolute order from the Mother of God.”

         Extract from a letter of Melanie relating to the Secret of La Salette.

________________________________________________________________

1. Neither Melanie nor Maximin understood French. The Beautiful Lady now continues her speech in “patois”.

2. In a letter to Father Combe, dated October 7th, 1899, Melanie corrects these words in parenthesis which are her own, she says, and which she judges to be unclear and inaccurate. “That is to say”, she writes, “that in those days, which only seem like twenty years ago, some perverted people (Italian: malvages) had given themselves over to devotion to the demon of magic. These people would cause to appear in the eyes of the curious, acquainted and theirs who had not led a Christian way of life.

         “These supposedly resurrected individuals appeared in heavenly glory. People known to have lived in the fear of God appeared to be in horrible suffering, and urged their friends and acquaintances not to follow in their footsteps, and they preached a Gospel opposed to that of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It seems that these bizarre occurrences may be put down to the fashion for spiritualistic evocations and for certain spiritualistic and demoniac practices which no doubt will one day be brought to light through a thorough examination of the Luciferian archives of FreeMasonry.”

         In the same letter, Melanie takes care to explain that where it is said that people will be transported from one place to another, it must be understood as to be in rare cases only.

 3. In patois.

 4. “In which direction had the Holy Virgin turned when she rose?”

 - “That way (she pointed to the East) . . . I know that Rome is in that direction.”

 (Conversation with Melanie, Miss des Brulais, 8th Sept. 1849.)

 5. “My Father's Good Lord: this is the Crucifix, this living crucifix which the beautiful Lady wears round Her neck, and which seemed to talk to Her. The Holy Virgin . . .” Melanie does not seem to have doubted for a moment that it was Her, this comes out in the account, however, she does not dare to be the first to state it: it is for the Church of Jesus Christ to do so, she has this intuition. In effect, the next morning, it is the parish priest of La Salette who cries out, at the account of the two children:

         “It was the Holy Virgin who appeared to you”, and from the pulpit, will announce this to his parishioners, and to all the faithful ones among them.

 6. Today: 21st of November 1878, when this account was written.

_______________________________________________________________

Additional words of Melanie:

     “The great chastisement will come, because men will not be converted; yet it is only their conversion that can hinder these scourges. God will begin to strike men by inflicting lighter punishments in order to open their eyes; then He will stop, or may repeat His former warnings to give place for repentance. But sinners will not avail themselves of these opportunities; He will, in consequence, send more severe castigation, anxious to move sinners to repentance, but all in vain. Finally, the obduracy of sinners shall draw upon their heads the greatest and most terrible calamities.

     “We are all guilty! Penance is not done, and sin increases daily. Those who should come forward to do good are retained by fear. Evil is great. A moderate punishment serves only to irritate the spirits, because they view all things with human eyes. God could work a miracle to convert and change the aspect of the earth without chastisement. God will work a miracle; it will be a stroke of His mercy; but after the wicked shall have inebriated themselves with blood, the scourge shall arrive.

      “What countries shall be preserved from such calamities? Where shall we go for refuge? I, in my turn, shall ask, What is the country that observes the commandments of God? What country is not influenced by human fear where the interest of the Church and the glory of God are at stake? (Ah, indeed! What country, what nation upon earth?) In behalf of my Superior and myself, I have often asked myself where we could go for refuge, had we the means for the journey and for our subsistence, on condition that no person were to know it? But I renounce these useless thoughts. We are very guilty! In consequence of this, it is necessary that a very great and terrible scourge should come to revive our faith, and to restore to us our very reason, which we have almost entirely lost. Wicked men are devoured by a thirst for exercising their cruelty; but when they shall have reached the uttermost point of barbarity, God Himself shall extend His hand to stop them, and very soon after, a complete change shall be effected in all surviving persons.  Then they will sing the Te Deum Laudamus with the most lively gratitude and love. The Virgin Mary, our Mother, shall be our liberatrix. Peace shall reign, and the charity of Jesus Christ shall unite all hearts . . . Let us pray; let us pray. God does not wish to chastise us severely. He speaks to us in so many, so many ways to make us return to Him. How long shall we remain stubborn? Let us pray, let us pray; let us never cease praying and doing penance. Let us pray for our Holy Father the Pope, the only light for the faithful in these times of darkness. O yes, let us by all means prays much. Let us pray to good, sweet, merciful Virgin Mary; for we stand in great need of her powerful hands over our heads.”

Words of Maximin:

     “In this time the Antichrist will be born of a nun of Hebraic descent, a false virgin, who will have intercourse with the ancient serpent, with the master of impurity and putrefaction. His father will be a bishop. He will perform false miracles and subsist only on vitiating faith. He will have brethren, who will be children of evil but not incarnate devils like himself. Soon they will be at the head of armies, supported by the legions of hell.”

************

In the reprinted "ne varietur" at Lyon in 1904, which was published a few months before Mélanie's death in December 15, the editor of said reprint, Abbé Combe, adds the following note after this paragraph:

"I have from Melanie that the Church will be eclipsed in this sense, that 1) one will not know which is the true pope; 2) for a time: the holy Sacrifice will cease to be offered in churches, and also in houses: so there will be no more public worship. But she saw that yet the holy Sacrifice would not cease: it would be offered in caves, in tunnels, in barns and in alcoves." in reference to the message of Our Lady:

"The Church will be eclipsed, the world will be in consternation. But behold Enoch and Elie filled with the Spirit of God; they will preach with the strength of God, and men of good will will believe in God, and many souls will be consoled; they will make great progress by the virtue of the Holy Spirit and will condemn the devilish errors of the antichrist."