Mélanie Calvat
Encyclopedia
Françoise Mélanie Calvat called Mathieu (7 November 1831 Corps, Isère
, France
- 15 December 1904 Altamura
, Italy
) was a French
Roman-catholic religious sister and Marian visionary. As a religious, she was called Sister Mary of the Cross.
yer by trade who did not hesitate to take whatever job he could find because of the large family he had to support, and Julie Barnaud, his wife.
The family's poverty was so complete that the young were sometimes dispatched to beg on the street.
At a very young age Mélanie was hired out to tend the neighbors' cows. From the spring to the fall of 1846 she worked for Jean-Baptiste Pra at Les Ablandins, one of the hamlets of the village of La Salette.
Such a life away from home caused her to grow up puny and withdrawn. Mélanie was timid and taciturn and always on her guard. She only spoke the regional Occitan dialect and fragmented French. They had neither schooling nor religious instruction, could neither read or write. Melanie's father was on a never ending quest for employment. Her mother, overwhelmed with work and the cares of her brood could give each one very little affection. As she was never present at the catechism
classes, the local pastor was unable to admit her to first communion
.
During early childhood she experienced Divine
apparitions of the child Jesus
in woods nearby their house. At the age of three, she was stigma
tized and favored with the vision of the Virgin Mary.
At the time of the apparition Mélanie was financially, intellectually and affectively among the poorest of the poor. She was totally dependent, and would be profoundly and definitively stamped by the apparition, which would nevertheless leave her personality intact.
, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon just after the Angelus
bells rang, she had, together with Maximin Giraud
, an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the mountains of La Salette, France
. They were watching the cows a few kilometers from her elderly house. Our Lady transmitted a public message to Mélanie and to Maximin, and a personal message to her only.
The bishop of Grenoble, Mgr. Philibert de Bruillard, named several commissions
to examine the facts. In December 1846, the first commissions were established. One was formed of professors from the major seminary
of Grenoble and the other from titulary canons. The latter commission concluded that a more extensive examination was necessary before formulating a judgment. A new enquiry was held from July to September 1847, by two members of the commission, Canon Orcel, the superior of the major seminary, and Canon Rousselot.
A conference on the matter at the bishop's residence took place in November-December 1847. Sixteen members - the vicars general of the diocese, the parish priests of Grenoble and the titulary
canons - assembled in the presence of the bishop. The majority concluded to the authenticity of the apparition, after the examination of the report from Rousselot and Urcel. Also, the Bishop of Sens had very carefully examined three cure
s attributed to Our Lady of La Salette that had occurred in the city of Avallon
. The local bishop, Mgr. Mellon Jolly, recognized on 4 May 1849, one of the three cures, which had occurred on 21 November 1847, as miraculous.
Since 1847 Mgr. de Bruillard was thus convinced of the reality of the apparition. The next year he authorized the publication of the Rousselot report, which affirmed the reality of the apparition. In his letter of approbation, printed as a type of preface, the bishop of Grenoble declared that he shared the opinion of the majority of the commission which adopted the conclusions of the report.
However, Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald
, the Cardinal Archbishop of Lyon, on whom Grenoble depended, suspected a subterfuge. The Cardinal demanded that the children tell him their secret, saying that he had a mandate from the Pope. The children finally acceded to this demand. Mélanie, however, insisted that her text be carried directly to the Pope. It was under these conditions that the Bishop of Grenoble sent two representatives to Rome
. The text of the two private secrets were handed to Blessed Pope Pius IX
on 18 July 1851.
The procedure must have been favourable, because the mandate of Mgr. de Bruillard, adjusted according to observations of Luigi Lambruschini
, Cardinal Prefect
of the Sacred Congregation of Rites at Rome, was signed on 18 September 1851, and was published the following 10 November 1851. In it, the bishop of Grenoble promulgated this judgement:
The motives of the decision, which rested on the work of Rousselot and that of the commission of 1847, were the impossibility of explaining the events in human manner, the miracles and cures, the spiritual fruits of the apparition, notably conversions
and finally the right expectations and desires of large crowds of priests and faithful.
Later, 16 November 1851, the Bishop of Grenoble published a statement that the mission of the shepherd children had ended and that the matter was now in the hands of the Church. The bishop made it clear that the approval of the church was only for the original revelation of 1846 and not for any subsequent claims.
La Salette immediately stirred up a great fervour in French society, it also provoked enormous discussions. The little visionaries were somewhat disturbed by the perpetual interrogations, the threats, sometimes violent from political and ecclesiastical opponents, and also the assaults of fervour. Mélanie especially was venerated in the manner of a saint, not unlike what happened to Saint Bernadette Soubirous
, who, without doubting, defended herself against this. This harmed the equilibrium
of the two visionaries. Mélanie had difficulty living a stable religious life. Maximin, who once entered the seminary, also had difficulties living a normal life.
After the apparition in 1846, Mélanie was placed as a boarder in the Sisters of Providence Convent
in Corenc
close to Grenoble
, where an inquiry concerning the apparition took place. She entered religion at the age of twenty. In 1850 she became a postulant with this order and in October 1851 she took the veil. While at Corenc she was known to sit down surrounded by enthralled listeners, as she related stories of her childhood.
In May 1853, Bishop de Bruillard died and was replaced. In early 1854 his replacement refused to grant permission for her to be professed, because he found that she was not spiritually mature enough. Mélanie claimed that the real reason for the refusal was that the bishop was aiming to gain the favour of the emperor Napoleon III of France
.
Following the bishop’s refusal to permit her to be professed, Mélanie was officially allowed to move to a Convent of the Sisters of Charity
. This Order was dedicated to hard practical work in helping the poor, and Mélanie met brisk common sense, not flattery or adulation. Mélanie continued to speak about the apparitions, and the masonic plot to destroy catholic France. But after three weeks she was made to returned to Corps en Isère for further education.
Napoleon III was ruling republican France but royalists were working for the restoration of a king of a catholic country. This political controversy dominated conversation throughout France, with the French church trying to maintain neutrality. Mélanie made this difficult for the hierarchy, by continuing to repeat the words of the Virgin Mary and opposing freemasonry
. The bishop, aware of Melanie’s fervid and outspoken royalist sympathies, was worried that she would become involved and thereby implicate the cult of Our Lady of La Salette in politics.
Mélanie agreed to the suggestion of an English visiting priest, and was allowed to move to the Carmel
at Darlington
in England
, where she arrived in 1855. This removed her from the French political controversies, so the bishop was pleased to agree to this move. She took temporary vows there in 1856.
In 1858 Mélanie wrote again to the Pope to transmit that part of the secret she was authorized to reveal in that year. While at Darlington she spoke of a variety of strange events and miracles. The local bishop forbade her to speak publicly about these prophecies. In 1860, she was released from her vow of cloister at the Carmel by the Holy Father in order to further accomplish her mission and return to mainland Europe.
She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Compassion in Marseille
. A sister, Marie, was appointed as her companion. After a stay in their convent of Cephalonia, Greece
were she and Sister Marie went to open an orphanage
, and a short sojourn at the Carmelite convent of Marseille, she returned to the Sisters of Compassion for a brief time. In October 1864 she was admitted as a novice
on condition she kept her identity secret. But she was recognised and her identity was no longer secret.
In early 1867 she was officially released from the order and she and her companion then went, following a short stay at Corps and La Salette, to live at Castellamare
near Naples in Italy, where she was welcomed by the local bishop. She resided there seventeen years, writing down her secret, including the rule for a future religious foundation.
, the one for the women Order of the Mother of God. When the bishop refused her demands, she appealed to the Pope and was granted an interview. Mélanie was received by Pope Leo XIII in a private audience on 3 December 1878.
About 1873 Mélanie wrote her personal message down again, with the imprimatur
of Sisto Riario Sforza
, Cardinal Archbishop of Naples, and with the approbation of Pope Pius IX. The message was officially published by Mélanie Calvat herself on 15 November 1879 and received the imprimatur
of Mgr. Salvatore Luigi Zola, bishop of Lecce near Naples
, who had protected and assisted Mélanie in his diocese, under the title Apparition of the Blessed Virgin on the Mountain of La Salette.
As a consequence of this publication, a historical dispute on the extent of the secret begun, which lasts until today.
In 1880 the bishop of Troyes denounced the Lecce-imprimatured book to the Congregation of the Holy Office, and in turn Prospero Caterini
, Cardinal Secretary
of the Congregation of the Holy Office, publicly wrote back to him, the Bishop of Castellamare and the other members of the hierarchy that:
The Vatican later put this book the Index of Prohibited Books.
Mélanie moved to Cannes
in the south of France, from where she travelled to Chalon-sur-Saône
, seeking to found a community with the sponsorship of the Canon de Brandt of Amiens. Eventually she entered into litigation with Bishop Perraud, the ordinary of Autun over an inheritance given to support this foundation.
In 1892, Mélanie returned to Lecce
, Italy, then journeyed to Messina in Sicily
on the invitation of Saint Annibale di Francia.
Following a few months in the Piedmont
region, she was invited by the abbé Gilbert Combe, pastor of Diou
, a priest much taken up with politico-religious prophecies, to settle in the Allier
region. She there finished a contrived autobiography.
In 1901 Gilbert Combe published his version of Melanie's prohibited secret under the title The Great Coup and Its Probable Dates, which was anti-Bonaparte and pro-Bourbon. It was reprinted ne varietur at Lyon
in 1904, a few months before Mélanie's death. It too was put on the Index.
She visited the Holy mountain at La Salette a final time on September 18-19, 1902. She then returned to Altamura
, near Bari
in southern Italy and died there on December 14, 1904. Her remains are buried under a marble column with a bas-relief depicting the Virgin Mary welcoming the shepherdess of La Salette into heaven.
Throughout a difficult lifetime, Mélanie remained poor and devout, ever faithful to her first testimony.
These actions of the church caused a great deal of confusion in catholic minds, so that it was compelled to clarify that the original message confided to Maximin and Mélanie in 1846 remained approved, and it was only the latter messages, and particularly the 1872-1873 edition saying Rome will lose the faith, and become the seat of the Antichrist that was banned.
In October 1912, Albert Lepidi O.P.
, Master of the Sacred Palace
, in a public statement in reply to a query by Cardinal Louis Luçon
affirmed that the original message of 1846 remained approved.
Once again, during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV
, the Church was compelled to address the issue. Benedict XV issued an admonitum or formal papal warning recognizing the many different versions of the secret in all its diverse forms and forbidding the faithful or the clergy to investigate or discuss them without permission from their bishops. The admonitum further affirmed that the church's prohibition issued under Pope Leo XIII
remained binding.
Since the Second Vatican Council
, the rules regarding the discussion of visions have been relaxed and the Index abolished. Her book was republished, and discussion once again took place.
From the beginning, the 1873 message was exploited by French anti-clericals and Freemasons to attack Catholics in the country. The intense confusion deliberately spread by anti-Catholics caused a reaction that caused La Salette to lose its glory and fall back into the slumber of a minor site of Catholic pilgrimage.
The French episcopate in general and Mgr. Jacques Marie Achille Ginoulhiac
, who succeeded as bishop of Grenoble and who left the First Vatican Council
early in opposition to the proclamation of the papal infallibility
, in particular resisted the secret with, at times, a real fury, because its warnings as to the political ambitions of Napoleon III and the regrettable state of the clergy in general, were not to their liking.
Eventually, after prolonged efforts to establish the religious order of the Mother of God both in Italy and in France, Melanie finally went to Italy, where she died a saintly death in 1904.
After her death, numerous attempts were made to further establish the religious orders.
The first element is the written down account of the private message given to Mélanie. This account was written down in a shortened version in 1851, and was developed further during the years by Mélanie.
The second element is the rule of the religious order, that was dictated by the Virgin Mary to Mélanie. This rule was only mentioned in later editions of the secret.
A third element are the moral confidences related by Mélanie to Gilbert Combe concerning the end of the world, thus further developing and explaining the secret.
This edition is lost.
Corps, Isère
Corps is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-Geography:Corps is situated in the Alpes mountains and borders on the frontier between the départments of Isère and Hautes-Alpes.-See also:* Our Lady of La Salette* Mélanie Calvat...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
- 15 December 1904 Altamura
Altamura
Altamura is a town and comune of Apulia, southern Italy. It is located on the Murge plateau in the province of Bari, 45 km South-West of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. As of 2011 its population was of 69,728.-Overview:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Roman-catholic religious sister and Marian visionary. As a religious, she was called Sister Mary of the Cross.
Early age
Melanie was from Corps en Isère. She was the fourth of ten children to Pierre Calvat, a stonemason and sawSaw
A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...
yer by trade who did not hesitate to take whatever job he could find because of the large family he had to support, and Julie Barnaud, his wife.
The family's poverty was so complete that the young were sometimes dispatched to beg on the street.
At a very young age Mélanie was hired out to tend the neighbors' cows. From the spring to the fall of 1846 she worked for Jean-Baptiste Pra at Les Ablandins, one of the hamlets of the village of La Salette.
Such a life away from home caused her to grow up puny and withdrawn. Mélanie was timid and taciturn and always on her guard. She only spoke the regional Occitan dialect and fragmented French. They had neither schooling nor religious instruction, could neither read or write. Melanie's father was on a never ending quest for employment. Her mother, overwhelmed with work and the cares of her brood could give each one very little affection. As she was never present at the catechism
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
classes, the local pastor was unable to admit her to first communion
First Communion
The First Communion, or First Holy Communion, is a Catholic Church ceremony. It is the colloquial name for a person's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Catholic Church...
.
During early childhood she experienced Divine
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
apparitions of the child Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
in woods nearby their house. At the age of three, she was stigma
Stigmata
Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...
tized and favored with the vision of the Virgin Mary.
At the time of the apparition Mélanie was financially, intellectually and affectively among the poorest of the poor. She was totally dependent, and would be profoundly and definitively stamped by the apparition, which would nevertheless leave her personality intact.
Apparition
On September 19, 1846, eve of the feast of Our Lady of SorrowsOur Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows , the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows , and Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life...
, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon just after the Angelus
Angelus
The Angelus is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. The name Angelus is derived from the opening words: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ The Angelus (Latin for "angel") is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. The name Angelus is derived from the opening words: Angelus...
bells rang, she had, together with Maximin Giraud
Maximin Giraud
Pierre Maximin Giraud was a French member of the Corps of Papal Zouaves and Marian visionary.-Biography:...
, an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the mountains of La Salette, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. They were watching the cows a few kilometers from her elderly house. Our Lady transmitted a public message to Mélanie and to Maximin, and a personal message to her only.
The bishop of Grenoble, Mgr. Philibert de Bruillard, named several commissions
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...
to examine the facts. In December 1846, the first commissions were established. One was formed of professors from the major seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
of Grenoble and the other from titulary canons. The latter commission concluded that a more extensive examination was necessary before formulating a judgment. A new enquiry was held from July to September 1847, by two members of the commission, Canon Orcel, the superior of the major seminary, and Canon Rousselot.
A conference on the matter at the bishop's residence took place in November-December 1847. Sixteen members - the vicars general of the diocese, the parish priests of Grenoble and the titulary
canons - assembled in the presence of the bishop. The majority concluded to the authenticity of the apparition, after the examination of the report from Rousselot and Urcel. Also, the Bishop of Sens had very carefully examined three cure
Cure
A cure is a completely effective treatment for a disease.The Cure is an English rock band.Cure, or similar, may also refer to:-Film and television:* The Cure , a short film starring Charlie Chaplin...
s attributed to Our Lady of La Salette that had occurred in the city of Avallon
Avallon
Avallon is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in center-eastern France.-Geography:Avallon is located 50 km south-southeast of Auxerre, served by a branch of the Paris-Lyon railway and by exit 22 of the A6 motorway...
. The local bishop, Mgr. Mellon Jolly, recognized on 4 May 1849, one of the three cures, which had occurred on 21 November 1847, as miraculous.
Since 1847 Mgr. de Bruillard was thus convinced of the reality of the apparition. The next year he authorized the publication of the Rousselot report, which affirmed the reality of the apparition. In his letter of approbation, printed as a type of preface, the bishop of Grenoble declared that he shared the opinion of the majority of the commission which adopted the conclusions of the report.
However, Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald
Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald
Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald was a French cardinal .Born at Millau, he was the son of the philosopher Louis Gabriel Ambroise de Bonald....
, the Cardinal Archbishop of Lyon, on whom Grenoble depended, suspected a subterfuge. The Cardinal demanded that the children tell him their secret, saying that he had a mandate from the Pope. The children finally acceded to this demand. Mélanie, however, insisted that her text be carried directly to the Pope. It was under these conditions that the Bishop of Grenoble sent two representatives to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The text of the two private secrets were handed to Blessed Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
on 18 July 1851.
The procedure must have been favourable, because the mandate of Mgr. de Bruillard, adjusted according to observations of Luigi Lambruschini
Luigi Lambruschini
Luigi Lambruschini was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in the mid nineteenth century.-Biography:...
, Cardinal Prefect
Prefect
Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
of the Sacred Congregation of Rites at Rome, was signed on 18 September 1851, and was published the following 10 November 1851. In it, the bishop of Grenoble promulgated this judgement:
- We judge that the apparition of the Holy Virgin to the two shepherds, September 19, 1846 ... in the parish of La Salette ... carries within it all the characteristics of truth, and that the faithful have reason to believe it indubitable and certain.
The motives of the decision, which rested on the work of Rousselot and that of the commission of 1847, were the impossibility of explaining the events in human manner, the miracles and cures, the spiritual fruits of the apparition, notably conversions
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
and finally the right expectations and desires of large crowds of priests and faithful.
Later, 16 November 1851, the Bishop of Grenoble published a statement that the mission of the shepherd children had ended and that the matter was now in the hands of the Church. The bishop made it clear that the approval of the church was only for the original revelation of 1846 and not for any subsequent claims.
La Salette immediately stirred up a great fervour in French society, it also provoked enormous discussions. The little visionaries were somewhat disturbed by the perpetual interrogations, the threats, sometimes violent from political and ecclesiastical opponents, and also the assaults of fervour. Mélanie especially was venerated in the manner of a saint, not unlike what happened to Saint Bernadette Soubirous
Bernadette Soubirous
Saint Marie-Bernarde Soubirous was a miller's daughter born in Lourdes. From 11 February to 16 July 1858, she reported 18 apparitions of "a small young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at that site at Lourdes....
, who, without doubting, defended herself against this. This harmed the equilibrium
Social equilibrium
In sociology, a system is said to be social equilibrium when there is a dynamic working balance among its interdependent parts . Each subsystem will adjust to any change in the other subsystems and will continue to do so until an equilibrium is retained...
of the two visionaries. Mélanie had difficulty living a stable religious life. Maximin, who once entered the seminary, also had difficulties living a normal life.
Religious life
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
in Corenc
Corenc
Corenc is a commune in the Isère département in south-eastern France. It is a suburb of Grenoble. In 2007 its population was 3,773.-Geography:Corenc is situated in the Alps and is near the border between the départements of Isère and Hautes-Alpes.-Economy:...
close to Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, where an inquiry concerning the apparition took place. She entered religion at the age of twenty. In 1850 she became a postulant with this order and in October 1851 she took the veil. While at Corenc she was known to sit down surrounded by enthralled listeners, as she related stories of her childhood.
In May 1853, Bishop de Bruillard died and was replaced. In early 1854 his replacement refused to grant permission for her to be professed, because he found that she was not spiritually mature enough. Mélanie claimed that the real reason for the refusal was that the bishop was aiming to gain the favour of the emperor Napoleon III of France
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
.
Following the bishop’s refusal to permit her to be professed, Mélanie was officially allowed to move to a Convent of the Sisters of Charity
Sisters of Charity
Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity as part of their name. The rule of Saint Vincent for the Daughters of Charity has been adopted and adapted by at least sixty founders of religious orders around the world in the subsequent centuries....
. This Order was dedicated to hard practical work in helping the poor, and Mélanie met brisk common sense, not flattery or adulation. Mélanie continued to speak about the apparitions, and the masonic plot to destroy catholic France. But after three weeks she was made to returned to Corps en Isère for further education.
Napoleon III was ruling republican France but royalists were working for the restoration of a king of a catholic country. This political controversy dominated conversation throughout France, with the French church trying to maintain neutrality. Mélanie made this difficult for the hierarchy, by continuing to repeat the words of the Virgin Mary and opposing freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
. The bishop, aware of Melanie’s fervid and outspoken royalist sympathies, was worried that she would become involved and thereby implicate the cult of Our Lady of La Salette in politics.
Mélanie agreed to the suggestion of an English visiting priest, and was allowed to move to the Carmel
Carmel
Carmel in the Bible refers to two distinct places:* Mount Carmel, coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea* Carmel , an ancient Israelite town in Judea...
at Darlington
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where she arrived in 1855. This removed her from the French political controversies, so the bishop was pleased to agree to this move. She took temporary vows there in 1856.
In 1858 Mélanie wrote again to the Pope to transmit that part of the secret she was authorized to reveal in that year. While at Darlington she spoke of a variety of strange events and miracles. The local bishop forbade her to speak publicly about these prophecies. In 1860, she was released from her vow of cloister at the Carmel by the Holy Father in order to further accomplish her mission and return to mainland Europe.
She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Compassion in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
. A sister, Marie, was appointed as her companion. After a stay in their convent of Cephalonia, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
were she and Sister Marie went to open an orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...
, and a short sojourn at the Carmelite convent of Marseille, she returned to the Sisters of Compassion for a brief time. In October 1864 she was admitted as a novice
Novice
A novice is a person or creature who is new to a field or activity. The term is most commonly applied in religion and sports.-Buddhism:In many Buddhist orders, a man or woman who intends to take ordination must first become a novice, adopting part of the monastic code indicated in the vinaya and...
on condition she kept her identity secret. But she was recognised and her identity was no longer secret.
In early 1867 she was officially released from the order and she and her companion then went, following a short stay at Corps and La Salette, to live at Castellamare
Castellammare di Stabia
Castellammare di Stabia is a comune in the province of Naples, Campania region, southern Italy. It is situated on the Bay of Naples about 30 kilometers southeast of Naples, on the route to Sorrento.-History:...
near Naples in Italy, where she was welcomed by the local bishop. She resided there seventeen years, writing down her secret, including the rule for a future religious foundation.
Controversy
Meanwhile, religious orders were being formed at La Salette, under the auspices of the local bishop, of Grenoble. These were to provide for the pilgrims and spread the message of the vision. Mélanie claimed she had been authorized by apparition to provide the names of these orders, their rules and their habits. The one for men was to be entitled Order of the Apostles of the Last DaysOrder of the Apostles of the Last Days
The Order of the Apostles of the Last Days is a Roman Catholic religious order proposed by the visionary Mélanie Calvat claiming guidance from Our Lady of La Salette at a private apparition on 19 September 1846 on the mountain of La Salette in France....
, the one for the women Order of the Mother of God. When the bishop refused her demands, she appealed to the Pope and was granted an interview. Mélanie was received by Pope Leo XIII in a private audience on 3 December 1878.
About 1873 Mélanie wrote her personal message down again, with the imprimatur
Imprimatur
An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...
of Sisto Riario Sforza
Sisto Riario Sforza
Sisto Riario Sforza was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals.-Family:Sforza was born in Naples, Italy and belonged to the noble House of Riario-Sforza...
, Cardinal Archbishop of Naples, and with the approbation of Pope Pius IX. The message was officially published by Mélanie Calvat herself on 15 November 1879 and received the imprimatur
Imprimatur
An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...
of Mgr. Salvatore Luigi Zola, bishop of Lecce near Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, who had protected and assisted Mélanie in his diocese, under the title Apparition of the Blessed Virgin on the Mountain of La Salette.
As a consequence of this publication, a historical dispute on the extent of the secret begun, which lasts until today.
In 1880 the bishop of Troyes denounced the Lecce-imprimatured book to the Congregation of the Holy Office, and in turn Prospero Caterini
Prospero Caterini
Prospero Caterini was an Italian Cardinal. As protodeacon, he announced at the end of the conclave of 1878 the election of Cardinal Gioacchino Pecci as Pope Leo XIII...
, Cardinal Secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
of the Congregation of the Holy Office, publicly wrote back to him, the Bishop of Castellamare and the other members of the hierarchy that:
- The Holy Office is displeased by the publication of this book. Its express will is that every copy which has been put into circulation be withdrawn, as far as is possible, from the hands of the faithful.
The Vatican later put this book the Index of Prohibited Books.
Mélanie moved to Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
in the south of France, from where she travelled to Chalon-sur-Saône
Chalon-sur-Saône
Chalon-sur-Saône is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; however, the department capital is the smaller city of Mâcon....
, seeking to found a community with the sponsorship of the Canon de Brandt of Amiens. Eventually she entered into litigation with Bishop Perraud, the ordinary of Autun over an inheritance given to support this foundation.
In 1892, Mélanie returned to Lecce
Lecce
Lecce is a historic city of 95,200 inhabitants in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce, the second province in the region by population, as well as one of the most important cities of Puglia...
, Italy, then journeyed to Messina in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
on the invitation of Saint Annibale di Francia.
Following a few months in the Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
region, she was invited by the abbé Gilbert Combe, pastor of Diou
Diou, Allier
Diou is a commune in the Allier department in central France.-Population:...
, a priest much taken up with politico-religious prophecies, to settle in the Allier
Allier
Allier is a department in central France named after the river Allier.- History :Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Auvergne and Bourbonnais.In 1940, the government of Marshal...
region. She there finished a contrived autobiography.
In 1901 Gilbert Combe published his version of Melanie's prohibited secret under the title The Great Coup and Its Probable Dates, which was anti-Bonaparte and pro-Bourbon. It was reprinted ne varietur at Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
in 1904, a few months before Mélanie's death. It too was put on the Index.
She visited the Holy mountain at La Salette a final time on September 18-19, 1902. She then returned to Altamura
Altamura
Altamura is a town and comune of Apulia, southern Italy. It is located on the Murge plateau in the province of Bari, 45 km South-West of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. As of 2011 its population was of 69,728.-Overview:...
, near Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
in southern Italy and died there on December 14, 1904. Her remains are buried under a marble column with a bas-relief depicting the Virgin Mary welcoming the shepherdess of La Salette into heaven.
Throughout a difficult lifetime, Mélanie remained poor and devout, ever faithful to her first testimony.
Legacy
Again in 1906 another of Combe's publications titled The Secret of Melanie and the Actual Crisis was again placed on the Index.These actions of the church caused a great deal of confusion in catholic minds, so that it was compelled to clarify that the original message confided to Maximin and Mélanie in 1846 remained approved, and it was only the latter messages, and particularly the 1872-1873 edition saying Rome will lose the faith, and become the seat of the Antichrist that was banned.
In October 1912, Albert Lepidi O.P.
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
, Master of the Sacred Palace
Master of the Sacred Palace
In the Roman Catholic Church, Theologian of the Pontifical Household is a Roman Curial office which has always been entrusted to a Friar Preacher of the Dominican Order and may be described as the pope's theologian...
, in a public statement in reply to a query by Cardinal Louis Luçon
Louis Luçon
Louis-Henri-Joseph Luçon J.C.D. S.T.D. was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and was former Archbishop of Reims....
affirmed that the original message of 1846 remained approved.
Once again, during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV , born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, reigned as Pope from 3 September 1914 to 22 January 1922...
, the Church was compelled to address the issue. Benedict XV issued an admonitum or formal papal warning recognizing the many different versions of the secret in all its diverse forms and forbidding the faithful or the clergy to investigate or discuss them without permission from their bishops. The admonitum further affirmed that the church's prohibition issued under Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
remained binding.
Since the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
, the rules regarding the discussion of visions have been relaxed and the Index abolished. Her book was republished, and discussion once again took place.
From the beginning, the 1873 message was exploited by French anti-clericals and Freemasons to attack Catholics in the country. The intense confusion deliberately spread by anti-Catholics caused a reaction that caused La Salette to lose its glory and fall back into the slumber of a minor site of Catholic pilgrimage.
The French episcopate in general and Mgr. Jacques Marie Achille Ginoulhiac
Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac
Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac was a French bishop.-Biography:...
, who succeeded as bishop of Grenoble and who left the First Vatican Council
First Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...
early in opposition to the proclamation of the papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
, in particular resisted the secret with, at times, a real fury, because its warnings as to the political ambitions of Napoleon III and the regrettable state of the clergy in general, were not to their liking.
Eventually, after prolonged efforts to establish the religious order of the Mother of God both in Italy and in France, Melanie finally went to Italy, where she died a saintly death in 1904.
After her death, numerous attempts were made to further establish the religious orders.
Text of the secret given to Mélanie Calvat
The secret given to Mélanie has been gradually divulged to the public. Mélanie wrote five editions of her secret. In its totality, it consists of three elements.The first element is the written down account of the private message given to Mélanie. This account was written down in a shortened version in 1851, and was developed further during the years by Mélanie.
The second element is the rule of the religious order, that was dictated by the Virgin Mary to Mélanie. This rule was only mentioned in later editions of the secret.
A third element are the moral confidences related by Mélanie to Gilbert Combe concerning the end of the world, thus further developing and explaining the secret.
First edition - July 3 and 6 1851
What follows is the integral text of the secret given by the Virgin Mary to Mélanie Calvat, a shortened version of the secret written down in a letter to Pope Pius IX in 1851, found in the Vatican Secret Archives in 1999 and published by Michel Corteville and René Laurentin in their 2002 book 'Découverte du secret de la Salette'. This edition of the secret only speaks of the first element:First element
- JMJ
- secret which the Blessed Virgin gave me on the Mountain of La Salette on September 19, 1846.
- Secr[e]t:
- Mélanie, I will say something to you which you will not say to anybody:
- The time of the God's wrath has arrived!
- If, when you say to the people what I have said to you so far, and what I will still ask you to say, if, after that, they do not convert, (if they do not do penance, and they do not cease working on Sunday, and if they continue to blaspheme the Holy Name of God), in a word, if the face of the earth does not change, God will be avenged against ungrateful people and the slaves of the demon.
- My Son will make his power manifest! Paris, a city soiled by all kinds of crimes, will perish forever. Marseilles too will be destroyed in a little time. When these things happen, the disorder will be complete on the earth, the world will be given up to its impious passions.
- The pope will be persecuted from all sides, they will shoot at him, they will want to put him to death, but no one will be able to do it, the Vicar of God will triumph again this time.
- The priests and the Sisters, and the true servants of my Son will be persecuted, and many will die for the faith of Jesus-Christ.
- A famine will reign at the same time.
- After all these calamities have arrived, many will recognize the hand of God on them. They will convert, and do penance for their sins.
- A great king will go up on the throne, and will reign many years. Religion will re-flourish and spread all over the world, and there will be a great abundance. The world, glad to be lacking nothing, will fall again into disorder, will give up God, and will return to its criminal passions.
- [Among] God's ministers, and the Spouses of Jesus-Christ, there will be some who will go astray, and that will be the most terrible.
- Lastly, hell will reign on earth. It will be then that the Antichrist will be born of a Sister, but woe to her! Many will believe in him, because he will claim to have come from heaven, woe to those who will believe in him!
- That time is not far away, twice 50 years will not go by.
- My child, you will not say what I have just said to you. (You will not say it to anybody, you will not say if you must say it one day, you will not say what that it concerns). Finally, you will say nothing more until I tell you to say it!
- I pray to Our Holy Father the Pope to give me his holy blessing.
- Mélanie Mathieu, Shepherdess of La Salette, Grenoble, July 6, 1851.
- J.M.J.+
Second edition - August 5, 6, 12 and 14 1853
A new edition was produced on request of Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac, the new bishop of Grenoble, who was unacquainted with the secret.Third edition – 1858
An extended edition was produced in Darlington, England and made public in 1858 by Mélanie, who insisted this was explicitly requested by the Virgin Mary during the apparition. The text was sent by courier to pope Pius IX.This edition is lost.
Fifth edition - 1879-1904
What follows is the integral text of the secret given by the Virgin Mary to Mélanie Calvat, written down about 1872-1873, as published by her in 1879 with imprimatur from the Bishop of Lecce (in italic), and afterwards being reedited by Mélanie Calvat (normal) and reprinted by Gilbert Combe in 1904 (paragraph numbering added). This edition of the secret only speaks of the first and second element:First element
- 1. Melanie, what I am going to tell you now will not always be secret. You will be allowed to publish it in 1858.
- 2. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their bad life, by their irreverences and their impiety in celebrating the holy mysteries, by love of money, love of honor and of pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is suspended over their heads. Woe to the priests and to persons consecrated to God, who by their infidelities and their bad life are crucifying anew my Son! The sins of persons consecrated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and see how vengeance is at their doors, because there is no longer found anyone to implore mercy and forgiveness for the people; there are no longer generous souls, there is no longer anyone worthy to offer the Victim without blemish to the Eternal on behalf of the world.
- 3. God is going to strike in a manner without example.
- 4. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God is going to exhaust His wrath, and no one will be able to take himself away from so many afflictions combined.
- 5. The leaders, the guides of the people of God have neglected prayer and penance, and the demon has obscured their intelligence; they have become these wandering stars that the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will permit the old serpent to place divisions among rulers, in all societies and in all families; physical and moral pains will be suffered; God will abandon men to themselves, and will send chastisements which will follow one after another for more than thirty-five years.
- 6. Society is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of the greatest events; one must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink the chalice of the wrath of God.
- 7. May the Vicar of my Son, the sovereign Pontiff Pius IX, no longer leave Rome after the year 1859; but may he be firm and generous, may he fight with the weapons of faith and love; I will be with him.
- 8. May he be wary of Napoleon; his heart is double, and when he will want to be at the same time Pope and emperor, soon God will withdraw from him: he is this eagle who, wanting always to raise himself up, will fall on the sword which he wanted to use in order to force the peoples to raise him up.
- 9. Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords; also she will be delivered over to war; blood will flow on all sides; the Churches will be closed or desecrated; the priests, the religious will be hunted; they will be made to die, and to die a cruel death. Many will abandon the faith, and the number of priests and religious who will separate themselves from the true religion will be great; Among these persons there will be found even some Bishops.
- 10. May the Pope keep himself on guard against the performers of miracles, because the time has come when the most astonishing wonders will take place on the earth and in the air.
- 11. In the year 1864, Lucifer with a great number of demons will be unleashed from hell; they will abolish the faith little by little and even in persons consecrated to God; they will blind them in such a way that barring a particular grace these persons will take on the spirit of these bad angels: several religious houses will lose the faith entirely and will lose many souls.
- 12. Bad books will abound on earth, and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening in all that concerns the service of God; they will have a very great power over nature: there will be churches to serve these spirits. Some persons will be transported from one place to another by these bad spirits and even some priests, because they will not be guiding themselves by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God. The dead and the just will be made to revive. [That is to say that these dead will take the appearance of just souls who had lived on earth, so as to better mislead men: these so-called resurrected dead, who will be nothing other than the demon under these appearances, will preach another Gospel contrary to the one of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of heaven, or they may also be the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if united to their bodies.] There will be in all places extraordinary wonders, because the true faith is dying out and because false light enlightens the world. Woe to the Princes of the Church who will not be occupied except to pile riches upon riches, to safeguard their authority and to dominate with pride.
- 13. The Vicar of my Son will have much to suffer, because for a time the Church will be delivered over to great persecutions: this will be the time of darkness; the Church will have a frightful crisis.
- 14. The holy faith of God being forgotten, each individual will want to be guided by himself and to be superior to his peers. Civil and ecclesiastical powers will be abolished, all order and all justice will be trampled underfoot; one will see only homicides, hatred, jealousy, lying and discord, without love for country, or for family.
- 15. The holy Father will suffer much. I will be with him until the end to receive his sacrifice.
- 16. The wicked will make an attempt several times on his life without power to do harm to his days; but neither he, nor his successor [who will not reign long,] will see the triumph of the Church of God.
- 17. Civil rulers will have all one same design which will be to abolish, and to make disappear all religious principle, in order to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and all kinds of vices.
- 18. In the year 1865, the abomination will be seen in holy places; in convents, the flowers of the Church will be decayed and the demon will make himself as the king of hearts. May those who are at the head of religious communities keep themselves on guard for persons whom they must receive, because the demon will use of all his malice in order to introduce into religious orders persons devoted to sin, for disorders and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread by all the earth.
- 19. France, Italy, Spain and England will be in war; blood will flow in the streets; Frenchman will fight with Frenchman, Italian with Italian; subsequently there will be a general war which will be appalling. For a time, God will no longer be mindful of France or Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer known. The wicked will deploy all their malice; they will kill themselves, they will massacre themselves mutually even in the houses.
- 20. At the first stroke of His lightning sword, the mountains and the whole of nature will tremble with terror, because the disorders and the crimes of men pierce the vault of the heavens. Paris will be burned and Marseilles engulfed; several great cities will be shaken and engulfed by earthquakes: it will be believed that all is lost: only homicides will be seen, only the noise of weapons and blasphemies will be heard. The just will suffer much; their prayers, their penances and their tears will climb even up to heaven and all the people of God will ask for forgiveness and mercy, and will ask for my help and my intercession. Then Jesus Christ by an act of His justice and of His great mercy for the just, will command to His angels that all His enemies be put to death. All at once the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all men devoted to sin will perish, and the earth will become like a desert. Then peace, the reconciliation of God with men will be made; Jesus Christ will be served, adored and glorified; charity will flower everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious, poor, zealous and imitator of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and men will make great progress in the faith, because there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and because men will live in the fear of God.
- 21. This peace among men will not be long; 25 years of abundant harvests will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of all the pains which come upon the earth.
- 22. A forerunner of the antichrist with his troops from several nations will fight against the true Christ, the only Savior of the world; he will spill much blood, and will want to annihilate the worship of God in order to make himself be looked upon as a God.
- 23. The earth will be struck all kinds of plagues [in addition to pestilence and famine which will be general;] there will be wars until the last war, which will then be made by the ten kings of the antichrist, which kings will have all one same design and will be the only ones who will rule the world. Before these arrive, there will be a type of false peace in the world; one will think only about amusing oneself; the wicked will deliver themselves over to all kinds of sin, but the children of the holy Church, the children of the faith, my true imitators, will grow in the love of God and in the virtues which are dear to me. Happy the humble souls guided by the Holy Spirit! I will fight with them until they arrive at the fullness of the age.
- 24. Nature is asking for vengeance for men, and she shudders with terror in waiting for that which must come upon the earth soiled with crimes.
- 25. Tremble, earth and you who make profession of serving Jesus Christ and who on the inside you adore yourselves, tremble; for God is going to deliver you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in corruption; many convents are no longer houses of God, but the pastures of Asmodeas and his sort.
- 26. It will be during this time that the antichrist will be born of a Hebrew religious, of a false Virgin who will have communication with the old serpent, the master of impurity; his father will be Bishop; at birth, he will vomit blasphemies, he will have teeth; in a word, this will be the devil incarnate; he will let out frightening cries, he will perform wonders, he will nourish himself only on impurities. He will have brothers who, although they will not be like him demons incarnate, will be children of evil; at 12 years, they will make themselves noticed by their brilliant victories which they will win; soon, they will each be at the head of armies, assisted by the legions of hell. [It is said that the antichrist will be the devil incarnate, that is to say that he will be entirely possessed. I have seen that the good God does not permit the demon to personally incarnate himself in a human soul and body, but that the demon under a visible form will have familiar relations with the parents of the antichrist, and that they will consecrate him to his service from the first moment of his existence.]
- 27. The seasons will be changed, the earth will produce only bad fruits, the stars will lose their regular movements, the moon will reflect only a feeble reddish light; water and fire will give to the globe of the earth convulsive movements and horrible earthquakes which will cause to be engulfed mountains, cities [etc.].
- 28. Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the antichrist.
- 29. The demons of the air with the antichrist will perform great wonders on the earth and in the air, and men will corrupt themselves more and more. God will have care of His faithful servants and men of good will; the Gospel will be preached everywhere, all peoples and all nations will have knowledge of the truth!
- 30. I address a pressing appeal to the earth: I call upon the true disciples of God living and reigning in the heavens; I call upon the true imitators of Christ made man, the only and true savior of men; I call upon my children, my true devotees, those who have given themselves to me so that I may guide them to my divine Son, those whom I carry so to speak in my arms, those who have lived by my spirit; finally I call upon the Apostles of the last times, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in a contempt for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in contempt 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 that they go out and come to enlighten the earth. Go, and show yourselves as my dear children; I am with you and in you, provided that your faith be the light which enlightens you in these days of woe. May your zeal render you like the starving for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you the small number who can see; for behold the time of times, the end of ends.
- 31. 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.
- 32. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! there will be bloody wars and famines; pestilences and contagious diseases; there will be rains of a dreadful hail of animals, thunders which will shake cities, earthquakes which will engulf countries; voices will be heard in the air, men will beat their head against the walls, they will call upon death, and on another side death will be their torture; blood will flow on all sides. Who will be able to overcome, if God does not shorten the time of the ordeal? By the blood, the tears and the prayers of the just, God will let Himself be swayed, Enoch and Elie will be put to death; pagan Rome will disappear; fire from Heaven will fall and will consume three cities; all the universe will be struck with terror, and many will let themselves be misled because they have not adored the true Christ living among them. It is time; the sun darkens; faith alone will live.
- 33. Behold the time; the abyss opens. Behold the king of kings of darkness. Behold the beast with his subjects, calling himself the savior of the world. He will raise himself up with pride into the air in order to go even up to heaven; he will be smothered by the breath of the holy Archangel Michael. He will fall, and the earth which for three days will be in continual evolutions, will open its bosom full of fire; he will be plunged for ever with all his own into the eternal chasms of hell. Then water and fire will purify the earth and will consume all the works of the pride of men, and all will be renewed: God will be served and glorified.
Second element
- [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.]
- [No further information was included in this version.]
Third element
- [Information given by Mélanie to Gilbert Combe after 1879 and published 1904.]
- 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 castigations, 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.
External links
- La Salette at the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1911.
- Text of secret in English and original French with photos.
- La Salette at www.christ-roi.net (French).
- The story of Our Lady of La Salette as a comic strip.
See also
- Our Lady of La SaletteOur Lady of La SaletteLa Salette is a small mountaintop village near Grenoble, France. It is most noted for an apparition of the Virgin Mary that was reported in 1846 by two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous healings....
- Order of the Mother of God
- Order of the Apostles of the Last DaysOrder of the Apostles of the Last DaysThe Order of the Apostles of the Last Days is a Roman Catholic religious order proposed by the visionary Mélanie Calvat claiming guidance from Our Lady of La Salette at a private apparition on 19 September 1846 on the mountain of La Salette in France....
- Missionaries of La SaletteMissionaries of La SaletteThe Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette are a religious congregation of priests and brothers in the Latin Church one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church which is led by the Bishop of Rome. They are named after the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette in France La...
- Maximin GiraudMaximin GiraudPierre Maximin Giraud was a French member of the Corps of Papal Zouaves and Marian visionary.-Biography:...
- Gilbert Combe
- Paul Guion
- Armand Thiéry