The Virgin of La Salette appeared to two children in 1846 near the town of La Salette-Fallavaux, in Isère, France. Two young shepherds, namely Saint Mary Melanie of the Cross and of La Salette (born Melanie Calvat), aged 15, and Saint Maximin Giraud, aged 11, described how on Saturday the 19th of September 1846, towards three in the afternoon, while keeping watch on their employers’ cows on a mountain near the alpine town of La Salette, within a resplendent light brighter than the sun, they saw a ‘Beautiful Lady’ appear, weeping, who addressed them.
First seated and weeping with head in hands, the ‘Beautiful Lady’ rose up and spoke at length. She explained to them that She was weeping at the impiety reigning in society, and urged them to renounce two grave sins become very common: blasphemy, and not observing Sunday as the day of rest and for attending Mass. She predicts dreadful chastisements to come if the people do not change, and promises divine mercy to those who do change. Finally She asked the children to pray, do penance and spread Her message.
Among other things, the Virgin told the shepherd children that the hand of Her Son was so strong and heavy that She could no longer hold it back, unless the people did penance and obeyed God’s Laws. If not, they would have much to suffer. The people did not observe the Lord’s Day, but went on working without stop on Sundays. Only a few elderly women went to Mass in summer. And in winter, when they had nothing to do, they went to Church to make fun of religion. The Lenten season was ignored. Men could not swear without taking God’ Name in vain. Disobedience and ignoring God’s Commandments were the things that made Her Son’s hand heavier.
She continued conversing, and foretold a dreadful famine and shortages. She said that the potato harvest the year before had been lost for those very reasons. When men found the potatoes rotten, they swore and blasphemed all the more against God. She told them that the harvest would again be lost this year and that the maize and wheat would turn into dust on touching them, the nuts would go bad, and the grapes would rot.
All the light within which She appeared and which completely enveloped the three, came from a great Crucifix She wore on the breast, beside it a hammer and some pincers. On Her shoulders She wore a chain and, to the side, some roses. Her head, waist and feet were also encircled by roses; white dress, with a shawl or pañoleta and golden apron. At the end, the “Beautiful Lady” went up by a slope and disappeared into the light.
Saint Mary Melanie gave us her account of how the Apparition occurred: “Maximin told me to teach him a game. The morning was far gone; I told him that we should gather flowers to make a ‘Paradise’. We both set to work. We soon had a good number of flowers of different colours. The villa Angelus sounded, for the sky was serene and cloudless. After having said to God what we knew, I told Maximin that we should take our cows to a small terrain close to a little gully where there were stones for building the ‘Paradise’. We took our cows to the place and at once made our little supper. Then we set to taking the stones and constructing our cottage which consisted of a ground floor, supposed to be our room and then one floor above which was, for us, the ‘Paradise’. This floor was all adorned with different coloured flowers with garlands hanging from flower stems. The ‘Paradise’ was covered over by a single broad stone we had strewn with flowers, and garlands also hung up all around. The ‘Paradise’ finished, we contemplated it. We felt drowsy, took a few steps away and slept on the grass. The Beautiful Lady sat on our ‘Paradise’ without it collapsing.
On waking up and not seeing our cows, I called Maximin and climbed up the mount. Having seen that our cows were peacefully lying down, I went down from there and Maximin went up, when, of a sudden I saw a beautiful light brighter than the sun, and could scarcely say these words: — “¿Maximin, over there, you see? Ah! My God!” At the same time I dropped the staff I held in my hand. I don’t know what delight I felt at that moment, but I felt drawn, I felt a great respect full of love, and my heart would have wanted to run faster than I. I looked fixedly at this motionless Light and, as if it had opened, I perceived another Light far more brilliant, in movement and, in this Light, a Beautiful Lady seated upon our ‘Paradise’ with head in hands. This Beautiful Lady arose, lightly crossed Her arms and, gazing at us, told us:
“Come close, my children, fear not, I am here to announce great news to you.”
These sweet and gentle words made me fly to Her, and my heart would have wanted to embrace Her forever. Having gone up very close to the Beautiful Lady, facing Her, to the right, She began Her discourse, and tears also began to course down from Her lovely eyes.
“If My people do not want to submit I am forced to let My Son’s Hand go free. It is so weighty, so heavy, that I can no longer hold it back. How long have I suffered for you! If I want My Son not to abandon you, I must pray to Him unceasingly. And as for you, you take no notice. However much you pray, or do, you can never repay Me for the pains I have taken for you.
I have given you six days to work, I have reserved the seventh for Myself, and they do not grant it to Me. That is what makes My Son’s arm so heavy. Those who drive carts can’t speak without pronouncing My Son’s Name in their oaths. Those are two things which make My Son’s arm so heavy.
If the harvest is lost, the fault is only yours. I made you see that last year with the potatoes, and you took no notice; on the contrary, when you found them rotten, you swore and used My Son’s Name. They will go on rotting, and at Christmas there will be none left.
If you have wheat, do not sow it. All that you sow the beasts will eat, and what grows will turn to dust on sifting. A great famine is coming. Before the famine comes, little children under seven years will have a tremor, and will die in the arms of those holding them; the rest will do penance with the famine. The nuts will be spoiled, the grape bunches will rot.”
Here the Beautiful Lady, who kept me enchanted, stayed for a moment as though silent; yet I saw Her graciously moving Her kindly lips as though speaking. Maximin received his secret at that moment. Addressing me, the Most Holy Virgin then spoke to me, and gave me a secret in French. Here is the secret, just as She gave it to me:
“Melanie, what I shall now tell you will not always be a secret. You can publish it in 1858. Priests, Ministers of My Son, Priests, by their bad lives, by their irreverence and impiety on celebrating the Sacred Mysteries, for love of money, for love of honour and pleasure, those Priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, Priests are calling out for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Unhappy Priests and those consecrated to God, who by their infidelities and bad lives crucify My Son anew! The sins of persons consecrated to God cry out to Heaven and call for vengeance, and see! vengeance is at their doors, for there is no one else to implore mercy and forgiveness for the people; no more generous souls, no longer anyone else worthy to offer the spotless Victim to the Eternal on behalf of the world.
God shall chastise in an unprecedented way. Unhappy inhabitants of the earth! God will vent His Wrath, and no one will be able to evade so many evils at once. The leaders and guides of God’s People, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has darkened their minds; they have become wandering stars which the old devil will draw down with his tail and cause to perish. God will allow the ancient serpent to sow divisions among those reigning in every society and in every family; there will be physical and moral pains; God will abandon men to themselves and send chastisements which will last longer than thirty-five years.
Society is on the eve of the most terrible plagues and of the greatest events; you can expect to be ruled by a rod of iron and drink the chalice of God’s Wrath…
Italy will be chastised for her ambition to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords; and she too will be delivered up to war, blood will flow everywhere; churches will be closed or profaned; Priests and religious will be expelled; they will be done to death, a cruel death. Many will abandon the Faith and great will be the number of Priests and religious who abandon the true religion; among them even bishops. Let the Pope beware of miracle workers, for the time has come in which the most amazing prodigies will take place on the earth and in the sky…
Lucifer with a great number of devils will be freed from Hell; they will abolish the Faith little by little, including among persons consecrated to God; they will blind them in such a way that, unless by a special grace, those persons will take on the spirit of those bad angels; many monasteries and convents will lose the Faith entirely and ruin many souls.
Bad books will abound on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread universal laxity in everything to do with God’s service; they will have great power over nature; there will be churches to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one part to another by these evil spirits, and even priests, for not having behaved according to the good spirit of the Gospel, which is the spirit of humility, of charity and of zeal for God’s Glory… In all parts there will be extraordinary prodigies, given that the true Faith has been smothered and a false light illumines the world. Wretched are those Princes of the Church only concerned with amassing riches upon riches, in safeguarding their authority and in dominating with pride!
The Vicar of My Son will have much to suffer, as for a time the Church will be abandoned to great persecutions; it will be a time of darkness; the Church will go through a dreadful crisis.
God’s Holy Faith forgotten, each individual will want to guide himself and be superior to his fellows. Civil and ecclesiastical power will be abolished, all order and justice will be trampled on; only murders, hatred, jealousy, lies and discord will be seen, without love for country or for family.
The Holy Father will suffer greatly. I will be with him to the end to receive his sacrifice.
The wicked will make many attempts on his life without being able to harm him, but neither he nor his successor… will see the triumph of God’s Church.
Civil governments will have one sole aim, namely to abolish every religious principal and make all notion of religion disappear, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritism and every kind of vice…
Abominations shall be seen in the holy places; in convents, the flowers of the Church will rot and the devil will act as king of hearts. Let those at the head of religious communities take care with the persons they are to receive, for the devil will make use of all his malice to introduce people given up to sin into the religious orders, since disorder and love for carnal pleasure will spread throughout the Earth.
France, Italy, Spain and England will be at war; blood will run through the streets, Frenchman against Frenchman, Italian against Italian; afterwards there will be general war, which will be terrible. For a time God will not remember France or Italy, given that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer known. The wicked will deploy all their malice; they will kill and massacre each other even in homes.
At the first flash of His sword stroke, the mountains and the entire earth shall tremble with fear, given that man’s disorders and crimes penetrate the vault of Heaven. Paris will be burnt and Marseilles swallowed up by the sea; many great cities will be shaken and swallowed up by earthquakes. They will believe that all is lost; only murders will be seen, only the clash of arms and blasphemies will be heard. The just will suffer greatly; their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven, and the whole People of God will beg forgiveness and mercy, and will pray for My help and intercession. Jesus Christ, in an act of His Justice and Mercy, will then order His Angels to execute all His enemies. The persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all men given up to sin will perish, and the Earth will become like a desert. Peace will then be made, and God and man reconciled. Jesus Christ will be served, adored and glorified; charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of 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 labourers of Jesus Christ, and men will live in the fear of God.
This peace among men will not be long; twenty-five years of abundant harvests will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of every affliction to occur on Earth.
A precursor of antichrist with his armies from several nations will combat against the true Christ, sole Saviour of the world; he will shed much blood and try to wipe out God’s worship and be held as a god himself.
The Earth will be struck by every kind of pestilence (besides plague and famine, which will be generalized); there will be wars up till the last war, which will be waged by antichrist’s ten kings, who will all have the same design, and will be the sole rulers of the world. Before this happens there will be a kind of false peace in the world; they will think only of enjoyment; the wicked will give themselves up to all kinds of sin, but the children of Holy Church, the children of the Faith, My true imitators, will grow in God’s love and in the virtues dearest to Me. Happy those humble souls led by the Holy Ghost. I will combat with them until the fullness of time arrives.
Nature claims vengeance against men and shudders with terror, awaiting what is to happen to the earth stained with crimes.
Tremble, earth, and tremble all you who profess to serve Jesus Christ yet within adore your own selves; for God will deliver you up to His enemy, given that sanctuaries are sunk in corruption; many convents are no longer houses of God but pastures for Asmodeus and his breed.
It will be at this time that Antichrist will be born to a Hebrew nun, a false virgin who will have communication with the ancient serpent, the lord of impurity; his father will be a bishop; at birth he will vomit blasphemies, will have teeth; in a word he will be the devil incarnate; he will cry out horribly, perform prodigies, will feed only on impurity. He will have brothers who, though not incarnate devils like himself, will be sons of evil; at twelve years of age they will be known for their valiant victories; soon they will each be at the head of armies assisted by legions from Hell.
The seasons will be altered, the soil will only produce bad fruits, the heavenly bodies will lose their regular movements, the moon will reflect just a weak reddish light; water and fire will give the orb of the earth convulsive movements and dreadful earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc.
Rome will lose the Faith and become the see of antichrist.
The demons with the antichrist will perform great prodigies on earth and in the air, and men will become ever more perverse. God will care for His faithful servants and for men of goodwill; the Gospel will be preached everywhere. All peoples and all nations will come to know the Truth!
I address an urgent calling to the Earth; I call the true disciples of the Living God reigning in Heaven; I call the true imitators of Christ made Man, the one and true Saviour of men; I call My children, My true devotees, those who have given themselves up to Me so that I may lead them to My Divine Son, those who, so to say, I bear in my arms; those who have lived by My spirit. In brief, I call the Apostles of the Last times, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in contempt for the world and themselves, in poverty and 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 for them to go forth and illuminate the earth. Go forth and show yourselves as My dear children. I am with you and in you, as long as your Faith is the light to enlighten you in these days of disaster. Let your zeal make you hunger for the glory and honour of Jesus Christ. Battle on, children of Light, you few who see, for behold here the Time of Times, the end of ends.
The Church will be eclipsed; the world will be in consternation. But see here Henoch and Elias full of the spirit of God, preaching with God’s might, and men of goodwill will believe in God and many souls will be consoled. They will make great progress by virtue of the Holy Ghost and condemn the diabolic errors of Antichrist.
Wretched dwellers of the earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and contagious diseases; a frightful hail of animals will cascade down, thunder shall shake cities, earthquakes will swallow up countries; voices will be heard in the air, men will strike their heads up against the walls. Who will overcome if God does not shorten the time of trial? At the blood, tears and prayers of the just, God will let Himself be overcome; Henoch and Elias will be slain; pagan Rome will disappear; fire from Heaven will fall and consume three cities; the whole universe will shake with terror, and many will allow themselves to be seduced for not having adored the true Living Christ among them. This is the moment; the sun darkens; only the Faith will live.
The time has come; the abyss opens. See the king of the kings of darkness. Behold the beast with his subjects, saying he is saviour of the world. He will rise up proudly into the air to go up to Heaven; he will be choked by the breath of Saint Michael Archangel. He will fall, and the earth, which for three days will have been in continuous upheaval, will open its all-fiery bosom, and he will be immersed forever with all his brood in the eternal abyss of Hell. Then water and fire will purify the Earth and consume all man’s works of pride, and everything will be renewed: God will be served and glorified.”
After five years of investigation, the Bishop of Grenoble, Philibert de Bruillard, recognized the authenticity of the Apparition. Pope Saint Pius IX approved devotion to Our Lady of La Salette.
Secrets of the Virgin: the young shepherds affirmed that their two individual secrets were revealed to them some days later, on the 25th of September 1846, at the place of Apparitions, though the Virgin told them not to comment on it nor tell each other until the year 1858, day when they would be revealed. These two secrets were sent to Pope Saint Pius IX in 1851.
There are two versions of Melanie’s secret, one written by herself in the year 1851, and the other published in 1879 by the same author in Lecce, Italy, with the approval of the city’s Bishop.
The Most Holy Virgin Mary’s secret given to Maximin says: “If My people continue, what I say will happen sooner; if they change a little, it will come somewhat later. France has corrupted the Universe; one day she will be chastised. The Faith will be blotted out in France: three quarters of France no longer practise their religion, and the other quarter practise it without practising it. Later on the nations will be converted and the Faith will blaze up again everywhere. A great country in Northern Europe, now protestant, will be converted and with its help the other nations of the world will be converted. Before this happens, there will be great disorders in the Church and everywhere. Then our Holy Father the Pope will be persecuted. His successor will be a Pontiff whom no one expected. Then a great peace will come, but not last long. A monster will come to unsettle it. All that I am saying will come about in another century.”
The impression caused on the Pope by these mysterious revelations is not known. A lively controversy arose on whether the secret published in 1879 was identical to that communicated to Pius IX in 1851. The Holy Curé of Ars appeared undecided regarding the Apparitions for some time, but later admitted their supernatural origin. Saint Maximin visited him several times. Pope Saint Leo XIII received the seer Melanie with a show of special predilection, and knew the whole content of the secret. On reading an account of Saint Melanie’s life in 1910, Pope Saint Pius X exclaimed: “La nostra Santa!”, and recommended the cause for her beatification to be introduced at once.
The Lord, on the 125th anniversary, 19th of September 1971, told the then seer Clemente Domínguez: “Oh, if only they had listened to the Messages of La Salette, how many things would have been avoided! Poor humanity, on its way to the abyss! And to think that solely by begging forgiveness, I am generous and forgive at once! But your humiliation is necessary for Me to forgive you. My Heart is swift to forgive. But I also wreak Justice on the proud and undo them.”
On the 25th of September 1971, in La Salette, the Most Holy Virgin Mary told him: “My dear children: thank you for your pilgrimage to this Sacred Place of La Salette… Mankind is lost! She has fallen into pride, casting aside sound traditions. She is turning her back on her Heavenly Mother: I, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of men by the Most Precious Blood shed by Jesus on the Cross. Mankind stumbles on blindly, ruled by wicked shepherds, shepherds who do not care for the sheep, shepherds who live amid worldly pleasures, wayward shepherds: Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Friars, Nuns, taking no responsibility for the flock. The fate of the world would be different if the Messages I gave in this Sacred Place had been listened to, spread and fulfilled. But the majority did not believe them; others attacked them; and others 
judged them against their interests. Here, in La Salette, I announced many of the evils that were to come upon the Church and the world. And they are being fulfilled to the letter; others are to happen at the end. They will be fulfilled down to the last letter of all that I spoke in this Sacred Place. The sewers I announced in the last century here in La Salette are now to be seen. The Ministers of the Lord, many of them, abandon the Altar to marry and lead a life of pleasure with a woman. Do you perchance believe that this is anything but apostasy? Woe to the man who puts his hand to the plough and turns back! Whoever is consecrated a Priest, is consecrated according to the Order of Melchisedech, and will always be a Priest. And after death, he will still be a Priest in the place to which he has been destined. I already wept in this Place at the evils that were to come. I saw that they were going to trample the Sacred Eucharist underfoot; that the Blood of the Divine Lamb would be vilely trodden upon by His own ministers; that times were to come when Communion would not be given due respect. The time has now come when the Eucharist is being despised, trampled upon. The Ministers of the Lord now administer It in an offhand manner, without respect or veneration. You should know, My children, that the Eucharist must be received worthily, with respect, recollection, oblation and consecration to God. And the fitting posture is kneeling, bending your knees before the majesty of Jesus Christ, who gave His life for the salvation of men, who gives His Flesh to eat and His Blood to drink in order to communicate His graces and His mercy… Mankind! Jesus is now beginning to withdraw from the Tabernacles! There will be cities where very few churches will have the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament, since many of those called Ministers of the Lord belong to freemasonry and interiorly do not consecrate. Mankind will always remember the words I spoke here in La Salette to My seers in the past century, since they must all be fulfilled. But as I am your Mother, I will protect all who turn to Me. I am always repeating: I will protect you, I will embrace you, I will cover you with My Holy Mantle. I will free you from the Enemy. Do not worry about coming events, because I shall be with you when things are at their worst. Your Heavenly Mother will not fail you, just as She did not fail Jesus on the Cross. He was abandoned by all, but had His Mother there, just as you will have Me… Come en masse to the Sacred Place of El Palmar de Troya in Spain, where at present I appear to certain poor sinners, humble and simple. In a Place where intense prayer is made for all mankind, and from where plentiful graces will emanate for the Church and for the world… My present-day Apparitions in El Palmar de Troya in Spain will save the Church and the world. It is the supreme hour of the Wrath of the Father; and this place of El Palmar will be the lightning-rod for Divine Wrath, by its prodigal and devout prayers, its sacrifices and penance. All who have frequent recourse to El Palmar will be enlightened in the Last Times; will live uprightly; but will have to pray with great humility, since they will be attacked more by the Enemy as well.”
In La Salette, the Most Holy Virgin Mary warned of the approaching dangers and showed the Christian people how to avoid them. When the predictions were fulfilled and Rome’s apostasy arrived, Mary Most Holy appeared in Palmar to give the last saving opportunity to the Church and prepare a refuge for the faithful followers of Her Divine Son.
The Most Holy Virgin Mary under the title of Lourdes, on the 28th of January 1971, said: “See the routes I give this seer, My son (Clemente Domínguez), to follow: I send him to Marian Sanctuaries and pilgrimage places and Holy Places of Heavenly Apparitions. In this way I teach you the unity that should reign among devotees of the Apparitions. No one on earth has the power to prevent God from manifesting His Omnipotence in a determined place. By this I mean that just as I appeared in Lourdes, likewise I did in Fatima, La Salette, Pontmain, Brittany, Guadalupe, Zaragoza, Garabandal, Palmar de Troya, and many other places as well.”
The Virgin of La Salette appeared to two children in 1846 near the town of La Salette-Fallavaux, in Isère, France. Two young shepherds, namely Saint Mary Melanie of the Cross and of La Salette (born Melanie Calvat), aged 15, and Saint Maximin Giraud, aged 11, described how on Saturday the 19th of September 1846, towards three in the afternoon, while keeping watch on their employers’ cows on a mountain near the alpine town of La Salette, within a resplendent light brighter than the sun, they saw a ‘Beautiful Lady’ appear, weeping, who addressed them.
First seated and weeping with head in hands, the ‘Beautiful Lady’ rose up and spoke at length. She explained to them that She was weeping at the impiety reigning in society, and urged them to renounce two grave sins become very common: blasphemy, and not observing Sunday as the day of rest and for attending Mass. She predicts dreadful chastisements to come if the people do not change, and promises divine mercy to those who do change. Finally She asked the children to pray, do penance and spread Her message.
Among other things, the Virgin told the shepherd children that the hand of Her Son was so strong and heavy that She could no longer hold it back, unless the people did penance and obeyed God’s Laws. If not, they would have much to suffer. The people did not observe the Lord’s Day, but went on working without stop on Sundays. Only a few elderly women went to Mass in summer. And in winter, when they had nothing to do, they went to Church to make fun of religion. The Lenten season was ignored. Men could not swear without taking God’ Name in vain. Disobedience and ignoring God’s Commandments were the things that made Her Son’s hand heavier.
She continued conversing, and foretold a dreadful famine and shortages. She said that the potato harvest the year before had been lost for those very reasons. When men found the potatoes rotten, they swore and blasphemed all the more against God. She told them that the harvest would again be lost this year and that the maize and wheat would turn into dust on touching them, the nuts would go bad, and the grapes would rot.
All the light within which She appeared and which completely enveloped the three, came from a great Crucifix She wore on the breast, beside it a hammer and some pincers. On Her shoulders She wore a chain and, to the side, some roses. Her head, waist and feet were also encircled by roses; white dress, with a shawl or pañoleta and golden apron. At the end, the “Beautiful Lady” went up by a slope and disappeared into the light.
Saint Mary Melanie gave us her account of how the Apparition occurred: “Maximin told me to teach him a game. The morning was far gone; I told him that we should gather flowers to make a ‘Paradise’. We both set to work. We soon had a good number of flowers of different colours. The villa Angelus sounded, for the sky was serene and cloudless. After having said to God what we knew, I told Maximin that we should take our cows to a small terrain close to a little gully where there were stones for building the ‘Paradise’. We took our cows to the place and at once made our little supper. Then we set to taking the stones and constructing our cottage which consisted of a ground floor, supposed to be our room and then one floor above which was, for us, the ‘Paradise’. This floor was all adorned with different coloured flowers with garlands hanging from flower stems. The ‘Paradise’ was covered over by a single broad stone we had strewn with flowers, and garlands also hung up all around. The ‘Paradise’ finished, we contemplated it. We felt drowsy, took a few steps away and slept on the grass. The Beautiful Lady sat on our ‘Paradise’ without it collapsing.
On waking up and not seeing our cows, I called Maximin and climbed up the mount. Having seen that our cows were peacefully lying down, I went down from there and Maximin went up, when, of a sudden I saw a beautiful light brighter than the sun, and could scarcely say these words: — “¿Maximin, over there, you see? Ah! My God!” At the same time I dropped the staff I held in my hand. I don’t know what delight I felt at that moment, but I felt drawn, I felt a great respect full of love, and my heart would have wanted to run faster than I. I looked fixedly at this motionless Light and, as if it had opened, I perceived another Light far more brilliant, in movement and, in this Light, a Beautiful Lady seated upon our ‘Paradise’ with head in hands. This Beautiful Lady arose, lightly crossed Her arms and, gazing at us, told us:
“Come close, my children, fear not, I am here to announce great news to you.”
These sweet and gentle words made me fly to Her, and my heart would have wanted to embrace Her forever. Having gone up very close to the Beautiful Lady, facing Her, to the right, She began Her discourse, and tears also began to course down from Her lovely eyes.
“If My people do not want to submit I am forced to let My Son’s Hand go free. It is so weighty, so heavy, that I can no longer hold it back. How long have I suffered for you! If I want My Son not to abandon you, I must pray to Him unceasingly. And as for you, you take no notice. However much you pray, or do, you can never repay Me for the pains I have taken for you.
I have given you six days to work, I have reserved the seventh for Myself, and they do not grant it to Me. That is what makes My Son’s arm so heavy. Those who drive carts can’t speak without pronouncing My Son’s Name in their oaths. Those are two things which make My Son’s arm so heavy.
If the harvest is lost, the fault is only yours. I made you see that last year with the potatoes, and you took no notice; on the contrary, when you found them rotten, you swore and used My Son’s Name. They will go on rotting, and at Christmas there will be none left.
If you have wheat, do not sow it. All that you sow the beasts will eat, and what grows will turn to dust on sifting. A great famine is coming. Before the famine comes, little children under seven years will have a tremor, and will die in the arms of those holding them; the rest will do penance with the famine. The nuts will be spoiled, the grape bunches will rot.”
Here the Beautiful Lady, who kept me enchanted, stayed for a moment as though silent; yet I saw Her graciously moving Her kindly lips as though speaking. Maximin received his secret at that moment. Addressing me, the Most Holy Virgin then spoke to me, and gave me a secret in French. Here is the secret, just as She gave it to me:
“Melanie, what I shall now tell you will not always be a secret. You can publish it in 1858. Priests, Ministers of My Son, Priests, by their bad lives, by their irreverence and impiety on celebrating the Sacred Mysteries, for love of money, for love of honour and pleasure, those Priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, Priests are calling out for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Unhappy Priests and those consecrated to God, who by their infidelities and bad lives crucify My Son anew! The sins of persons consecrated to God cry out to Heaven and call for vengeance, and see! vengeance is at their doors, for there is no one else to implore mercy and forgiveness for the people; no more generous souls, no longer anyone else worthy to offer the spotless Victim to the Eternal on behalf of the world.
God shall chastise in an unprecedented way. Unhappy inhabitants of the earth! God will vent His Wrath, and no one will be able to evade so many evils at once. The leaders and guides of God’s People, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has darkened their minds; they have become wandering stars which the old devil will draw down with his tail and cause to perish. God will allow the ancient serpent to sow divisions among those reigning in every society and in every family; there will be physical and moral pains; God will abandon men to themselves and send chastisements which will last longer than thirty-five years.
Society is on the eve of the most terrible plagues and of the greatest events; you can expect to be ruled by a rod of iron and drink the chalice of God’s Wrath…
Italy will be chastised for her ambition to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords; and she too will be delivered up to war, blood will flow everywhere; churches will be closed or profaned; Priests and religious will be expelled; they will be done to death, a cruel death. Many will abandon the Faith and great will be the number of Priests and religious who abandon the true religion; among them even bishops. Let the Pope beware of miracle workers, for the time has come in which the most amazing prodigies will take place on the earth and in the sky…
Lucifer with a great number of devils will be freed from Hell; they will abolish the Faith little by little, including among persons consecrated to God; they will blind them in such a way that, unless by a special grace, those persons will take on the spirit of those bad angels; many monasteries and convents will lose the Faith entirely and ruin many souls.
Bad books will abound on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread universal laxity in everything to do with God’s service; they will have great power over nature; there will be churches to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one part to another by these evil spirits, and even priests, for not having behaved according to the good spirit of the Gospel, which is the spirit of humility, of charity and of zeal for God’s Glory… In all parts there will be extraordinary prodigies, given that the true Faith has been smothered and a false light illumines the world. Wretched are those Princes of the Church only concerned with amassing riches upon riches, in safeguarding their authority and in dominating with pride!
The Vicar of My Son will have much to suffer, as for a time the Church will be abandoned to great persecutions; it will be a time of darkness; the Church will go through a dreadful crisis.
God’s Holy Faith forgotten, each individual will want to guide himself and be superior to his fellows. Civil and ecclesiastical power will be abolished, all order and justice will be trampled on; only murders, hatred, jealousy, lies and discord will be seen, without love for country or for family.
The Holy Father will suffer greatly. I will be with him to the end to receive his sacrifice.
The wicked will make many attempts on his life without being able to harm him, but neither he nor his successor… will see the triumph of God’s Church.
Civil governments will have one sole aim, namely to abolish every religious principal and make all notion of religion disappear, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritism and every kind of vice…
Abominations shall be seen in the holy places; in convents, the flowers of the Church will rot and the devil will act as king of hearts. Let those at the head of religious communities take care with the persons they are to receive, for the devil will make use of all his malice to introduce people given up to sin into the religious orders, since disorder and love for carnal pleasure will spread throughout the Earth.
France, Italy, Spain and England will be at war; blood will run through the streets, Frenchman against Frenchman, Italian against Italian; afterwards there will be general war, which will be terrible. For a time God will not remember France or Italy, given that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer known. The wicked will deploy all their malice; they will kill and massacre each other even in homes.
At the first flash of His sword stroke, the mountains and the entire earth shall tremble with fear, given that man’s disorders and crimes penetrate the vault of Heaven. Paris will be burnt and Marseilles swallowed up by the sea; many great cities will be shaken and swallowed up by earthquakes. They will believe that all is lost; only murders will be seen, only the clash of arms and blasphemies will be heard. The just will suffer greatly; their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven, and the whole People of God will beg forgiveness and mercy, and will pray for My help and intercession. Jesus Christ, in an act of His Justice and Mercy, will then order His Angels to execute all His enemies. The persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all men given up to sin will perish, and the Earth will become like a desert. Peace will then be made, and God and man reconciled. Jesus Christ will be served, adored and glorified; charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of 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 labourers of Jesus Christ, and men will live in the fear of God.
This peace among men will not be long; twenty-five years of abundant harvests will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of every affliction to occur on Earth.
A precursor of antichrist with his armies from several nations will combat against the true Christ, sole Saviour of the world; he will shed much blood and try to wipe out God’s worship and be held as a god himself.
The Earth will be struck by every kind of pestilence (besides plague and famine, which will be generalized); there will be wars up till the last war, which will be waged by antichrist’s ten kings, who will all have the same design, and will be the sole rulers of the world. Before this happens there will be a kind of false peace in the world; they will think only of enjoyment; the wicked will give themselves up to all kinds of sin, but the children of Holy Church, the children of the Faith, My true imitators, will grow in God’s love and in the virtues dearest to Me. Happy those humble souls led by the Holy Ghost. I will combat with them until the fullness of time arrives.
Nature claims vengeance against men and shudders with terror, awaiting what is to happen to the earth stained with crimes.
Tremble, earth, and tremble all you who profess to serve Jesus Christ yet within adore your own selves; for God will deliver you up to His enemy, given that sanctuaries are sunk in corruption; many convents are no longer houses of God but pastures for Asmodeus and his breed.
It will be at this time that Antichrist will be born to a Hebrew nun, a false virgin who will have communication with the ancient serpent, the lord of impurity; his father will be a bishop; at birth he will vomit blasphemies, will have teeth; in a word he will be the devil incarnate; he will cry out horribly, perform prodigies, will feed only on impurity. He will have brothers who, though not incarnate devils like himself, will be sons of evil; at twelve years of age they will be known for their valiant victories; soon they will each be at the head of armies assisted by legions from Hell.
The seasons will be altered, the soil will only produce bad fruits, the heavenly bodies will lose their regular movements, the moon will reflect just a weak reddish light; water and fire will give the orb of the earth convulsive movements and dreadful earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc.
Rome will lose the Faith and become the see of antichrist.
The demons with the antichrist will perform great prodigies on earth and in the air, and men will become ever more perverse. God will care for His faithful servants and for men of goodwill; the Gospel will be preached everywhere. All peoples and all nations will come to know the Truth!
I address an urgent calling to the Earth; I call the true disciples of the Living God reigning in Heaven; I call the true imitators of Christ made Man, the one and true Saviour of men; I call My children, My true devotees, those who have given themselves up to Me so that I may lead them to My Divine Son, those who, so to say, I bear in my arms; those who have lived by My spirit. In brief, I call the Apostles of the Last times, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in contempt for the world and themselves, in poverty and 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 for them to go forth and illuminate the earth. Go forth and show yourselves as My dear children. I am with you and in you, as long as your Faith is the light to enlighten you in these days of disaster. Let your zeal make you hunger for the glory and honour of Jesus Christ. Battle on, children of Light, you few who see, for behold here the Time of Times, the end of ends.
The Church will be eclipsed; the world will be in consternation. But see here Henoch and Elias full of the spirit of God, preaching with God’s might, and men of goodwill will believe in God and many souls will be consoled. They will make great progress by virtue of the Holy Ghost and condemn the diabolic errors of Antichrist.
Wretched dwellers of the earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and contagious diseases; a frightful hail of animals will cascade down, thunder shall shake cities, earthquakes will swallow up countries; voices will be heard in the air, men will strike their heads up against the walls. Who will overcome if God does not shorten the time of trial? At the blood, tears and prayers of the just, God will let Himself be overcome; Henoch and Elias will be slain; pagan Rome will disappear; fire from Heaven will fall and consume three cities; the whole universe will shake with terror, and many will allow themselves to be seduced for not having adored the true Living Christ among them. This is the moment; the sun darkens; only the Faith will live.
The time has come; the abyss opens. See the king of the kings of darkness. Behold the beast with his subjects, saying he is saviour of the world. He will rise up proudly into the air to go up to Heaven; he will be choked by the breath of Saint Michael Archangel. He will fall, and the earth, which for three days will have been in continuous upheaval, will open its all-fiery bosom, and he will be immersed forever with all his brood in the eternal abyss of Hell. Then water and fire will purify the Earth and consume all man’s works of pride, and everything will be renewed: God will be served and glorified.”
After five years of investigation, the Bishop of Grenoble, Philibert de Bruillard, recognized the authenticity of the Apparition. Pope Saint Pius IX approved devotion to Our Lady of La Salette.
Secrets of the Virgin: the young shepherds affirmed that their two individual secrets were revealed to them some days later, on the 25th of September 1846, at the place of Apparitions, though the Virgin told them not to comment on it nor tell each other until the year 1858, day when they would be revealed. These two secrets were sent to Pope Saint Pius IX in 1851.
There are two versions of Melanie’s secret, one written by herself in the year 1851, and the other published in 1879 by the same author in Lecce, Italy, with the approval of the city’s Bishop.
The Most Holy Virgin Mary’s secret given to Maximin says: “If My people continue, what I say will happen sooner; if they change a little, it will come somewhat later. France has corrupted the Universe; one day she will be chastised. The Faith will be blotted out in France: three quarters of France no longer practise their religion, and the other quarter practise it without practising it. Later on the nations will be converted and the Faith will blaze up again everywhere. A great country in Northern Europe, now protestant, will be converted and with its help the other nations of the world will be converted. Before this happens, there will be great disorders in the Church and everywhere. Then our Holy Father the Pope will be persecuted. His successor will be a Pontiff whom no one expected. Then a great peace will come, but not last long. A monster will come to unsettle it. All that I am saying will come about in another century.”
The impression caused on the Pope by these mysterious revelations is not known. A lively controversy arose on whether the secret published in 1879 was identical to that communicated to Pius IX in 1851. The Holy Curé of Ars appeared undecided regarding the Apparitions for some time, but later admitted their supernatural origin. Saint Maximin visited him several times. Pope Saint Leo XIII received the seer Melanie with a show of special predilection, and knew the whole content of the secret. On reading an account of Saint Melanie’s life in 1910, Pope Saint Pius X exclaimed: “La nostra Santa!”, and recommended the cause for her beatification to be introduced at once.
The Lord, on the 125th anniversary, 19th of September 1971, told the then seer Clemente Domínguez: “Oh, if only they had listened to the Messages of La Salette, how many things would have been avoided! Poor humanity, on its way to the abyss! And to think that solely by begging forgiveness, I am generous and forgive at once! But your humiliation is necessary for Me to forgive you. My Heart is swift to forgive. But I also wreak Justice on the proud and undo them.”
On the 25th of September 1971, in La Salette, the Most Holy Virgin Mary told him: “My dear children: thank you for your pilgrimage to this Sacred Place of La Salette… Mankind is lost! She has fallen into pride, casting aside sound traditions. She is turning her back on her Heavenly Mother: I, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of men by the Most Precious Blood shed by Jesus on the Cross. Mankind stumbles on blindly, ruled by wicked shepherds, shepherds who do not care for the sheep, shepherds who live amid worldly pleasures, wayward shepherds: Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Friars, Nuns, taking no responsibility for the flock. The fate of the world would be different if the Messages I gave in this Sacred Place had been listened to, spread and fulfilled. But the majority did not believe them; others attacked them; and others judged them against their interests.
Here, in La Salette, I announced many of the evils that were to come upon the Church and the world. And they are being fulfilled to the letter; others are to happen at the end. They will be fulfilled down to the last letter of all that I spoke in this Sacred Place. The sewers I announced in the last century here in La Salette are now to be seen. The Ministers of the Lord, many of them, abandon the Altar to marry and lead a life of pleasure with a woman. Do you perchance believe that this is anything but apostasy? Woe to the man who puts his hand to the plough and turns back! Whoever is consecrated a Priest, is consecrated according to the Order of Melchisedech, and will always be a Priest. And after death, he will still be a Priest in the place to which he has been destined. I already wept in this Place at the evils that were to come. I saw that they were going to trample the Sacred Eucharist underfoot; that the Blood of the Divine Lamb would be vilely trodden upon by His own ministers; that times were to come when Communion would not be given due respect. The time has now come when the Eucharist is being despised, trampled upon. The Ministers of the Lord now administer It in an offhand manner, without respect or veneration. You should know, My children, that the Eucharist must be received worthily, with respect, recollection, oblation and consecration to God. And the fitting posture is kneeling, bending your knees before the majesty of Jesus Christ, who gave His life for the salvation of men, who gives His Flesh to eat and His Blood to drink in order to communicate His graces and His mercy… Mankind! Jesus is now beginning to withdraw from the Tabernacles! There will be cities where very few churches will have the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament, since many of those called Ministers of the Lord belong to freemasonry and interiorly do not consecrate. Mankind will always remember the words I spoke here in La Salette to My seers in the past century, since they must all be fulfilled. But as I am your Mother, I will protect all who turn to Me. I am always repeating: I will protect you, I will embrace you, I will cover you with My Holy Mantle. I will free you from the Enemy. Do not worry about coming events, because I shall be with you when things are at their worst. Your Heavenly Mother will not fail you, just as She did not fail Jesus on the Cross. He was abandoned by all, but had His Mother there, just as you will have Me… Come en masse to the Sacred Place of El Palmar de Troya in Spain, where at present I appear to certain poor sinners, humble and simple. In a Place where intense prayer is made for all mankind, and from where plentiful graces will emanate for the Church and for the world… My present-day Apparitions in El Palmar de Troya in Spain will save the Church and the world. It is the supreme hour of the Wrath of the Father; and this place of El Palmar will be the lightning-rod for Divine Wrath, by its prodigal and devout prayers, its sacrifices and penance. All who have frequent recourse to El Palmar will be enlightened in the Last Times; will live uprightly; but will have to pray with great humility, since they will be attacked more by the Enemy as well.”
In La Salette, the Most Holy Virgin Mary warned of the approaching dangers and showed the Christian people how to avoid them. When the predictions were fulfilled and Rome’s apostasy arrived, Mary Most Holy appeared in Palmar to give the last saving opportunity to the Church and prepare a refuge for the faithful followers of Her Divine Son.
The Most Holy Virgin Mary under the title of Lourdes, on the 28th of January 1971, said: “See the routes I give this seer, My son (Clemente Domínguez), to follow: I send him to Marian Sanctuaries and pilgrimage places and Holy Places of Heavenly Apparitions. In this way I teach you the unity that should reign among devotees of the Apparitions. No one on earth has the power to prevent God from manifesting His Omnipotence in a determined place. By this I mean that just as I appeared in Lourdes, likewise I did in Fatima, La Salette, Pontmain, Brittany, Guadalupe, Zaragoza, Garabandal, Palmar de Troya, and many other places as well.”