Our Lady of La Salette

A figurative recomencement of the history

of the world
The apparition of 19 September
1846, on the mountainside of La
Salette, hardly lasted more than
half an hour; vouched for on the
day itself by the children, it was
carefully taken down from their
dictation, before witnesses, on 29
May 1847, before being officially
recognised by the Church. There is
nothing to object to in all this; on
the contrary, there is everything to
accept, admire and love. As Mgr
Paulinier said on the occasion of
the National Pilgrimage on 21
August 1872: "God Himself has
given us three proofs of the truth of
the apparition. The first being the
miracles that have multiplied
here… The second, the transformation of the mountain, the extension of
the cult of Mary: the devotion of La Salette having become a Catholic
devotion... The third, the fulfilment of the prophecies, "the scourges with
which France was threatened" and which we have experienced with the
trials of this terrible year." (Giray, Les miracles de La Salette, vol. II, p.
410).

Even so, this apparition is different from the other apparitions of the
Blessed Virgin. The repercussions it provoked in the Church make it a
special, difficult and wonderful event. The contradictions it encountered
are a sure sign for us of their importance in the history of the Church and
of the world.

"GREAT NEWS"

"Come, My children, do not be afraid; I am here to proclaim great news to

you", the Beautiful Lady had said to the two seers before dictating to them,
word for word, a message, which they then "passed on to all Her people".
We have decoded this as God’s address to our first and guilty parents, the
words of Moses to his stiff necked people, those "tribes of people" spoken
of in the Book of Numbers, the words of the prophets to a renegade and
perverse Jerusalem before the chastisement. It is a sort of re-
commencement of the religious history of mankind and the promise of a
renewal of all things… through the gracious mediation of the Most Blessed
Virgin Mary, established as Legislator and Prophet for Her people, in the
stead and in the place of God the Father.

She Herself says: "I am charged to pray unceasingly for you." So, there
are three Persons: He who charges the Blessed Virgin Mary to intervene is
God Himself, our dearest heavenly Father, and He with whom she pleads
is Her Son, whose arm is already raised against us. He showed in advance
to Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, His confidant, how His Mother had placed
Herself between the arm of His wrath and guilty France, showing Him
"this breast that nourished Him", begging Him to "allow His mercy to be
shed over His other children (cf. supra, p. 7). So that men might know that
a new era would open for them, She "came down on earth" to announce it
to them. That is "the great news": reconciliation offered, the return to
grace, salvation promised and final victory assured

The Heart of God has allowed Itself to be touched by the prayer of Mary’s
Heart, and He has decided to entrust our salvation to Her! That is what She
will write in the sky of Pontmain on 17 January 1871: "But pray My
children, God will hear you in a little while. My Son allows Himself to be
touched." (cf. CRC no 283, English ed.)

But you see Her there, weeping… Already at the rue du Bac, She was in
tears! And later at Lourdes, at Pontmain and at Fatima, with what sadness
Her face is marked! It is not for Herself, that our Beautiful Shepherdess,
with Her grief-stricken Heart of love, weeps, but for the ingratitude of Her
children, deaf to Her appeals and to Her warnings and threatened with
even worse chastisements if they do not convert.

"How long I have suffered for you!... and you others, you take no notice!…
never will you be able to recompense the trouble I have taken for you!"

It is at the sight of Her tears, of the sword piercing Her soul, that in the
words of the prophecy of old Simeon, would be "revealed the inner
thoughts of many hearts" (Lk 2.35). "According to these words, whoever is
moved by the wound of the Heart of Mary will be saved. Whoever
despises or ignores the Sorrows of Mary will be condemned." (CRC 263,
Eng. ed., p. 20) Let us fear for ourselves, let us be converted and console
our dearest Mother by listening to Her.

The lesson She gives at La Salette is simple and prosaic. To some, it will
sound coarse and unworthy of the Queen of Heaven, but by such means,
She makes Herself accessible to all, for She wants to start everything again
from the beginning. Our Father made us understand this by analysing a
part of the message word by word: "It figures in a way an absolute re-
commencement of religion. We are to start again from zero. Since you are
debauched, since you have not obeyed, you have been punished: ‘If the
harvest is spoiled, it is only because of you.’ But you did not understand: ‘I
made you see this last year with the potatoes, but you made little of it’.
You even hardened yourselves: ‘Quite the contrary, when you found bad
potatoes, you swore, using the name of My Son.’ We see all that as though
we were there. With every rotten potato, a swearword, a blasphemy! Well,
says the Blessed Virgin, I have come to warn you. If you do not convert,
chastisements will fall upon you, and they will be terrible: ‘They will
continue to go bad, and at Christmas there will be no more.’ That is Old
Testament language, for sure, but the lesson is eternal from Genesis to the
Apocalypse, from Jeremiah to Our Lord Jesus Christ, from La Salette to
Fatima… Woe to those who do not hear it!
If La Salette really is an absolute re-beginning, one single apparition is
insufficient; others will have to follow, and they will follow, always of the
Blessed Virgin, "charged" with leading Her people, with educating them,
making them pass from the Old to the New Testament, by gradually
unveiling to them the will of Her Son concerning Her. There will be
Lourdes, the apparition of the Immaculate Conception, already triumphant
(cf. CRC 284, Eng. ed.), then Fatima, the total revelation of God’s grand
design. Thus, in the divine orthodromy, La Salette and Fatima correspond
and figuratively shed light on each other. The message of La Salette came
as a forerunner, to prepare for the splendours of the revelation of the most
loving and unique Heart of Jesus and Mary, at Fatima.

LA SALETTE ANNOUNCES FATIMA

1. The preparations. What a contrast between the two apparitions! La

Salette in 1846 is a little mountain village, surrounded by hamlets lost in
their solitude, better preserved no doubt than the big town of Corps, but on
all sides poverty has done its damage, and so has irreligion in the State and
among the elites, spreading from there to the people in the course of fifty
years. The clergy are in despair of ever remedying religious indifference,
debauchery, and human respect among the Catholics themselves. The
families of the two seers are no exception to this rule, and the children,
placed with masters at a very early age, are practically abandoned to
themselves. Maximin and Mélanie come together "by chance" on 19
September to guard the cows on the mountainside. They hardly get on
together; the boy is certainly good-hearted and the girl is reserved, but they
are both ignorant, coarse and half savage. Yet, it is their innocent voice,
faithfully transmitting Heaven’s message, that will reawaken the people of
France and draw them to this mountain. There were very many who
recognised their crime, feared the chastisements and were converted,
whilst the best generously entered on the path of reparation demanded by
Heaven.

Fatima is also a small remote village, lost in the mountainous massif of the
Serra da Aire. People lived poorly in the hamlet of Aljustrel in the 1910s,
but not in destitution. It was country life, hard and simple, virtuous and
joyful, wholly steeped in a solid piety and a profound faith. It is one of
those regions that were loyal to Catholic and royal traditions, which will be
the starting point for the reconquest of power by the Catholics in 1918.
And then, it is the traditional village religion of this Christendom that Our
Lady came to reawaken in the last century, in all her apparitions, beginning
with La Salette. It is the charm of this traditional religion that captures us
in the Memoirs of Sister Lucy, dedicated to the Marto and Dos Santos
families: the parents were of excellent reputation, and the future little
seers, three predestined children, in harmony, well instructed in their
religion, forming an inseparable trio when they go out to graze their
parents flocks. That is the first, charming, comforting and already enticing
revelation of the predilections of the Heart of Mary (cf. Fatima, Joie
Intime, Événement Mondial, p. 12-39).
2. The apparitions. At La Salette, the seers were favoured with no
preparation; they were taken by surprise in the midst of their normal
occupations. Placed in direct contact with the supernatural world, they
were dazzled and enthralled, but they were not inwardly seized nor were
they transformed: "I felt nothing", Maximin was to admit. Whereas at
Fatima, an angel prepared the children to be visited by the Queen of
Heaven, teaching them to pray and to offer up their suffering. He
introduced them into the light of God and told them: "Make reparation for
the crimes of sinners and console your God!"

Our Lady of La Salette appears "within a light, the most brilliant light
there is", which obviously reminds us of Fatima’s Lady "more brilliant
than the sun", all expressions in keeping with the vision of the "Woman
clothed in the sun" of the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse. But whereas at
La Salette only one apparition was sufficient for the Mother of God to
remind Her people of Her Son’s law, through fear of chastisements, the six
apparitions of Fatima are not too many to show the full scope of God’s
design: to establish the universal royalty of Mary, through devotion to Her
Immaculate Heart.

On the 13th May 1917, the expression of the Lady all clothed in white, "I
am from Heaven", reminds us of Her declaration at a Salette, which so
greatly astonished us: "I gave you six days..." Mystery of Her pre-
existence, before all centuries?… Then She requests the daily recitation of
the Rosary, and even much more for Francisco! whereas Maximin and
Mélanie had to recite with difficulty one Pater and one Ave! There has to
be a beginning to everything, but the goal is clear: it is a question of
honouring Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary ever more greatly. Then,
Our Lady of Fatima opens Her hands and infuses into the children’s hearts
and souls that divine grace of which She is the mediatrix, making them see
themselves in God, wholly illumined by His Presence and burning with
His Love; what intimate renewal!

The same "positive" grace on 13 June, this time introducing them into the
great mystery: at La Salette, Our Lady bore a living crucifix, "as though
embedded in Her chest", whence floods of light shone forth; the same
vision, but more sorrowful, at Pontmain. At Fatima, Jesus seems to
withdraw and, from within the same light, there appears the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, wreathed in thorns and demanding reparation. There could
not be a clearer manifestation of God’s Will to establish in the world this
devotion, which is closest to His Heart, so as to renew all things through
Her.

The secret of 13 July, prepared and announced by the secret of La Salette,

tells of its urgency: souls, nations, even the Church are in great danger! So
can Mary save everything? Is everything subject to Her? Yes, for She has
taken great pains: "Try as you may, you will never be able to recompense
Me for the trouble I have taken over you".

The atmospheric miracles of the 13th September figure Paradise regained,

for She has also received power to make everything reburgeon, flower in
virtue and bear much fruit.

Finally, the miracle of the 13th October witnesses to Her all-powerfulness.

"I shall work a great miracle which all shall see so that they may believe".
"Opening Her hands, Our Lady makes them reflect the sun", bringing
about its terrifying fall and its saving re-establishment. This unprecedented
miracle vouches for the truth of this new, unique and marvellous grace,
which fulfils every law!

3. The seers and their secret. The life of the seers is in itself an
illustration of the differences and perfections of the two apparitions, thus
marking the stages of this renewal.

Maximin and Mélanie make a very pitiful Adam and Eve: they announce
the Beautiful Lady’s message, whilst keeping the blemish of original sin
and their own imperfections and faults. Having been entrusted with a
secret that is too heavy for him to bear, poor Maximin aspires only to be
free of it. Nevertheless, he will faithfully guard it intact until his death;
Mélanie, on the other hand, invents another; she constructs for herself a
world apart, full of illusions, to escape from the terrible daily round…
Both of them are figures of this poor humanity stretching out its hands
towards its liberator, sometimes submissive, at other times rebellious. They
thus testify negatively, in a shade mixed with light, to the wisdom of God’s
designs.

By contrast, how wonderful is the radiant and ardent life of the three little
shepherds of Fatima, regenerated and introduced through grace into this
Paradise regained by devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Their
souls will be so profoundly marked by the Secret communicated to them
that the deeply moving story of their life will convert the greatest sinners
tomorrow and will kindle in every heart the fire of love with which they
were consumed: there is Francisco, the model of those who console the
Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and little Jacinta, heroically co-operating
with Jesus and Mary to snatch souls from hell.

As for Lucy, Jesus has made use of her "to make His Mother’s Heart
known and loved". To this day, she still pursues this mission in perfect
fidelity: "To make this ray of light always to shine before souls, to show
them this harbour of salvation, ever ready to welcome all the shipwrecked
of this world… As for me, whilst savouring the delicious fruits of this
beautiful garden, I strive to make it easy for souls to gain access to this
garden, where they may satisfy their hunger and quench their thirst for
grace, comfort and help." Her testimony is transparent: she writes only in
obedience, does not tell stories as Mélanie did, and does not talk about
herself. Her last two "Memoirs" are dedicated uniquely to her father and
her mother.
In one thing could the two seers be likened: the difficulties they
experienced in writing their secret. Mélanie’s terror and tears in July 1851
inevitably make us think of Sister Lucy’s mysterious and terrible agony
from October 1943 to January 1944 – a terror and an agony proportionate
to the apocalyptic drama they both had to announce on Heaven’s behalf.
But thereafter, their lives diverge: Mélanie’s fabrications break with her
initial message, whereas the revelations of Pontevedra and of Tuy are in
perfect continuity with the revelations of Fatima. Mélanie, daughter of
Eve, is a mythomaniac, disobedient and unbalanced – which excuses her in
part… – her "prophecies" were invalidated by events: the years 1864 and
1865 did not mark the unchaining of the forces of evil, as she had
announced, despite every attempt to explain this on the part of her
supporters. Sister Mary-Lucy of the Immaculate Heart, on the other hand, a
child of Mary and Her living image, is still to this day a well balanced
religious, obedient and radiant; she has always recalled Our Lady’s
requests at the most favourable hour, and all the known part of the Secret
has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled.

If Mélanie of La Salette anticipated in herself the "diabolical

disorientation" denounced by Lucy of Fatima, the latter personifies the
fidelity which the new Eve has come to recreate on earth.

FATIMA SHEDS LIGHT ON LA SALETTE

Just as the Gospel sheds a new light on the Old Testament by fulfilling it,
so Fatima, which is the completion of God’s design, reveals the meaning
of the previous apparitions. Thus it was that a special revelation to Lucy
taught us that the requests of the Sacred Heart to King Louis XIV, made
through the intermediary of Saint Margaret-Mary, had not been satisfied.

Let us try, therefore, in the light of Fatima and its Secret, to isolate the true
Secret of La Salette from every gross counterfeit.

The peerless expert on Fatima, Father Alonso, can help us here: "It is quite
probable that the text of the third secret makes concrete allusions to the
crisis of faith in the Church and to the negligence of the Pastors
themselves. Very possibly, the Secret does not speak only of a veritable
crisis of faith in the Church during this intermediary period, but also
contains, as for example does the secret of La Salette, more concrete
references to internal conflicts among Catholics or to the failings of priests,
religious, and the Church’s top Hierarchy." (cf. Brother François, p. 403)

Father Alonso based his thinking on the known part of the Secret: "In
Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc." In
Portugal… and in Rome will the dogma of the faith be preserved? This
little phrase, purposely unveiled by Sister Lucy, leads one to think not.

On the other hand, there is the question of the "mystery of iniquity", which
Saint Paul speaks of in order to designate the times of Antichrist: "It is
necessary that there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the
son of perdition, who opposes and who is lifted up above all that is called
God or that is worshipped, to the extent of sitting in the temple of God,
showing himself as if he were God. (II Thess 2.3-4) And in referring us to
chapter XIII of the Apocalypse, Sister Lucy clearly intends to signify that
we have entered this great battle of the last times, from which the Blessed
Virgin will emerge victorious!

To come back to La Salette: there is one phrase that stands out from the
great Secret published by Mélanie in 1879, and which we hold to be
authentic: "Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the
Antichrist." We recognise here, in fact, one of the three words that escaped
from the draft of 1851: "Antichrist". It is impossible for this key phrase, of
such amazing force and clarity, to have been invented by Mélanie, because
there was such a cult of Rome at the time that it would have been
absolutely unthinkable that the apostasy could come from there one day.
Furthermore, this was a conviction shared by Mélanie, whose admiration
for the Pope, whether it be Pius IX or Leo XIII, whom she claimed to have
won over to her cause, was boundless.

The other three words, known to be authentic (cf. p. 25) add some light to
this essential revelation:

"infailliblement": Mélanie will explain later that this word applies to

predicted events, which were to "happen ‘infailliblement’" or without fail
(Voilin, p. 78), but should we believe her? For the term applies more
especially to the truths of faith which have to be defined "infailliblement"
– infallibly.

"villes souillées" – sullied towns: It is the image and the consequence of

their apostasy. For that, they deserve a hundred times over the
chastisement of Sodom and Gomorrha, unless… repenting and turning
their eyes towards the Immaculate Virgin, they are healed through Her
positive purity of all impurity and pride!

"Pontife" – Pontiff: The role of the Sovereign Pontiff is decisive for the
success of the providential great design revealed at Fatima, as at La
Salette. "It is not without reason that the Church is called militant, and that
you see here her Captain", said Pius IX after reading the Secret. "And if
the Secret concerned the Pope himself?" said Mélanie one day; Maximin
too, often returned to the Pope’s duty to defend dogma and to condemn
errors (Mgr Giray, p. 424).

The Secret of Fatima speaks of persecution against the Church and the
Holy Father, no doubt the one who, in Rome, will restore the faith and
consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary? One remembers how
ardently the children of Fatima, Jacinta in particular, prayed and made
sacrifices for the Holy Father. At this point, let us quote an astonishing
remark made by Pius IX, who was often inspired by the two secrets of La
Salette in his public speeches: "In 1871, on the 25th anniversary of his
election, he said to a French deputation presided over by Mgr Forcade of
Nevers: ‘There will be a great wonder that will astonish the whole world.
This wonder, however, has to be preceded by the triumph of the
Revolution. The Church will have much to suffer: her ministers and head
first and foremost will be dishonoured, persecuted and martyred.’" (Le
Hidec, p. 87)

The link that our Father has established between La Salette and Fatima had
been unimaginable until today. Nor could it have been imagined, since
Rome, under Benedict XV in 1915, put a stop to any further controversy
being stirred up by Mélanie’s great Secret by settling the matter bluntly,
too bluntly: "… The Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office orders all the
faithful, whatever country they may belong to, to abstain from dealing with
or discussing the matter in question…" (Le Hidec, p. 123) By banning all
commentary, Rome shut herself off from any profound understanding of
Heaven’s intentions. And so, for want of having understood La Salette
which was preparing the way, Rome could not understand Fatima: she did
not have the key, either religious or political, of the events to come…

And so we conclude these pages, which call for many others, with a sort of
radiant equation, which we owe entirely, as a light on our path at the end
of this century, to our venerable and unique Father:

"Mélanie, Eve of the last times, seems to prefigure the modernist and
conciliar Church, going to the extremes of atheist gnosticism and yet
preserving the dogma of the faith, with great difficulty and through
torments, for her persecuted children. Maximin, a modest and
superseded Adam, seems to be, as he was seen by the holy Pope Pius
IX, the honest representative of the real France, the legitimist people,
‘catholique et français toujours’, to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary
secretly announced the return of the Lily, the coming of the Great
Monarch, in the happy days of the crowning of the Holy Pontiff, the
restorer of all things through the grace of the most holy and unique
Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary."

That is why we hope for the publication of the Secret of La Salette as well
as for that of Fatima, and it would not surprise us if Our Lady made an
allusion revealing the connection between Her two apparitions, Her two
messages, thus unveiling the tragic but grandiose orthodromy of our 20th
century which must end with the universal triumph of and world-wide
devotion to Her Immaculate Heart, as God so wills – "Dieu le veut!"

Brother Thomas.