Jesus died for you

The Apparitions of Our Lady at La Salette

1846, La Salette-Fallavaux, France

Our Lady of La Salette appeared to two children in 1846 near the village of La Salette-Fallavaux, in Isère, France. The two shepherd children, fifteen-year-old St. Mary Melanie of the Cross and of La Salette (née Melanie Calvat) and eleven-year-old St. Maximin Giraud, told how on Saturday, September 19, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, while they were tending their servant's cows on a mountain near the alpine village of La Salette, they saw, within a luminous light that shone brighter than the sun, a "beautiful woman" who wept and turned to them both.

First, the "beautiful woman" sits and supports her head with her hands, weeping, and then she stands up and speaks at length. She explains to them that She is weeping because of the prevailing godlessness in society, and urges them to avoid two grave sins that had become common: blasphemy and disrespecting Sunday, when one is supposed to rest from work and attend Holy Mass. She predicts terrible punishments that will come if people do not change, and She promises divine mercy to those who mend their ways. Finally, She asks the children to pray, repent and make Her message known.

Among other things, the Virgin Mary told the shepherd children that the hand of Her Son was so strong and heavy that She would not be able to hold it unless people repented and kept the law of God. If they do not, they will have much to suffer. People did not pay attention to the Lord's Day, and continued to work non-stop on Sundays. Only some elderly women attend Holy Mass in the summer. And when they have nothing else to do in winter, they go to church to make fun of religion. Lent is not observed at all. People cannot swear without lightly pronouncing the name of God. Through disobedience and transgression of God's commandments, the hand of your son becomes heavier and heavier.

She went on talking and predicted a terrible famine and food shortage for them. She said that the potato harvest of the previous year had been ruined for these reasons. When the people found the rotten potatoes, they cursed and blasphemed even more against the name of God. She told them that that year the harvest would be ruined again, that the corn and wheat would turn to dust when threshed, and that the nuts would spoil and the grapes rot.

The light in which She appears and which completely envelops the three of them comes from a large crucifix that She wears on Her chest and which is surrounded by a hammer and tongs. On Her shoulder She wears a chain and next to it there are some roses. Her head, waist and feet are also surrounded by roses. She is dressed in white, with a ruby scarf or bandana and a golden apron. At the end, the "beautiful woman" goes up a slope and disappears wrapped in light.

St. Mary Melanie tells us how the apparition happened: Maximin wanted me to show him a game. It was late in the morning and I said to him that we should pick flowers to build the 'Paradise'. We both set to work. Soon we had collected many flowers of different colors. Angelus ringing could be heard from the small town, for the sky was serene and cloudless. After praying to God what we knew, I told Maximin that we should take our cows to a small open field near a ravine where there were stones to build the 'paradise'. We led our cows to the place indicated and immediately we took our simple snack. Then we proceeded to gather stones to build our little house; it consisted of a first floor, which we called our dwelling, and a floor, which we called 'Paradise'. This floor was decorated with different colored flowers and there were wreaths hanging from flower stems. The 'paradise' was covered with a single wide stone that we had covered with flowers. Around it we had also hung wreaths of flowers. When the paradise was finished, we looked at it. Sleep overtook us, we moved two steps away from there and slept on the grass. The beautiful woman sat down on our 'paradise' without letting it collapse.

Waking up and not seeing our cows, I called Maximin and went up the hill. Seeing that our cows were lying there quietly, I went down and Maximin went up, when suddenly I saw a beautiful light shining brighter than the sun, and I could hardly pronounce these words:

"Maximin, see there? Ah! My God!" At the same time I dropped the stick I was holding in my hand. I don't know what delight flooded me at that moment, but I felt attracted, I felt great awe full of love, and my heart wanted to beat faster than I could run. I looked fixedly at that motionless light, and as if that light had opened, I perceived another one that shone much brighter and moved, and in that light was a beautiful woman sitting on our paradise, supporting her head with her hands. This beautiful woman got up, crossed Her hands a little, and looking at us, She said to us:

"Approach, my dear children, do not be afraid, I am here to make an important announcement to you."

Because of these loving and gentle words, I wanted to fly to Her, and my heart wanted to nestle to Her forever. When I stood very close to the beautiful woman - facing Her, a little to the right - She began to speak and the tears also began to flow from Her beautiful eyes.

"If My people will not submit, I am forced to drop the hand of My Son. It is so strong and so heavy that I can no longer hold it back. For a long time I have been suffering for your sake! If I do not want My Son to turn away from you, I must ask Him non-stop. And as for you, you do not pay attention to it. No matter how much you ask, no matter how much you do, you will never be able to repay the effort I have given Me for you.

I have given you six days to work, for Me I have reserved the seventh, and they will not grant it to Me. That is what makes My Son's arm so heavy. The coachmen do not know how to speak without mentioning the name of My Son in their curses. Both of these things make the arm of My Son so heavy.

If the harvest is ruined, it is only your fault. I showed it to you last year with the potatoes, and you did not pay attention to it. On the contrary, when you found them spoiled, you uttered curses and made use of My Son's name. The potatoes will continue to rot and by Christmas there will be none.

If you have wheat, you shall not sow it. All that you sow the animals will eat, and what grows will turn to dust when the fruit sets. There will be a great famine. Before the famine comes, the children under seven will get a chill and die in the arms of the people who carry them; the others will repent through the famine. The nuts will perish and the grapes will rot."

The beautiful woman who delighted me was for a moment inaudible to me; but I saw Her continue gracefully to move Her lovely lips as if She were speaking. Maximin received his secret then. Then the Most Holy Virgin turned to me, talked to me and revealed to me a secret in French. Here is this secret as She revealed it to me:

THE SECRET OF LA SALETTE

Mélanie, what I'm going to tell you now won't be a secret forever. You can publish it in 1858. (This is the year of Our Lady's apparition to St. Bernadette in Lourdes)

1. The priests and ministers of My Son, because of their bad lives, their irreverence and their impiety in celebrating the holy mysteries, their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests provoke vengeance and vengeance hangs over their heads.

2. Woe to the priests and people consecrated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and bad lives, crucify My Son again! The sins of people consecrated to God cry out to heaven and attract vengeance, and behold, vengeance is at their gates, because there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no longer any generous souls, no longer anyone worthy of offering the spotless Victim to the Eternal for the world. God is going to punish the world in an unprecedented way. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath and no one will be able to escape so many evils together.

3. The leaders of God's people have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has darkened their minds. They have become those wandering stars that the ancient serpent will drag with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the ancient serpent to create divisions between rulers and families. Physical and moral penalties will be suffered. God will abandon man to himself and send down punishments that will last more than thirty-five years.

4. Society is on the eve of the most terrible calamities and the greatest events. It must expect to be ruled with a rod of iron and to drink the cup of God's wrath.

5. May My Son's vicar, the Supreme Pontiff Pius IX, not leave Rome after 1859, but may he be firm and generous, fighting with the weapons of faith and love. I will be with him.

6. Be wary of Napoleon, his heart is false and when he wants to be Pope and Emperor at the same time, God will soon withdraw from him. He is like that eagle who, always wanting to soar higher, will fall on the sword he wanted to use to force people into submission.

7. Italy will be punished for its ambition, for wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of lords, it too will be given over to war. Blood will flow everywhere, churches will be closed and desecrated, priests and religious will be persecuted; they will be put to death, and die a cruel death. Many will abandon the faith, and the number of priests and religious who will betray the true religion will be great; among them will be even bishops.

8. Let the Pope beware of miracle-workers, because the time has come when the most astonishing wonders will be performed in heaven and in the air.

9. In the year 1864, Lucifer will be unleashed from hell with a great number of demons; they will abolish faith little by little, even in people consecrated to God. They will blind them in such a way that, except by special grace, they will take on the spirits of these evil angels. Many religious houses will completely lose faith and many souls will be lost.

10. Evil books will abound on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal dislike for everything that serves God and will have great power over nature. There will be churches to worship these spirits. Certain people will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits to priests, because they will not be led by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God.

11. The dead and righteous will be resurrected (that is, these dead will take on the appearance of those righteous souls who lived on earth in order to better seduce men). These so-called resurrected dead will be nothing more than the devil in his guise and will preach another gospel contrary to that of Jesus Christ, denying both the existence of heaven and the existence of the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if united to bodies). And extraordinary wonders will be seen everywhere, because the true faith has been extinguished and false light illuminates the world. Woe to the princes of the Church who have dedicated themselves only to amassing wealth, safeguarding their authority and dominating with pride!

12. The Vicar of My Son will have a lot to suffer because for a time the Church will be subjected to great persecution: it will be the time of darkness, the Church will have a terrible crisis.

13. Having forgotten the Holy Faith of God, each individual will want to govern himself and be superior to his fellows. The civil and ecclesiastical poor will be abolished, order and justice will be trampled underfoot. All that will be seen will be murder, hatred, envy, lies and discord, with no love for country or family.

14. The Holy Father will suffer greatly, I will be with him until the end to receive his sacrifice. The evil ones will often try to take his life without being able to put an end to his days; but neither he nor his successor (who won't have much time) will see the triumph of the Church of God.

15. The rulers will all have the same plan, which will be to abolish and disappear every religious principle to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritism and all kinds of vices.

16. In 1865, abomination will be seen in the holy places. In the convents, the flowers of the Church will be putrefied and the devil will become the king of hearts. Let those who are in charge of religious communities keep a watchful eye on the people they are going to receive, because the devil will use all his malice to introduce people given to sin into religious orders, because disorders and the love of pleasure will be spread throughout the land.

17. France, Italy, Spain and England will go to war; blood will run in the streets; Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian against Italian and then there will be a general war, which will be very terrible. For a time, God will forget France and Italy because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer known. The wicked will develop all their malice, men will kill and murder each other in their homes.

18. At the first stroke of His fulminating sword, the mountains, the whole of nature will tremble with astonishment, because the disorders and crimes of men will pierce the vault of heaven. Paris will be burnt to the ground, Marseilles will be swallowed up, several great cities will be shaken and buried by earthquakes. All will be considered lost. Nothing but murder will be seen, nothing but the noise of weapons and blasphemy will be heard. The righteous will suffer greatly, their prayers, penances and tears will ascend to heaven and all God's people will ask for forgiveness and mercy, imploring My help and intercession.

19. Then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and mercy towards the just, will send His angels to put to death all His enemies. In the twinkling of an eye, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all men who are slaves to sin will perish and the earth will become like a desert.

20. Then there will be peace, the reconciliation of God and man. Jesus Christ will be served and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Church, which will be strong, humble and pious, poor, zealous and imitators 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 last long: 25 years of abundant harvests will make us forget that the sins of men are the cause of all the evils that befall the earth.

22. A forerunner of the anti-Christ, with an army made up of many nations, will fight against the true Christ, the only Savior of the world; he will shed much blood and will intend to annihilate the worship of God, who considers himself a god.

23. The earth will be punished with all kinds of plagues (apart from the plague and famine which will be general), there will be wars until the last one which will then be carried out by the ten kings allied to the anti-Christ, who will have all the same designs and will be the only ones to rule the world.

24. Before this happens, there will be a kind of false peace in the world. There will be no thought of anything but amusement, and the wicked will indulge in all kinds of sins. But the children of Holy Church, those of the faith, My true imitators, will grow in the love of God and in the virtues dearest to Me. Blessed are the humble souls, led by the Holy Spirit! I will fight with them until the fullness of time comes.

25. Nature cries out for vengeance against men and trembles with fear as it awaits what will happen to the earth soaked in crime. Tremble, O earth and you who profess to serve Jesus Christ, and who worship yourselves within. Tremble because God will hand you over to his enemy, because the holy places are in corruption; many convents are no longer houses of God, but of Asmodeus and his.

26. It will be during this time that the anti-Christ will be born of a Hebrew nun, a false virgin who will have communication with the ancient serpent, the master of impurity. His father will be a bishop. At birth he will vomit blasphemies, he will have teeth, in a word he will be impure. He will have siblings who, although not like him, will be devils incarnate and children of evil. At the age of twelve, he will attract attention for the crude victories he will achieve. He will soon find himself at the head of great armies assisted by the legions of hell.

27. Temptations will change. The earth will only produce bad fruit. The stars will lose their regular movements. The moon will only transmit a weak reddish light. Water and fire will cause convulsive movements and horrible earthquakes that will swallow up mountains and entire cities.

28. Rome will lose faith and become the seat of the anti-Christ.

29. The demons of the air will perform great wonders on earth and in the air, and the anti-Christ will pervert them more and more. God will take care of his faithful servants and men of good will. The Gospel will be preached everywhere, all peoples and all nations will know the truth!

30. I address an urgent appeal to the earth: I call true disciples of the living God, who reigns in heaven. I call true imitators of Christ made man, the one true Savior of men. I call My children, the truly devout, those who have given themselves to Me so that I may lead them to My Divine Son, those whom I carry, so to speak, in My arms; I call those who live in My spirit; I call, finally, the Apostles of the last times, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who live in contempt of the world and of themselves, in poverty and humility, in silence, in prayer and mortification, in chastity and union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time for you to go out and enlighten the earth. Go and show yourselves to be My beloved children. I am with you and in you, as long as your faith is the light that illuminates you in these days of misfortune. May your zeal make you hungry for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. I will fight children of light, you small number who still have sight, because the time of the times has come, the end of the ends.

31. The church will be eclipsed, the world will be in distress. But behold, Enoch and Elijah are coming, full of the Spirit of God; they will preach with the power of God and men of good will will believe in God and many souls will be comforted. They will make great progress by the power of the Holy Spirit and will condemn the diabolical errors of the anti-Christ.

32. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! There will come bloody wars and famines, plagues and contagious diseases, rains of a horrible hail of beasts that will shake cities, earthquakes that will swallow up countries; voices will be heard in the air, men will beat their heads against the walls, they will call for death and death will be their torment. Blood will flow everywhere. Who can win if God does not shorten the time of the trial? God will be appeased by the blood, tears and prayers of the righteous. Enoch and Elijah will be martyred. Pagan Rome will disappear. Fire will fall from heaven and consume three cities. The whole universe will be filled with terror and many will allow themselves to be seduced because they did not worship the true Christ, who lived among them. The time has come, the sky will darken, only faith will live.

33. Now is the time when the abyss opens. Behold the king of darkness. Behold the beast with his subjects, claiming to be the savior of the world. He will rise with pride through the air to ascend to heaven; he will be precipitated by the breath of St. Michael the Archangel. He will fall, and the earth, which had been in continuous evolution for three days, will open its bosom, filled with fire, and he will be precipitated forever with all its abysses of hell. Then water and fire will purify the earth and consume all the works of human pride and everything will be renewed; God will be served and glorified.

After five years of investigation, the Bishop of Grenoble, Philibert of Bruillard, acknowledged that the apparition was credible. The devotion to Our Lady of La Salette was approved by St. Pope Pius IX.

Secrets of the Blessed Virgin: The shepherd children confirmed that their two secrets were revealed to them individually at the apparition site a few days later, on September 25, 1846, although the Blessed Virgin said to them not to speak about them or tell each other until 1858, when they were to be made known. These two mysteries were sent to St. Pope Pius IX in 1851.

There are two versions of the Secret of Melanie, one written by herself in 1851, and the other published in 1879 by the same author in Lecce, Italy, with the approval of the bishop of that city.

The secret which the Most Holy Virgin Mary revealed to Maximin was: "If My people continue in this way, what I have announced will come sooner; if they improve a little, it will arrive a little later. France has corrupted the universe; one day it will be punished. The faith will die out in France: three quarters of the French will no longer practice religion and the other part will practice it superficially. Later, the peoples will convert and the faith will revive anew everywhere. A large country in northern Europe, which is 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 confusion in the Church and everywhere. Then our Holy Father, the Pope, will be persecuted. His successor will be a chief shepherd whom no one expects. Then there will be deep peace, but it will be short-lived. An inhuman will come to disturb it. Everything I say will come to pass in another century."

It is not known what impression these mysterious revelations made on the Pope. There was a controversy, deliberating whether the secret made known in 1879 was exactly the same as that communicated to Pope Pius IX in 1851. The holy Curé of Ars was undecided about the apparitions for a while, but later he recognized them as supernatural; St. Maximin visited him several times. St. Pope Leo XIII received the visionary Melanie, showing himself particularly favorable to her, and he knew the full content of the mystery. In 1910, when Saint Pope Pius X read an account of Saint Melanie's life, he exclaimed, "La nostra Santa!" and he ordered the beatification process to begin immediately.

La Salette Sanctuary from above

The apparition of Mary in La Salette was the prelude to a series of Marian alarms for prayer, penance, reparation, conversion. In 1858, Our Lady appears in Lourdes as the Immaculate and causes a spring to gush forth; in 1871, she writes to Heaven in Pontmain (La Salette). In 1917, as the Queen of the Rosary, she makes the sun turn like a wheel of fire in Fatima, etc. The place of grace in the Savoy Alps can be reached from Grenoble on the Route Napoleon in a southerly direction via Vicille, La Mure to Corps (70 km).

On September 19, 1971, the 125th anniversary, the Lord said to the then visionary Clemente Domínguez: "Ah, if only attention had been paid to the messages given at La Salette! How much would have been avoided! Poor humanity, which is heading towards the abyss! And to think that I am generous and forgive immediately if you only ask for forgiveness! But it is necessary that you humble yourselves so that I may forgive you. My heart is ready to forgive. But with the proud I also do justice and humble them."

On September 25, 1971, the Blessed Virgin Mary said to him in La Salette: "My dear children, thank you for your pilgrimage to this holy place in La Salette ... Humanity is lost! It has fallen into pride and has turned away from the good traditions. It turns its back on its Heavenly Mother. I, the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, am the Mother of mankind through the Most Precious Blood shed by Jesus on the Cross. Humanity is walking blindly, being led by nefarious shepherds, shepherds who do not care for their sheep, shepherds who live devoted to worldly pleasures, apostate shepherds, namely cardinals, bishops, priests, monks and nuns who act dutifully towards the flock. The world would be in a different situation if the messages I gave in this holy place had been listened to, made known and followed. But most did not believe in them, others contested them, and still others did not care.

Here, at La Salette, I announced many of the evils that would come upon the Church and the world. They are literally coming true and others will eventually come to pass. Everything will be fulfilled, yes, until the last word that I pronounced in this holy place. You can already see the cesspools that I announced here in La Salette in the last century. Many priests leave the altar to marry and live lustfully with a woman. Do you think that this is not a breach of faith? Woe to him who has put his hand to the plow and looks back! Whoever is ordained a priest receives ordination according to the order of Melchizedech and will always be a priest. After his death, he will continue to be a priest in the place for which he will be ordained. I have already wept in that place because of the evils to come. I saw how the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar would be despised, how the Blood of the Divine Lamb would be shamefully desecrated even by priests, how the time would come when Communion would not be shown due reverence.

The time has already come when the Eucharist will be spurned and despised. The Lord's messengers already somehow administer it, without respect and reverence. My children, you should know that the Eucharist should be received worthily, with reverence, inner gathering, devotion and devotion to God. The most dignified attitude is to kneel, bowing the knees before the majesty of Jesus Christ, because He gave His life for the redemption of mankind, He gives His body to eat and His blood to drink, to distribute His graces and to bestow His mercy... humanity!

Jesus is already gradually withdrawing from the tabernacles! There will be cities where only in very few churches Jesus Christ will be present in the Sacrament of the Altar, since many of the so-called messengers of the Lord are members of Freemasonry and no longer consecrate inwardly. Mankind will forever remember My words addressed to My visionaries here in La Salette last century, as they will all come true.

But since I am your Mother, I will protect all you who come to Me. I always repeat to you, I will protect you, I will embrace you and cover you with My holy mantle. I will protect you from the enemy. Do not worry about the upcoming events, because I will be with you in the most terrible moments. Your Heavenly Mother will not be absent from you, just as She was not absent from Jesus on the cross. He was forsaken by all, but He had His Mother there, just as you will have Me ...

Come in multitudes to the holy place at El Palmar de Troya in Spain, where I am presently appearing to some poor sinners who are humble and simple. In that place people pray intensely for all humanity and from there abundant graces will emanate for the Church and for the world... Through My present apparitions in El Palmar de Troya in Spain, the Church and the world will be saved. It is the decisive hour for the Father's wrath, and this place in El Palmar will be the averter of the divine wrath through the many and devout prayers, as well as the sacrifices and penance. All those who frequent Palmar will be enlightened in the Last Times; they will walk in righteousness, but they must pray very humbly, as they will be attacked more frequently by the enemy."

In La Salette, the Blessed Virgin Mary drew attention to the dangers that were approaching and indicated to the Christian people how to avert them. When the foretold came true and the apostasy of Rome was approaching, the Most Holy Virgin appeared in El Palmar to give the Church the last opportunity for salvation and to prepare a place of refuge for those who faithfully follow Her Divine Son.

The Most Holy Virgin Mary, as Our Lady of Lourdes, said on January 28, 1971: "See what paths I make this visionary, My son (Clemente Domínguez), travel: I send him to Marian shrines and places of pilgrimage, as well as to holy places where there have been celestial apparitions. In this way I teach you that there should be unity among the proponents of the apparitions. No one in the world has the power to prevent God from manifesting His omnipotence in a certain place. With this I want to tell you that just as I appeared in Lourdes, I appeared in Fatima, and also in La Salette, Pontmain, Brittany, Guadalupe, Zaragoza, Garabandal, El Palmar de Troya, as well as in many other places."