Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette
The message
“Come on, my children, do not be afraid, I am here to tell you great news.
If my people will not submit, I am forced to let go of my Son's arm. It is so strong and so heavy that I can no longer maintain it.
How long have I suffered for you! If I want my Son not to abandon you, I am responsible for praying to him without ceasing. For the rest of you, you don't care! No matter how much you pray, no matter how hard you do, you will never be able to recompense the trouble I have taken for you.
I gave you six days to work, I reserved the seventh and they don't want to give it to me. This is what makes my Son's arm so heavy.
And also, those who drive the carts do not know how to swear without putting the name of my Son in the middle. These are the two things that weigh down my Son's arm so much.
If the harvest goes bad, it's only because of you guys. I showed it to you last year with the potatoes, you didn't pay attention. On the contrary: when you found spoiled potatoes, you swore, you put my Son's name in the middle. They will continue, and this year, for Christmas, there will be no more.
(So far the Beautiful Lady has spoken in French. She forestalls a question from Mélanie and ends her speech in patois.)
You don't understand, my children! I'll tell you another way. If the crop spoils...
If you have wheat, don't sow it. Whatever you sow, the beasts will eat it and what comes will crumble to dust when beaten. There will come a great famine.
Before the famine comes, little children under 7 years old will take a tremor and die at the hands of those who hold them.
The others will penance by starvation. The nuts will become empty, the grapes will rot.
(At this moment Mélanie sees that the Beautiful Lady is saying a few words to Maximin, but she does not hear. Then it is Maximin's turn to understand that she is saying a few words to Mélanie which he does not hear either . Then she continues.)
If they convert, stones and rocks will become heaps of wheat and potatoes will be sown on the land.
Are you praying well, my children?
Not much, madam.
Ah! My children, you have to do it well, evening and morning, would you say only an “Our Father” and a “I greet you”. And when you can do better, say more.
In the summer, only a few older women go to Mass. The others work on Sundays all summer, and in winter, when they don't know what to do, they only go to Mass to make fun of religion.
In Lent, they go to the butcher's shop, like dogs.
Have you not seen spoiled wheat, my children?
No Madam !
But you, Maximin, my child, you must have seen it once, at Coin, with your father. The master of the field tells your father to come and see his spoiled wheat. You have been there. Your father took two or three ears of corn in his hand, crumpled them up and they all crumbled into dust. On your return, when you were only half an hour away from Corps, your father gave you a piece of bread, saying to you: "Here, my child, eat some more bread this year, because I don't know not who will eat it next year if the wheat continues like this".
Ah! Yes Madam. I remember it now. I didn't remember it earlier.
Well, my children, you will pass it on to all my people!
Come, my children, pass it on to all my people!”
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ Notre Dame de la Salette, le 19 septembre 1846
The event
On September 19, 1846, two children say they met a "Beautiful Lady" in the mountain pastures where they were grazing their cows, above the village of La Salette. Maximin Giraud is 11 years old and Mélanie Calvat 14 years old.
First seated and all in tears, the "Beautiful Lady" gets up and speaks to them at length, in French and in patois, about "her Son" while citing examples drawn from the concrete of their lives. She leaves them a Message, instructing them to "pass it on to all her people."
All the light of which she is formed and which envelops all three of them, comes from a large Crucifix which she wears on her chest, surrounded by a hammer and pliers. She carries a heavy chain on her shoulders and, next to it, roses. Her head, waist and feet are surrounded by roses. Then the "Belle Dame" climbs a steep slope and disappears into the light.
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The Church recognizes the appearance
On September 19, 1851, after a long and rigorous investigation, Mgr Philibert de Bruillard, the bishop of Grenoble, declared in a letter:
"The apparition of the Blessed Virgin to two shepherds on the mountain of La Salette [...] bears in itself all the characteristics of the truth and that the faithful are justified in believing it to be indubitable and certain."
In 1855, Mgr Ginoulhiac, bishop of Grenoble, after a new investigation confirms the decision of his predecessor, while declaring:
“The mission of the shepherds is over, that of the Church begins.”
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde-3194- bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b- 136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ Roger Castel ms