Our Lady of La Salette

1846: Our Lady of La Salette

Several days’ hard travel south of Paris in the Rhône-Alps, Our Lady appeared to 2 poor cow herds — Melanie Mathieu, 15, & Maximin Giraud, 11. Neither could read or write, nor had they had any religious instruction.

In the 1840s, France was plunged in political turmoil. The practice of religion had waned; conflict, disease & famine sparked emigration. In the fields near the hamlet of La Salette, the 2 visionaries reported seeing a dazzling globe of light, which opened to reveal a beautiful, weeping Lady seated on a rock. She wore a golden crown, a dress of light, slippers edged with roses, & a golden crucifix hanging from a chain around her neck with a pair of pincers on one side & a hammer on the other.

She spoke to them in French & then in their Occitan dialect. With great sorrow, she told of her long work of staying the arm of her Son’s punishment for the irreligion of people. Specifically, she mentioned the offense of working on Sundays & blasphemous language. She warned of the coming of crop blight &  famine punishments if her message wasn't heeded.

To each of the children, she imparted a secret which the other didn't hear, asked them to say their prayers, & bid them to make her message known to people. The Lady of Light faded gradually, the globe of light drawing smaller & smaller, rising up in the air until it could no longer be seen.

During the days following the apparition the children were obliged to tell their story multiple times under rigorous questioning, & were brought to the scene repeatedly. On one trip, interrogators broke off a piece of the rock on which Our Lady sat. A spring burst forth; subsequent miraculous healings were attributed to the water.

Pilgrimages to the site began in spite of severe opposition from the authorities. Through all questioning & & amid threats that they should recant, the 2 visionaries maintained consistency with their stories. In 1846, there was crop failure followed in 1847 by a severe famine in Europe claiming the lives of approximately one million people, 100,000 in France alone.

After f4 years & 2 sets of enquiry, the Bishop of Grenoble approved the devotion to Our Lady of La Salette. In 1851, Pope Pius IX confirmed this.

Controversy followed the visionaries for the rest of their lives. Their secrets were also published. Maximin’s spoke of the loss of faith in France, the Church moving into darkness, & the rise of the Anti-Christ. Melanie’s secret included the loss of faith in Rome & a coming persecution of the Pope, priests, & religious.

Our Lady’s universal message was to conversion, penance, & prayer. Her title at La Salette is “Reconciler of Sinners”.