120 Vol. LVI, No 5 Magnificat always be secret.”3 Here are some extracts of that secret: “God is going to strike in an unprecedented manner. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God is going to exhaust His wrath, and no one will be able to escape so many concerted woes. [...] God will abandon men to themselves, and will send chastisements... Society is at the eve of the most terrible scourges and the greatest events; people must expect to be ruled with a rod of iron and to drink the cup of the wrath of God. [...] “At the first stroke of His thundering sword, the mountains and all of nature will quake with terror, because the licentiousness and crimes of men pierce the canopy of the heavens... People will think that all is lost; they will see only homicides, they will hear only the roar of weapons and blasphemies. The just will suffer greatly; their prayers, their 3. “Melanie, what I am going to tell you now will not al‐ ways remain a secret; you may publish it in 1858.” The bro‐ chure The Apparition of the Most Blessed Virgin on the Mountain of La Salette is available from Editions Magnificat. penance and their tears will rise even unto Heaven, and all the people of God will ask for pardon and mercy, and will ask for My help and My intercession. [...] “Who will be able to overcome, if God does not shorten the time of trial? By the blood, tears and prayers of the just, God will let Himself be moved.” The beautiful Lady concluded Her speech with these words, “Well, My children, you will make this known to all My people.” Then, moving away, She repeated without turning around: “Well, My children, you will make this known to all My people.” The day after the Apparition, our little visionaries went to the rectory to tell everything to Father Perrin, the pastor of La Salette. They were received by the maid, who questioned them. Very simply, they told her the story of the Apparition. They were still speaking when the bell rang for Mass. Father Perrin had been listening in the next room; obliged to go to church to celebrate, he opened the door with a bang and exclaimed in tears: “Children, we are lost! God is going to punish us. It is the Blessed Virgin who appeared to you!” And he left to say Mass. Yes, God was going to punish. Various chastisements followed closely upon the threat. If only the people had turned to God, acknowledged their sins in all humility and consented to conversion! Years later, Melanie wrote: “God is irritated by the multiplicity of sins, and because He is almost unknown and forgotten... France [ed. note: and the world] must humble itself and ask forgiveness for its sins, promise to serve God heart and soul and observe His commandments without human respect. Yes, let us pray much and do penance.” And a few days later, “Let us pray, let us pray, let us pray much, let us not cease to pray and ask for mercy.”4 But who wanted to hear the solemn warnings from Heaven? Oh, there was some response from a few good souls here and there, 4. Bl. Melanie Calvat, Letters to her mother – November 11 and 29, 1870.
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