STORY OF OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE

WHERE SHE APPEARED TO TWO LITTLE SHEPHERDS, FRANCE

Mélanie and Maximin, the two children privileged to see Mary in 1846, came from the town of Corps, near Grenoble, in a poor part of south-eastern France. Maximin Giraud was eleven years old at the time and Mélanie Calvat was fourteen. On Saturday, September 19, they were looking after their employers’ cattle, high up on the pasture above La Salette, a village near Corps, when they saw a wonderful apparition of Mary.

A globe of light opened to reveal a resplendent woman, seated on a stone, with her head in her hands. The children later described her as very tall and beautiful, wearing a long, white, pearl studded, sleeved dress, and a white shawl, with some sort of tiara, or crown, on her head. Hanging from her neck was a large crucifix, adorned with a small hammer and pincers, with a brilliantly shining figure of Christ on it. The whole effect was as if she was made of light.

Speaking tearfully, she told them that, unless people repented, she would be forced to let the punishing arm of her Son fall, because it had become so heavy. Mary went on to complain that she had to pray ceaselessly to her Son for them, but the people still worked on Sundays and blasphemed. She also spoke of coming punishments for these sins, including crop blights and famine. She confided a secret to each of the children, which they were not to divulge, although, eventually, these secrets were made known to Pope Pius IX.

Finally, she asked the children to spread her message before disappearing. When the children returned home they told their story, an account of which was taken down in writing the next day. They faced much opposition in making Mary's message known, but they maintained their story with resolution. The local Bishop, too, faced quite a degree of opposition in investigating the apparition, and it was only after four years, and after having set up two commissions of enquiry, that Mgr. de Bruillard, as bishop of Grenoble, approved the devotion to Our Lady of Salette, in the following terms.

"We declare that the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to two shepherds, on September 19, 1846, on a mountain in the Alps in the parish of La Salette, bears in itself all the marks of truth and that the faithful are justified in believing without question in its truth. And so, to mark our lively gratitude to God and the glorious Virgin Mary, we authorise the cult of Our Lady of La Salette."

We should also note, that St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, who was living at the time, also spoke favourably of the apparition of Our Lady of Salette.