Our Lady of La Salette - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

La Salette is a small mountaintop village near Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

, France. It is most noted for an apparition of the Virgin Mary that was report

Report

A report is a textual work made with the specific intention of relaying information or recounting certain events in a widely presentable form....

ed in 1846 by two shepherd

Shepherd

A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...

children, Mélanie Calvat

Mélanie Calvat

Françoise Mélanie Calvat called Mathieu was a French Roman-catholic religious sister and Marian visionary. As a religious, she was called Sister Mary of the Cross....

and Maximin Giraud

Maximin Giraud

Pierre Maximin Giraud was a French member of the Corps of Papal Zouaves and Marian visionary.-Biography:...

, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous

Miracle

A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...

healings.

The Catholic Church investigated the claims and found them to be basically credible and was approved under the name of Our Lady of La Salette.

Devotion

Worship

Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...

to Our Lady

Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)

Roman Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is based on Holy Scripture: In the fullness of time, God sent his son, born of a virgin. The mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God through Mary thus signifies her honour as Mother of God...

of La Salette was weakened in the late nineteenth century by the controversy surrounding the claims of one of the seers, Mélanie Calvat and the precarious situation of the Gallican church in a France hostile to religion.

Recent release of the secrets from the Vatican Secret Archives

Vatican Secret Archives

The Vatican Secret Archives , located in Vatican City, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having primal incumbency until death, owns the archives until the next appointed Papal successor...

have clarified the situation.

Despite these events, the apparition of La Salette flourished in the twentieth century, and together with Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes is the name used to refer to the Marian apparition said to have appeared before various individuals on separate occasions around Lourdes, France...

(1858) and Our Lady of Fátima

Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Fátima is a famous title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as she appeared in apparitions reported by three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal. These occurred on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13...

(1917) La Salette remains one of the most famous Marian apparitions of the modern age.

September 19, 1846

Two shepherd children - Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Calvat - reported a vision of the Virgin Mary on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, on September 19, 1846 around 3.00 p.m. during their cowherding. They were eleven and fourteen years old at the time and had received only a very limited education.

The apparition consisted of three different stages. Firstly, the children beheld in a resplendent light a beautiful lady clad in a strange costume. She was seated on a rock and in tears, with her face resting in her hands. This took place at the ravine

Ravine

A ravine is a landform narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streamcutting erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep sides, on the order of twenty to...

called ravin de la Sezia

Secondly, she stood upright and talked to the children, speaking alternately in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

and in the regional patois

Patois

Patois is any language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. It can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant...

. She charged them with a message which they were to deliver to all her people. This also took place in the ravin de la Sezia. After complaining of the impiety

Impiety

Impiety is classically a lack of proper concern for the obligations owed to public religious observation or cult. Impiety was a main Pagan objection to Christianity, for unlike other initiates into mystery religions, early Christians refused to cast a pinch of incense before the images of the gods,...

and sin

Sin

In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...

fulness of men, and threatening them with dreadful chastisement

Chastisement

-Minors:English common law allowed parents and others who have “lawful control or charge” of a child to use “moderate and reasonable” chastisement or correction. A ruling in 1860 by Chief Justice Cockburn stated: “By the law of England, a parent .....

s in case they should persevere in evil

Evil

Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...

, she promised them the Divine

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

mercy

Mercy

Mercy is broad term that refers to benevolence, forgiveness and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social and legal contexts.The concept of a "Merciful God" appears in various religions from Christianity to...

if they would amend. Finally, she communicated to each of the children a special secret, before disappearing into the sky. This happened on the plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

called Mont-sous-les-Baisses.

They told of their experience to their employers, Baptiste Pra and Pierre Selme. These wrote the account down September 20, 1846, the day after the apparition, in a letter.

Maximin Giraud was questioned upon his story by the mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

of the village, Pierre Peytard September 21, 1846.

Pra and Selme informed Louis Perrin

Louis Perrin

Louis Perrin PC was an Irish barrister, politician and judge.-Early life:Perrin was born in Waterford, the son of was Jean Baptiste Perrin ....

, the parish priest of La Salette. Impressed by the account, Perrin preached about it at Holy Mass and informed the archpriest

Archpriest

An archpriest is a priest with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches, although it may be used in the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Church instead of dean or vicar forane.In the 16th and 17th centuries, during...

of Corps, Pierre Mélin. He interrogated the children on 26 September 1846. The bishop of Grenoble, Philibert de Bruillard, was officially informed by Mélin on October 4, 1846.

In October 1846 Mélanie and Maximin were questioned by Mathieu Cat, a diocesan priest. On November 2 the children were interrogated by ... Archier, a religious. The news of the apparition spread like wildfire. Maximin's father, Jean-Maximin Giraud, not being religious at all, converted on November 8, 1846. This was one of many conversions.

Soon several miraculous cures took place on the mountain of La Salette, and pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

s to the place were begun. The first pilgrimage took place on November 24, 1846, with both children participating. On May 31 about 5,000 pilgrims participated in another pilgrimage, on the occasion of the planting of a crossway up the mountain.

November 25 another interrogation took place, by father ... Marcellin. In March and April 1847 both seers were repeatedly questioned by François Lagier, a French priest who spoke the local patois fluently. On April 16 and May 26, 1847 both children were interrogated by a city magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

of Grenoble, the local juge de paix

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

Fréderic-Joseph Long. The children were reinterrogated by canon Nicolas Bez, another parish priest. They were interrogated again by Pierre Lambert

Pierre Lambert

Pierre Lambert was a French Trotskyist leader, who, for many years acted as the central leader of the French Courant Communiste Internationaliste which founded the Parti des Travailleurs.He was born in Paris to a family of Russian Jewish immigrants...

, another diocesan

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

priest on the apparition May 29, 1847.

The first miraculous cure that was recognised as such was that of Claire Pierron S.S.J.

Sisters of St. Joseph

The title Sisters of St. Joseph applies to several Roman Catholic religious congregations of women. The largest and oldest of these was founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France...

, known as Sister Saint-Charles, of Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

on April 16, 1847. The second was that of Mélanie Gamon, of Corps, on August 15, 1847.

On July 22, 1847 Clément Cardinal Villecourt, bishop of La Rochelle made a personal pilgrimage to La Salette. He met both children and questioned them. September 17, 1847 both children were reinterrogated by father ... Boisseaux.

One year after the apparition, September 19, 1847, over 50,000 pilgrims came to La Salette to celebrate the anniversary

Anniversary

An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event...

Investigation and approval

On July 7, 1847 the bishop of Grenoble asked canons

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

Pierre-Joseph Rousselot and Servant of God

Servant of God

Servant of God is a title given to individuals by various religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a...

André Berthier, both professors at the major seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

of Grenoble, to conduct a detailed investigation of the apparition, and write a full report on them. This report was finished on October 15, 1847.

In November 1847 the bishop submitted the report to a commission of investigation consisting of sixteen experts, under the chairmanship of the diocesan bishop. The members of the commission were all diocesan priests. They were the titulary vicar-generals canon Clair-Melchior Périer and André Berthier, the canons Pierre Joseph Rousselot, Jacques Bouvier, J.-F. Desmoulins, J. Henry, J.-C. Michon, P. Petit, J. Revol and Pierre Chambon, the parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

s Jean-Baptiste Gerin, archpriest of the cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

of Grenoble, Jean-Pierre Cartellier, archpriest of Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....

parish

Parish

, H. Genevey, archpriest of Saint Louis parish, J.-H. de Lemps, parish priest of Saint André

Saint André

Saint André can refer to Saint André Bessette, a Canadian canonized in October 2010.It also is the name or part of the name of many places:-In Canada:* Saint-André, New Brunswick * Saint-André, Quebec...

parish and Jean-Jules Keisser, parish priest of Saint Laurent

Saint Lawrence

Lawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.- Holy Chalice :...

parish, and the president of the major seminary Jacques-Philippe Orcel.

There were eight conferences in total, which took place on November 8, 15, 16, 17, 22, 29 and December 6 and 13, 1847. During two sessions, Mélanie and Maximan were present and questioned at length. On the final vote twelve of the sixteen members unequivocally supported the apparition. Three of the twelve members, André Berthier, H. Genevey and J.-H. de Lemps had doubts concerning the truth regarding some elements of the apparition. One member, Jean-Pierre Cartellier, expressed certainty that the apparition was false.

Once the commission had finished its deliberations, the report was approved by the commission. The bishop waited giving official approval, because Maurice Cardinal de Bonald

Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald

Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald was a French cardinal .Born at Millau, he was the son of the philosopher Louis Gabriel Ambroise de Bonald....

, the archbishop of Lyon on whom the bishopric of Grenoble

Bishopric of Grenoble

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Grenoble-Vienne is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in south-eastern France. The diocese, erected in the 4th century as the Diocese of Grenoble, comprises the department of Isère and the former canton of Villeurbanne The Roman Catholic Diocese...

depended, supported Cartellier.

The report was then published by Pierre Joseph Rousselot on June 26, 1848. The report was sent to Pope Pius IX in August 1848. The findings of the report were accepted by the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

.

A meeting between Maximin Giraud and Saint Jean Baptist Marie Vianney, better known as "Curé de Ars"

Jean Vianney

Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney , commonly known in English as St John Vianney, was a French parish priest who in the Catholic Church is venerated as a saint and as the patron saint of all priests. He is often referred to as the "Curé d'Ars"...

took place on September 19, 1850. A small incident occurred. After a period of doubt due to this unfortunate misunderstanding, the saint

Saint

A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

too became a strong defender of the apparition until the end of his life.

However, resistance inside the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in France, who wanted appeasement

Appeasement

The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...

with the authorities, did not totally disappear. Cardinal de Bonald did not believe the apparition was genuine, and suspected a subterfuge. The cardinal demanded that the children tell him their secret under false pretenses, implying that he had a mandate

Mandate (theology)

In Christian theology, a mandate is an order given from God that must be obeyed without question. For example, the mandate given to Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God....

from the Pope, which he did not have. The children finally acceded to this demand. On July 2 and 6 1851 both children wrote down an account of the apparition and of the secrets the Virgin Mary communicated to them. As a result of this, Mélanie, who wrote her text at the convent

Convent

A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

of the Sisters of Providence in Corenc

Corenc

Corenc is a commune in the Isère département in south-eastern France. It is a suburb of Grenoble. In 2007 its population was 3,773.-Geography:Corenc is situated in the Alps and is near the border between the départements of Isère and Hautes-Alpes.-Economy:...

, only wrote a shortened version of the secret and insisted that both texts be carried directly to the Pope. It was under these conditions that two representatives, canons Pierre Joseph Roussilot and Jean-Baptiste Gérin, were sent to Rome. The text of the two private secrets were both handed to Pope Pius IX on July 18, 1851.

Cardinal Secretary of State

Cardinal Secretary of State

The Cardinal Secretary of State—officially Secretary of State of His Holiness The Pope—presides over the Holy See, usually known as the "Vatican", Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia...

Luigi Lambruschini

Luigi Lambruschini was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in the mid nineteenth century.-Biography:...

officially confirmed the communication of the documents the following day. His assistant and advocatus diaboli, Mgr Frattini, did the same. These documents were published only very recently, being discovered by Michel Corteville M.S. in the Vatican Secret Archives. That same day, July 19, 1851, the fifth anniversary of the apparition, the apparition was officially approved in a pastoral letter by the diocesan bishop under the title of Our Lady of La Salette.
This letter was later published, in translation, in the Osservatore Romano on June 4, 1852. On October 7, 1850 Cardinal Luigi Lambruschini officially approved the mandate of the bishop of Grenoble.

Instrumentalisation

On August 11, 1851 Maximin reproduced his written account of July 3 at the request of Benjamin Dausse, a friend and trustee of Maximin. From this period on, Mélanie was stigmatised

Stigmata

Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...

on her hands.

The construction of a sanctuary at the site of the apparition was announced by the Bishop of Grenoble in another pastoral letter on May 1, 1852, which was swiftly followed by the celebratory placing of the first stone May 25. That same day, he canonically instituted the religious congregation

Congregation (catholic)

The term "congregation" has three usages specific to the Roman Catholic Church. One concerns the Roman Curia, the other two concern religious institutes.- Roman Curia :...

of the Missionaries of La Salette

Missionaries of La Salette

The Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette are a religious congregation of priests and brothers in the Latin Church one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church which is led by the Bishop of Rome. They are named after the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette in France La...

.

In 1853 both Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Calvat wrote their secret down again. A new edition was produced at the request of Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac

Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac

Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac was a French bishop.-Biography:...

, the new Bishop of Grenoble, who was unacquainted with it. On August 5, 1853 Maximin, and on August 5, 6, 12 and 14 1853 Mélanie honoured the request of the bishop by making a written account. These accounts were made public by André Limousin, Louis Gobert, William Bernard Ullathorne

William Bernard Ullathorne

William Bernard Ullathorne was an English Roman Catholic bishop and a missionary in Australia.-Early life:William Ullathorne was born in Pocklington, Yorkshire, the eldest of ten children of William Ullathorne, a prosperous grocer, draper and spirit merchant, and his wife Hannah, née Longstaff...

O.S.B. and others.

The publication of the approval subdued but did not suppress the opposition, whose leaders, profiting by the succession in May 1853 of the bishop Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac (after Philibert Bruillard resigned), retaliated with violent attacks on the reality of the miracle of La Salette. Ginoulhiac had never shown any enthusiasm at all about the apparition and is described as being in good standing with the new regime.

A good example of resistance to the approved apparition inside the Catholic clergy are the publications of diocesan priests Claude-Joseph Déléon and Pierre-Joseph Cartellier, who denounced the apparition of the Virgin Mary as a hoax. They alleged that the woman in the apparition was not the Virgin Mary but a young and disturbed former religious called Constance de Saint-Ferréol de Lamerlière. This story gave rise to a widely advertised suit for slander. They were however obliged to distance themselves from these allegations by the bishop of Grenoble, who condemned these writings as an infamous brochure, full of false allegations, mendacious assertions and gross injuries. The bishop finally publicly confirmed his adherence to his predecessors doctrinal judgement November 4, 1854.

Further examples of radical opposition were ... Laborde, a heretical French priest under interdiction, and ... Ponsot, Protestant pastor of Charleroi

Charleroi

Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...

.

The messages were later instrumentalised. It was very difficult to stamp out speculation, fueled by the wishes of the French episcopate of appeasement with the Republican regime.

Controversy

From 1858 onwards, Mélanie was originally told by the Virgin Mary, she could make her private secret public. She wrote this secret down in an extended version of the 1851 edition, in Darlington

Darlington

Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001...

, England, where she lived with the Carmelites

Carmelites

The Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain...

.

This text further developed the themes of the first, short edition. It also included the first appearance of the religious rule, meant for the ecclesiastical orders that were to be founded. From then on, this element is retained in all further editions of the secret. The text of the edition was then sent by courier and an intermediary to Pope Pius IX on September 30, 1858. This edition of the secret became lost in the Vatican Secret Archives and has not yet been retrieved.

Mélanie got permission to leave the Carmelites at Darlington, and return to mainland Europe from William Hogarth, bishop of Hexham and Newcastle

Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle

The Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle in the Province of Liverpool, known also on occasion as the Northern Province.-History:...

on September 19, 1860.

The extended edition of 1858 was reproduced in Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

in October 1860 on request of the newly appointed spiritual director of Mélanie, Francesco Petagna, who lived in France because of being exiled from his bishopric of Castellammare di Stabia, and some other ecclesiastical superiors. Mélanie shortly went to live in Greece, but then returned to France and Italy.

Maximin Giraud also contributed to the public discussion of the secret. On February 2, 1866 he published a written rebuttal of the allegations made against the apparition. March 1, 1875 Maximin Giraud died peacefully at Corps.

In 1870 both Francesco Petagna and Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac attended the First Vatican Council

First Vatican Council

The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...

. Petagna supported the proclamation dogma

Dogma

Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...

of the papal infallibility

Papal infallibility

Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...

, Ginoulhiac did not, and left Rome early. September 6, 1870 the bishop of Grenoble was succeeded by Pierre-Antoine-Justin Paulinier. He is himself succeeded November 18, 1875 by Armand-Joseph Fava.

A copy of the Marseille reproduction of 1860 was made in Castellammare

Castellammare di Stabia

Castellammare di Stabia is a comune in the province of Naples, Campania region, southern Italy. It is situated on the Bay of Naples about 30 kilometers southeast of Naples, on the route to Sorrento.-History:...

in 1870 and was published on a small scale on April 30, 1873 by Félician Bliard, a French priest. This publication contained the approval of the archbishop of Naples, Sisto Cardinal Sforza

Sisto Riario Sforza

Sisto Riario Sforza was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals.-Family:Sforza was born in Naples, Italy and belonged to the noble House of Riario-Sforza...

.

March 3, 1878 Leo XIII was elected pope after the death of Pius IX. He received Mélanie in private audience December 3, 1878 to discuss the clerical rule given to her by the Virgin Mary during the apparition and meant for the foundation of a new religious order called Order of the Apostles of the Last Days

Order of the Apostles of the Last Days

The Order of the Apostles of the Last Days is a Roman Catholic religious order proposed by the visionary Mélanie Calvat claiming guidance from Our Lady of La Salette at a private apparition on 19 September 1846 on the mountain of La Salette in France....

, and their female equivalent the Order of the Mother of God. Mélanie was asked by the pope to return to Grenoble, in order to introduce the rule. This first attempt failed eventually.

Mélanie herself publicised the 1873 edition of the apparition with the imprimatur

Imprimatur

An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...

of Salvatore Count Zola C.R.L., bishop of Lecce, Italy in a work published on November 15, 1879.

A lively controversy followed as to whether the secret published in 1879 was identical with that communicated to Pius IX in 1851, or in its present form it was merely a work of the imagination of the children. This was because Mélanie and Maximin only gradually made their secret known over the years, and that these new editions were portrayed by opponents as fictional accounts after the facts, in order to repudiate the contence of the secret.

After the First Council of the Vatican, Mélanie's publication that the Virgin Mary had confided in her that "Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist" fuelled the controversy further.

In the later and longer editions of the secret, it is clear that this exact formulation was not present in the original text of the secret sent to Pius IX in 1851. But the expanded editions from 1858 onwards do logically elaborate on the more abstract, shortened statements, initially made by the seers. They build upon it by gradually further elaborating and detailing the 1858 edition.

In 1880 Pierre-Louis-Marie Cortet, bishop of Troyes, denounced the Lecce-imprimatured book to the Holy Office, and in turn Prospero Cardinal Caterini

Prospero Caterini

Prospero Caterini was an Italian Cardinal. As protodeacon, he announced at the end of the conclave of 1878 the election of Cardinal Gioacchino Pecci as Pope Leo XIII...

, secretary

Secretary

A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...

of the Congregation of the Holy Office, wrote back to him, to Vincenzo Maria Sarnelli, bishop of Castellammare di Stabia

Castellammare di Stabia

and to Pierre Archier M.S., superior general of the Missionaries of La Salette

Missionaries of La Salette

. In the very short and personal letter he wrote:
As a result of this, it was alleged that the Vatican put this work in 1880 on the Index of Prohibited Books. But a controversy was started. The letter, written by Prospero Cardinal Caterini in a private capacity, on nonofficial paper without letterhead of office, is alleged to be falsely exaggerated by members of the French episcopate, in reference to its scope. The letter did not have any administrative reference for later Vatican archive retrieval. The controversy continues until this day.

Legacy

Mélanie befriended Gilbert Combe, a French priest who was very much drawn towards the La Salette apparition. Until nearly the end of her life, they would remain in close contact. Mélanie confided in him, and he made an important contribution in the further study of the secrets on the basis of his extensive collection of private letters and notes.

It is in him that over many years she orally confided a number of confidences morales relating to the last times of the world

End times

The end time, end times, or end of days is a time period described in the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...

. These moral

Moral

A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...

confidence

Confidence

Confidence is generally described as a state of being certain either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Self-confidence is having confidence in oneself. Arrogance or hubris in this comparison, is having unmerited...

s are a third source of relevant information concerning the secret, next to the message given to Mélanie, and the ecclesiastical rule of the religious orders. They are also a source of controversy and speculation.

In 1901 Gilbert Combe republished Mélanie's latter edition of 1873, now prohibited secret together with these moral confidences. His book was labeled anti-Bonapartist

Bonaparte

The House of Bonaparte is an imperial and royal European dynasty founded by Napoleon I of France in 1804, a French military leader who rose to notability out of the French Revolution and transformed the French Republic into the First French Empire within five years of his coup d'état...

and pro-Bourbon

House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

by opponents. It favoured traditional monarchism

Monarchism

Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...

over laic republicanism

Republicanism

Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...

. It was put on the Index. Again in 1906 another of Combe's publications was placed on the index.

These actions of the church caused a great deal of confusion in Catholic minds, so that it was compelled to clarify that the original shortened edition of the message of 1851 remained approved, and it was only the latter contributions, that were precautious.

Mélanie Calvat died December 15, 1904 in Altamura

Altamura

Altamura is a town and comune of Apulia, southern Italy. It is located on the Murge plateau in the province of Bari, 45 km South-West of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. As of 2011 its population was of 69,728.-Overview:...

, Italy. The process of her canonization

Canonization

Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...

was begun. Currently the postulator

Postulator

The person who guides a Cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Roman Catholic Church is known as the postulator. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the Norms to be Observed in Inquiries made by Bishops in the...

of her cause is Ciro Quaranta, an Italian religious.

In October 1912, Albert Lepidi O.P., Master of the Sacred Palace

Master of the Sacred Palace

In the Roman Catholic Church, Theologian of the Pontifical Household is a Roman Curial office which has always been entrusted to a Friar Preacher of the Dominican Order and may be described as the pope's theologian...

, in a public statement in reply to a query by Cardinal Louis Luçon, affirmed that the original apparition of 1846 remained approved.

Once again, during the pontificate of pope Benedict XV, the church was compelled to address the issue. Benedict XV issued an admonitum or formal papal warning recognizing the many different versions of the secret from 1858 onwards, in all its diverse forms, and forbidding the faithful or the clergy to investigate or discuss them without permission from their bishops. The admonitum further affirmed that the church's prohibition of discussion issued under Pope Leo XIII issued in 1879 remained binding.

There have been a number of attempts over time to establish the religious orders Mélanie failed to establish herself. A first attempt was made by Blessed Giacomo Cusmano in Italy with the foundation of the congregation

Congregation (catholic)

The term "congregation" has three usages specific to the Roman Catholic Church. One concerns the Roman Curia, the other two concern religious institutes.- Roman Curia :...

s of the Missionary Servants of the Poor and of the Sister Servants of the Poor, its female equivalent. It was assisted by Mélanie herself and exists to the present day.

A second attempt was also made in Italy by Blessed Annibale Maria di Francia

Hannibal Mary Di Francia

Annibale Maria di Francia is a saint venerated by the Roman Catholic Church. His father Francis was a Knight of the Marquises of St. Catherine of Jonio, Papal Vice-Consul and Honorary Captain of the Navy. His mother, Anna Toscano, belonged to the noble family of the Marquises of Montanaro...

R.C.J., with the foundation of the congregations of the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus

Rogationists

The Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus is a religious Congregation of priests and brothers founded by St. Hannibal Mary Di Francia...

and with its female counterpart the Daughters of Divine Zeal. This attempt was also assisted by Mélanie during her life, and exists today.

A further attempt was made in the first half of the twentieth century in small ecclesiastical communities in Western Europe; in Maranville

Maranville

Maranville is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France....

, France, started by Germaine Blanchard; in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay

Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay

Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.-Geography:The commune is traversed by the river Layon...

, France, started by the religious named Mother Saint Jean and supported by father Paul Gouin; and in Leuven

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, Belgium, started by canon Armand Thiéry and Bertha Isabelle Carton de Wiart with the support of Désiré Cardinal Mercier

Désiré-Joseph Mercier

-Early life and ordination:Désiré Mercier was born at the château du Castegier in Braine-l'Alleud, as the fifth of the seven children of Paul-Léon Mercier and his wife Anne-Marie Barbe Croquet....

.

Recent attempts in the 1970s and 1980s were made in Mérida

Mérida, Yucatán

Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...

, Mexico; and Canada, France and Haïti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

by religious Brother Hubertise; and very recently the lay community of the Frères de Saint Jean in France.

Very little was known with certainty about the content of the first edition of the Blessed Virgin's message to the two children until the recent release of the secrets from Vatican archives by René Laurentin

René Laurentin

Father René Laurentin is a French theologian who is considered an expert in Mariology.Laurentin was born in Tours, France), to Marie and Maurice Laurentin, an architect...

and Michel Corteville M.S.

Missionaries of La Salette

, both French priests. The recent release of the secret means that now the secret can be further analyzed.

Predictions

The central theme of the Virgin's messages to humanity was that they had to turn away from deadly sin

Sin

and do penance

Penance

Penance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...

, or undergo terrible suffering.

The Virgin Mary predicted future events in society and church. The fulfillment of these predictions was also seen as one of the indications of the apparition's veracity in the investigation that followed the apparition.

Concerning society, the Virgin Mary predicted that the harvest would completely fail. In December 1846, most of the popular crops were disease stricken, and in 1847 a famine hit Europe which resulted in the loss of approximately one million lives, including one hundred thousand in France alone. Cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

became prevalent in various parts of France and claimed the lives of many children. The demise of the Second French Republic with the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

(1870–1871) and the communist

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

uprising of the Paris Commune

Paris Commune

The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...

of 1871 were also predicted.

Concerning the Church, she predicted that Catholic faith in France and the world, within the civilian population as in the Catholic hierarchy of priests and bishops would diminish greatly

Great Apostasy

The Great Apostasy is a term used by some religious groups to describe a general fallen state of traditional Christianity, especially the Papacy, because it allowed the traditional Roman mysteries and deities of solar monism such as Mithras and Sol Invictus and idol worship back into the church,...

because of many sinful acts from laity

Laity

In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...

and clergy

Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....

. Wars and tribulations would occur if mankind did not repent, and the total destruction of the cities of Paris and Marseille

Marseille

near the end.

Humanity was warned, through the secret message delivered to Mélanie, for the coming of the antichrist

Antichrist

The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...

and the end of times

End times

. To Maximin, she supposedly predicted the conversion of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

in the final phase of the apocalypse

Apocalypse

An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...

Signs

During interrogations from the local authorities, the children were taken to the site of the apparition. A man broke off a piece of rock at the spot of the Virgin's appearance and uncovered a spring. The spring was found to have healing powers which inspired the bishop to begin an official inquiry. Twenty-three cures were attributed to the mountain spring in the first year after the apparition. Additionally, hundreds of miraculous cures have also been reported.

Miracles

Numerous miracles have been attributed to Our Lady of La Salette. La Salette parish priest Louis Perrin attested to more than 250 miracles, and ... Bossan, first archivist

Archivist

An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...

of the La Salette pilgrimages, attested to many thousands of miracles.

A detailed study of these miracles was made by titular archbishop Joseph-Lucien Giray, then bishop of Cahors, in a 1921 book.

Unveiling of the secret

The secret was given during the second stage of the apparition, when the Virgin Mary was standing upright and talked to the children.

There are, at least, ten written editions, nine preserved and one lost, of the secret of La Salette, of which four editions were made by Maximin Giraud, five editions were made by Mélanie Calvat, and one edition was made by third parties.

These editions were written down at different moments in time. Over time, more information was gradually divulged by the seers and explanatory commentary was added.

External comparisons

Like the third secret of Fátima, the secret of La Salette has generated much controversy and wild speculation with both antagonist

Antagonist

An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...

s and protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

s alike, with many believing that the true secret is too frightening to be revealed.

Similar to the 1858 apparition at Lourdes and the 1917 Fátima apparitions, the Virgin Mary appeared short-statured and dressed in strange clothes to peasant children who had hardly any education. As at Fátima, the Virgin Mary reportedly warned that humanity would be severely chastised if they did not repent their sins.

Some sceptics allege that the knowledge of the visions of La Salette influenced later child-seers at Lourdes and Fátima. However, all the children concerned were illiterate and apparently chosen as such to make their assertions all the more credible, as they would not have the ability to create and maintain the truth of such elaborate fantasies.

Catholics are not dogmatically required to believe in a miraculous origin for the events at La Salette, as is the case with all other Church-approved private revelations. It is officially designated worthy of belief.

Of Catholic origin

A large number of writers, philosophers, saint

Saint

s, religious, bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s and pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

s privately held a particular veneration towards Our Lady of La Salette. Among others, they are:

Louis Veuillot
Louis Veuillot
Louis Veuillot was a French journalist and author who helped to popularize ultramontanism ....

(1813–1883), French editor
Paul Verlaine
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...

(1844–1896), French symbolist
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...

(1815–1907), French writer and philosopher
Léon Bloy
Léon Bloy
Léon Bloy , was a French novelist, essayist, pamphleteer and poet.-Biography:Bloy was born in Notre-Dame-de-Sanilhac, in the arondissement of Périgueux, Dordogne. He was the second of six sons of Voltairean freethinker and stern disciplinarian Jean Baptiste Bloy and his wife Anne-Marie Carreau,...

(1846–1917), French writer and philosopher
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

(1882–1973), French writer and philosopher
Louis Massignon
Louis Massignon
Louis Massignon was a French scholar of Islam and its history. Although a Catholic himself, he tried to understand Islam from within and thus had a great influence on the way Islam was seen in the West; among other things, he paved the way for a greater openness inside the Catholic Church towards...

(1883–1962), French islamologist and mystic
Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism.-Life:...

(1868–1955), French symbolist
Sylvain Marie Giraud M.S. (1830–1885), French religious, poet and musician
Pierre Joseph Rousselot (...), French canon
Joseph de Brandt (...), French canon
Gustave Thibon
Gustave Thibon
Gustave Thibon was a French philosopher.He loved poetry very early although he left school at the age of thirteen, especially Victor Hugo and the Parnasse. He was very impressed by First World War, what led him to hate patriotism and democracy. Young Gustave Thibon travelled to London and to Italy...

(1903–2000), French religious
Armand Thiéry (1868–1954), Belgian canon and founder of religious congregations
Servant of God Piotr Semenenko C.R.
Resurrectionist Order
The Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ is an international Institute of Consecrated Life of men within the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1836 by three men, Bogdan Jański, Peter Semenenko and Hieronim Kajsiewicz in Paris on the heels of the Polish Great Emigration...

(1814–1886), Polish president of the Polish seminary in Rome
Gilbert Combe (...-1927), French priest
Paul Gouin
Paul Gouin
Paul Gouin was a politician in Quebec, Canada. was the son of Lomer Gouin and the grandson of Honoré Mercier...

(1885–1968), French priest
René Laurentin
René Laurentin
Father René Laurentin is a French theologian who is considered an expert in Mariology.Laurentin was born in Tours, France), to Marie and Maurice Laurentin, an architect...

(1917–present), French priest
Michel Corteville M.S. (...-present), French religious
Saint Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney
Jean Vianney
Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney , commonly known in English as St John Vianney, was a French parish priest who in the Catholic Church is venerated as a saint and as the patron saint of all priests. He is often referred to as the "Curé d'Ars"...

(1786–1859), French priest
Saint Pierre Julien Eymard
Peter Julian Eymard
Saint Peter Julian Eymard was a French Catholic priest, founder of two religious orders, and a canonized saint....

S.M.
Society of Mary (Marists)
The Society of Mary , is a Roman Catholic religious congregation or order, founded by Father Jean-Claude Colin and a group of other seminarians in France in 1816...

(1811–1865), French religious and founder of religious congregations
Blessed Giacomo Cusmano (1834–1888), Italian religious and founder of religious congregations
Blessed Annibale Maria di Francia
Hannibal Mary Di Francia
Annibale Maria di Francia is a saint venerated by the Roman Catholic Church. His father Francis was a Knight of the Marquises of St. Catherine of Jonio, Papal Vice-Consul and Honorary Captain of the Navy. His mother, Anna Toscano, belonged to the noble family of the Marquises of Montanaro...

R.C.J. (1851–1927), Italian religious and founder of religious congregations
Saint Leonard Muraildo (...-1890), Italian religious
Blessed Antoine Chevrier (1825–1879), French religious
Saint Daniel Comboni
Daniel Comboni
Daniel Comboni was a Roman Catholic missionary and Saint.-Early life:He was born at Limone sul Garda, Brescia, Italy, into a family of cultivators employed by one of the rich local proprietors...

(1831–1881), Italian titulary bishop and missionary
Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat R.S.C.J.
Society of the Sacred Heart
The Society of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic religious congregation established in France by St. Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. It has presence in 45 countries. Membership to the Society is restricted to women only. Its members do many works, but focus on education, particularly girls'...

(1779–1865), French religious and founder of religious congregations
Saint Émilie de Rodat (1787–1852), French religious
Saint Euphrasie Pelletier (...-1868), French religious
Blessed Francisco Spinelli (1853–1913), Italian religious
Saint Luigi Orione
Luigi Orione
Saint Luigi Orione is an Italian saint.- Life :Luigi Giovanni Orione was born into a poor family at Pontecurone, in the Province of Alessandria, Piedmont on the Vigil of the feast day of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. He was named after Saint Aloysius Gonzaga and Saint John the Baptist...

P.D.P. (1872–1940), Italian religious and founder of religious congregations
Saint Mieczysław Halka Count Ledóchowski S.J. (1822–1902), Polish cardinal and primate of Poland
Philibert de Bruillard (1765–1860), French bishop of Grenoble
Clément Villecourt (1787–1867), French cardinal and bishop of La Rochelle
William Bernard Ullathorne
William Bernard Ullathorne
William Bernard Ullathorne was an English Roman Catholic bishop and a missionary in Australia.-Early life:William Ullathorne was born in Pocklington, Yorkshire, the eldest of ten children of William Ullathorne, a prosperous grocer, draper and spirit merchant, and his wife Hannah, née Longstaff...

O.S.B. (1806–1889), British archbishop of Birmingham
Salvatore Count Zola C.L.R. (1822–1898), French bishop of Lecce
Antoine Louis Adolphe Dupuch (1800–1856), French archbishop of Alger
Carlo Maria Martini
Carlo Maria Martini
Carlo Maria Martini, SJ is an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Milan from 1980 to 2002, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983.-Early life and education:...

S.J. (1927–present), Italian, cardinal and archbishop of Milan
Blessed Pius IX (1792–1878), Italian pope
Leo XIII (1810–1903), Italian pope
Saint Pius X (1835–1914), Italian pope
Benedict XV (1854–1922), Italian pope
Venerable Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....

(1876–1958), Italian pope
Blessed John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...

(1881–1963), Italian pope

A number of members of the Catholic hierarchy, religious and bishops, were publicly and later privately opposed to the apparition. They were, among others:

Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac
Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac
Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac was a French bishop.-Biography:...

(1806–1875), French bishop of Grenoble
Amand-Joseph Fava (1826–1899), French bishop of Grenoble
Pierre-Louis-Marie Cortet (1817–1898), French, bishop of Troyes
Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald
Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald
Louis Jacques Maurice de Bonald was a French cardinal .Born at Millau, he was the son of the philosopher Louis Gabriel Ambroise de Bonald....

(1787–1870), French, cardinal and archbishop of Lyon
Claude-Joseph Déléon (1797–1895), French priest
Pierre-Joseph Cartellier (...-1865), French priest
Adolphe-Louis-Albert Perraud
Adolphe Perraud
Adolphe Perraud was a French Cardinal and academician.-Life and works:Perraud was born at Lyon, France. A brilliant student at the lycées Henri IV and St Louis, he entered the École Normale, where he was strongly influenced by Joseph Gratry. In 1850 he secured the fellowship of history and for...

(1828–1906), French cardinal and bishop of Autun
Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
Jean-Baptiste Henri-Dominique Lacordaire , often styled Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, was a French ecclesiastic, preacher, journalist and political activist...

O.P.
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

(1802–1861), French religious

Of anti-clerical and Masonic origin

The message of La Salette contained elements, which were hostile to the lay principles of the French state. It condemned the principles of the French revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, and was responsible for strong reactions towards it. Some examples are:

From the beginning, the 1873 message was exploited by French anti-clericals and freemasons to attack opposing Catholics. In 1916, Dr. ... Gremillion of Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....

, France, published a commentary on the 1873 edition of the text of Mélanie under the pseudonym of Dr. Henry Mariavé, which was put on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

Again, in 1923, a group taking the name Société Saint-Augustin re-published Gremillion's 1916 commentary. Gremillion distributed a thousand copies of this edition with an anticlerical tract pasted into it. This work too was put on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

The intense confusion deliberately spread by anti-Catholics caused a reaction that caused La Salette to lose its glory and fall back into the slumber of a minor site of Catholic pilgrimage.

Of schismatic origin

There are a number of schismatic movements that link themselves to the secret of La Salette:

The Mariavite Church
Mariavite Church
The Mariavite Church is an independent Christian church that emerged from the Catholic Church of Poland at the turn of the 20th century. Initially, it was an internal movement leading to a reform of the Polish clergy. After a conflict with Polish bishops, it became a separate and independent...

, a schismatic sect focussing on the La Salette apparition, sent a delegation to Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X
Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...

after their excommunication from the church, demanding that he submit to them, ending their excommunication and doctrinal schism.

In 1950, Frenchman Jean Colin claimed to receive revelations and to continue and to fulfil the 1873 message of Mélanie Calvet. Subsequently, Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....

publicly declared him by name a vitandus excommunicate
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

, or one who should be avoided. Colin claimed to have been made pope, even while Pope Pius XII was alive, and is known as antipope
Antipope
An antipope is a person who opposes a legitimately elected or sitting Pope and makes a significantly accepted competing claim to be the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church. At times between the 3rd and mid-15th century, antipopes were typically those supported by a...

Clement XV. In 1963 he founded the ultra-liberal, ultra-modernist The Renewed Church of Christ or Church of the Magnificat, based first in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

s, then at St. Jovite, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada. The Colinites have since disintegrated into several factions, with one successor antipope in France.

Another, larger, faction is led by Jean-Gaston Tremblay, one of Colin's former disciples, who declared himself constituted pope by apparition even before Colin had died and who calls himself the antipope John-Gregory XVII. He is now based in St. Jovite, as head of the Order of the Magnificat and The Apostles of the Latter Days. The 1873 edition of the secret of Mélanie Calvet, which called for the constitution of these Apostles of the Latter Days, is central to his claims and mission.

Shrine

The shrine of La Salette is located in a high alpine pasture at an altitude of about 6,000 feet, about 9 miles from the nearest town. Now easily accessible by car, bus, and taxi, the shrine operates a hospitality service with a range of accommodations. The mountain scenery around the shrine is spectacular and it is surrounded by a network of walking trails.

The Basilica of Our Lady of La Salette was begun in 1852, completed in 1865, and designated a basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

in 1879. It is a large, rather austere church, with a façade flanked by two strong towers.

Inside, the basilica's nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

is bordered by two rows of Byzantine columns supporting the Romanesque vaulted ceilings. A mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

of Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

crowns the apse. The transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

has three medallions representing the stages of the apparition, the weeping, the message, and the departure. The basilica also includes a small museum documenting the history of La Salette.

Outside the basilica, pilgrims can take a walking path leading to the apparition site, the so called Valley of the Apparition. Bronze statues erected in 1864 depict the three stages of the apparition.

Cross

The La Salette cross

Cross

A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...

, worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary, was unusual because it has added features, a hammer and pincer.

The hammer symbolizes the sinner nailing Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

on the cross by our sin

Sin

s and the pincer represents all of us trying to remove the nails from the cross by our virtuous life and fidelity

Fidelity

"Fidelity" is the quality of being faithful or loyal. Its original meaning regarded duty to a lord or a king, in a broader sense than the related concept of fealty. Both derive from the Latin word fidēlis, meaning "faithful or loyal"....

to Jesus.

This cross was seen hanging on a chain around the neck of the Blessed Virgin.

External links

Shrines

Congregation and parishes

Background

Controversy

In particular

Order of the Apostles of the Last Days
Order of the Apostles of the Last Days
The Order of the Apostles of the Last Days is a Roman Catholic religious order proposed by the visionary Mélanie Calvat claiming guidance from Our Lady of La Salette at a private apparition on 19 September 1846 on the mountain of La Salette in France....
Missionaries of La Salette
Missionaries of La Salette
The Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette are a religious congregation of priests and brothers in the Latin Church one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church which is led by the Bishop of Rome. They are named after the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette in France La...
Basilica of Our Lady of La Salette
Mélanie Calvat
Mélanie Calvat
Françoise Mélanie Calvat called Mathieu was a French Roman-catholic religious sister and Marian visionary. As a religious, she was called Sister Mary of the Cross....
Maximin Giraud
Maximin Giraud
Pierre Maximin Giraud was a French member of the Corps of Papal Zouaves and Marian visionary.-Biography:...

In general

Marian apparitions
Shrines to the Virgin Mary
Shrines to the Virgin Mary
In the culture and practice of some Christian Churches - mainly, but not solely, the Roman Catholic Church - a Shrine to the Virgin Mary is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion...
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes is the name used to refer to the Marian apparition said to have appeared before various individuals on separate occasions around Lourdes, France...
Our Lady of Fátima
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Fátima is a famous title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as she appeared in apparitions reported by three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal. These occurred on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13...

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