The Apparition
The evening of the 19th of September, we went back down a little earlier
than usual. When I arrived at my master’s farm, I was busy tying up my cows and
tidying up in the stable, and had not yet finished when my mistress came up to
me in tears and said:
“Why, my child, why didn't
you come and tell me what happened on the mountain?”
Maximin, not having found
his masters who were still at work, had come over to mine and recounted
everything he had seen and heard. I replied:
“I did want to tell you,
but I wanted to get my work finished first.” A moment later, I walked over to
the house and my mistress said to me:
“Tell me what you have
seen. De Bruite, the shepherd (that was the nick name of Pierre Selme,
Maximin's master), has told me everything.”
I began, and towards the
middle of the account, my master arrived back from the fields. My mistress, who
was in tears at hearing the complaints and threats of our sweet Mother, said:
“Ah! You were going to harvest the wheat
tomorrow (Sunday). Take great care. Come
and hear what happened today to this child and Pierre Selme's shepherd-boy.”
And turning to me, she said:
“Repeat everything you have
said.”
I started again, and when I
had finished, my master said:
“It was the Holy Virgin or
else a great saint, who has come on behalf of the Good Lord, but it’s as if the
Good Lord had come Himself. We must do what this Saint said. How are you going
to manage to tell that to all Her people?”
I replied:
“You tell me how I must go
about it, and I will do it.” Then, looking at his mother, wife, and brother, he
added:
“I'll have to think about
that”. Then everyone went back to their business.
After supper, Maximin and
his masters came over to see my masters and to recount what Maximin had told
them, and decide what was to be done.
“For”, they said, “it seems
to us that it was the Holy Virgin sent by the Good Lord. The words which She spoke convince us of
this. And she told them to pass it on to
all of Her people. Perhaps these children will have to travel the world over to
make it known that everyone must observe the commandments of the Good Lord,
lest great misfortunes come upon us.”
After a moment's silence,
my master said to Maximin and me:
“Do you know what you must
do, my children? Tomorrow, you must get up early and both of you go and see the
priest and tell him everything you have seen and heard. Tell him carefully how it all happened. He
will tell you what you have to do.”
The 20th of September, the
day after the Apparition, I left early in the morning with Maximin. When we
reached the presbytery, I knocked at the door. The priest's housekeeper came
and opened the door and asked us what we wanted. I said to her (in French, and
I, who had never spoken French),
“We would like to speak to
Father Perrin.”
“And what have you got to
say to him?” she asked.
“We wish to tell him, Miss,
that yesterday we went up to watch over our cows on Baisses Mountain and after
dinner, etc...etc.” We recounted a good piece of the Most Holy Virgin’s
words. Then the church-bell rang: it was
the final call for Mass. Father Perrin, the parish priest of La Salette, who
had heard us, flung open his door; he was in tears and was beating his chest.
He said to us:
“My children, we are lost,
God will punish us. Oh! Good Lord! It was the Holy Virgin who appeared to you!”
And he left to say Holy Mass. We looked
at each other, Maximin, the housekeeper, and I. Then Maximin said to me:
“Me, I’m off home to my
father in Corps”, and we parted company.
As my masters had not told me to return to work immediately after speaking
to Father Perrin, I saw no harm in going to Mass. And so I was in church. Mass
begins and after the first reading from the Gospel, Father Perrin turns to the
congregation and tries to recount to his parishioners, the story of the
Apparition which had just taken place, the day before, on one of their
mountains, and he urges them to stop working on Sundays. His voice was broken with sobs, and all the
congregation was greatly moved. After Holy Mass, I went back to my masters to
work. Mr. Peytard, who still today is
the mayor of La Salette 6 came to question me on the Apparition, and when he
had made sure that I was speaking the truth, he went away convinced.
I stayed on in the service
of my masters until All Saint's Day. Then I was boarded with the nuns of
Providence, in my home town of Corps.
The Most Holy Virgin was tall and well-proportioned. She seemed so light that a mere breath could
have stirred Her, yet She was motionless and perfectly balanced. Her face was majestic, imposing, but not
imposing in the manner of the Lords here below. She compelled a respectful
fear. At the same time as Her Majesty compelled respect mingled with love, She
drew me to Her. Her gaze was soft and
penetrating. Her eyes seemed to speak to
mine, but the conversation came out of a deep and vivid feeling of love for
this ravishing beauty who was liquefying me.
The softness of Her gaze, Her air of incomprehensible goodness made me
understand and feel that she was drawing me to Her and wanted to give Herself.
It was an expression of love which cannot be expressed with the tongue of the
flesh, nor with the letters of the alphabet.
The clothing of the Most
Holy Virgin was silver white and quite brilliant. It was quite intangible. It was made up of
light and glory, sparkling and dazzling.
There is no expression nor comparison to be found on earth.
The Holy Virgin was all
beauty and all love; the sight of Her overwhelmed me. In her finery as in Her person, everything
radiated the majesty, the splendour, the magnificence of a Queen beyond
compare. She seemed as white,
immaculate, crystallized, dazzling, heavenly, fresh and new as a Virgin. The
word LOVE seemed to slip from Her pure and silvery lips. She appeared to me
like a good Mother, full of kindness, amiability, of love for us, of compassion
and mercy.
The crown of roses which
She had placed on Her head was so beautiful, so brilliant, that it defies
imagination. The different coloured roses were not of this earth; it was a
joining together of flowers which crowned the head of the Most Holy Virgin. But the roses kept changing and replacing
each other, and then, from the heart of each rose, there shone a beautiful
entrancing light, which gave the roses a shimmering beauty. From the crown of
roses there seemed to arise golden branches and a number of little flowers mingled
with the shining ones. The whole thing formed a most beautiful diadem, which
alone shone brighter than our earth's sun.
The Holy Virgin had a most
pretty cross hanging round Her neck. This cross seemed golden, (I say golden
rather than gold-plated, for I have sometimes seen objects which were golden
with varying shades of gold, which had a much more beautiful effect on my eyes
than simple gold-plate). On this
shining, beautiful cross, there was a Christ; it was Our Lord on the Cross.
Near both ends of the cross there was a hammer, and at the other end, a pair of
tongs. The Christ was skin-colored, but He shone dazzlingly; and the light
shone forth from His holy body seemed like brightly shining darts which pierced
my heart with the desire to melt inside Him. At times, the Christ appeared to
be dead. His head was bent forward and His body seemed to give way, as if about
to fall, had He not been held back by the nails which held him to the Cross.
I felt a deep compassion
and would have liked to tell His unknown love to the whole world, and to let
seep into mortal souls the most heartfelt love and gratitude towards a God who
had no need whatsoever of us to be everything He is, was and always will be.
And yet, O love that men cannot understand, He made Himself man, and wanted to
die, yes, die, so as to better inscribe in our souls and in our memory, the
passionate love He has for us! Oh, how wretched am I to find myself so poor in
my expression of the love of our good Saviour for us! But, in another way, how happy we are to be
able to feel more deeply that which we cannot express!
At other times, the Christ
appeared to be alive. His head was erect, His eyes open, and He seemed to be on
the cross of His own accord. At times too, He appeared to speak: He seemed to
show that He was on the cross for our sake, out of love for us, to draw us to
His love, and that He always has more love to give us, that His love in the
beginning and in the year 33 is always that of today and will be for ever more.
The Holy Virgin was crying
nearly the whole time she was speaking to me. Her tears flowed gently, one by
one, down to her knees, then, like sparks of light, they disappeared. They were glittering and full of love. I would have liked to comfort Her and stop
Her tears. But it seemed to me that She needed the tears to show better Her
love forgotten by men. I would have liked to throw myself into Her arms and say
to Her:
“My kind Mother, do not
cry! I want to love you for all men on earth.” But she seemed to be saying to
me:
“There are so many who know
me not!”
EIGHTH DAY
O loving Mother, how vividly real do the secrets of thy maternal heart
appear in thy merciful Apparition! How greatly they increase and strengthen my
confidence in thee! O amiable Mother, how mercifully thou bearest the rebukes
encountered in thy endeavors to bring back to God the hearts of thy erring
children. One may remain deaf to the call of thy love and engaging goodness;
but he will yield to thy tears. For the tears of a mother go straight to the
heart and melt it. But, as regards those whose hardened hearts despise even thy
tears, thou hast awful threats and terrible chastisements in store for them.
Yet, even then, how much like those of a mother are thy reproofs and
punishments! With one hand thou strikest, while with the other thou upholdest.
Even when we go astray, thy watchful and maternal eyes
follow us in the minutest details of life, to detect the slightest good
sentiments of our hearts, in order to reward them. Who would not strive to
inflame every heart with love and respect for thee?
Practice
Speak to one of your friends and acquaintances of Our Lady of La
Salette.
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