THE MESSAGES OF LA SALETTE: MELANIE
 

 Melanie's secret  message, which follows, was published in its entirety in a brochure which she had publish in 1879 at Lecce, Italy, with the approval of the Bishop of Lecce.

The Lady said to me:

 What I shall tell you now will not always remain a secret. You are allowed to publish it after the year 1858.

 There will be a kind of false peace before the advent of Antichrist. Man's only thought will be upon diversions and amusements. The wicked will indulge in all sorts of sin, but the children of the Holy Church, the children of the faith, my Sincere followers, will wax strong in the love of God and in the virtues that are dear to Me. Happy the humble souls that are guided by the Holy Ghost.

I will fight with them until they shall have reached the completion of age.

  "Italy will be severely punished for her efforts to shake off the yoke of the Most High Lord. She will become the play-ball Of war. On every side blood will flow. The temples will either be closed or desecrated. Priests and members of Religious orders will be put to flight. They will be beaten to death and otherwise die cruel deaths.

 "The Vicar of My Son will be compelled to suffer much because for a time the Church will be delivered to great persecutions-----That will be the hour of darkness, and the Church will experience a frightful crisis. The  powerful officials of the state and the Church will be suppressed and done away with, and all law and order as well as justice.

There will be  murder, hate, envy and deceit, with no love or regard for one's country or family.

"God is going to punish in a manner without example. Woe to the  inhabitants of the earth! God is going to exhaust his wrath, and nobody shall be able to evade so many combined evils. At the first stroke of His  fulminating sword the mountains and the whole of nature shall shake with terror, use the disorders and crimes of men pierce the very Vaults of the Heavens. The earth shall be stricken with every kind of plagues. [Besides the pestilence and famine, which shall be general.]

There shall  be wars until the last war, which shall be waged by the ten kings of Antichrist. All these Kings shall a common design, and they only shall  govern the world.

 Priests and Religious shall be hunted; they shall be butchered in a cruel manner. Many shall abandon the Faith, and great shall be the number of Priests and Religious who shall separate themselves from the True Religion; among these there will be found likewise several bishops.

Let the Pope be upon his guard against miracle workers, for the time is
arrived when the most astounding prodigies will take place on the earth
and in the air.

 "Lucifer, with a very great number of demons will be unchained from Hell. By degrees they shall abolish the Faith, even among persons consecrated to God. They shall blind them in such a manner that, without very special graces, these persons shall imbibe the spirit of those wicked angels. Many religious houses will entirely lose the Faith, and shall be the cause of the loss of many persons. The Superiors of Religious Communities should be alert regarding the ones they take into the community, for the devil will use all malice, to bring persons into the Orders who are addicted to sin.

 "Bad people will abound upon the earth; and the spirit, of darkness shall spread over the earth a universal relaxation about everything relating to the Service of God. Satan shall have very great power over nature [God's punishment for the crimes of men]; temples will be erected for the worship of these demons. Some persons shall be transported from one place to another by these wicked spirits, even some priests, because these will not be animated by the Holy Spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity, and zeal for the Glory of God.

 "Some will make the dead rise and appear as holy persons. The souls of the dammed shall also be summoned, and shall appear as united to their bodies. Such persons, resurrected through the agency of demons, shall assume the figure of holy persons, who are known to have been upon earth, in order more easily to deceive them. These self-styled resuscitated persons shall be nothing but demons under their forms. In this way they shall preach a Gospel contrary to that of Jesus Christ, denying the existence of Heaven.

 "In every place there shall be seen extraordinary prodigies, because the True Faith has been extinguished, and a pale light shines in the world.

 "My sons Vicar shall have much to suffer, because for a time the Church shall be exposed to very great persecutions. It shall be the time of darkness. The Church shall have to pass through an awful crisis. France, Italy, Spain, and England shall have Civil War. Blood shall flow through the streets. French shall fight French. Italians against Italians. After this there will be a frightful general war. For a time God shall not remember France, nor Italy [for two years or for one?] because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no more understood. The Holy Father will suffer much. I will be with him to the end to receive his sacrifice. The  wicked shall many times attempt his life.

 " Nature demands vengeance against men, and she trembles with fright in expectation to what will befall the earth sullied with crimes. Tremble, O earth! And tremble you also who make profession of serving Jesus Christ, but inwardly worship yourselves because God has delivered  you to his enemies, because corruption is in holy places.

"In the year 1865 the abomination shall be seen in Holy Places, in Convents, and then the demon shall make himself as the king of hearts. It will be about that time that Antichrist shall be born. At his birth he shall vomit blasphemies. He shall have teeth; in a word, he shall be like an incarnate demon; he shall utter frightful screams; he shall work prodigies; and he shall feed on impure things. He shall have brothers who though not incarnate demons like him, shall nevertheless be children of iniquity. At the age of twelve years they shall have become remarkable for valiant victories, which they shall achieve; very soon each of them will be at the head of armies. Paris shall be burned, and  Marseilles shall be submerged; many great cities shall be shattered and swallowed up by earthquakes. The populace will believe that everything is lost, will see nothing but murder, and will hear only the clang of arms and sacrilegious blasphemies.

 ''I address a pressing appeal to the earth. I call upon the true Disciples of the Living God, Who reigns in the Heavens; I call upon the True Imitators of Christ made Man, the Only true Savior of mankind; I call upon My children, those who are truly devoted to Me, those who have offered themselves to me that I may lead them to My Son, those whom I carry as it were in My arms, those who have been animated by My Spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of these Last Days, these faithful Disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived despising the world and themselves, in poverty and humility, in contempt and in, I silence, in prayer and mortification in chastity and union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time for them to come out and enlighten the World. Go ye forth and manifest yourselves as My darling children; I am with you and within you, so that your Faith may be light which
illumines You in these unhappy days, and that your zeal may make you
long for the Glory and Honor of the Most High. Fight, ye children of light; combat, ye small band that can see, for this is the time of times, the end of ends.

 "The seasons of the year will change, the earth will produce only bad fruits, the stars will depart from their regular course, the moon will give only a weak, reddish light. Water and fire in the interior of the earth will rage violently and cause terrible earthquakes, whereby mountains and cities will sink into the depths. Earthquakes will also devour whole countries. Together with the Antichrist the demons will work great false miracles on earth and in the air. Voices will be heard in the air. Then men will desert Religion and become worse and worse. Men will let themselves be deceived because they refused to adore the real Christ Who lives bodily amongst them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth. Bloody wars, famines pestilence and contagious diseases will develop. Terrible rain and hail will come with animals falling from the Heavens thunder and lightning burning down entire cities. The whole
universe will be gripped by fear. Finally the sun will be dark, and Faith
alone will give light.

 "A certain precursor of Antichrist, together with his followers from many nations, will fight the real Christ, the only Savior of the World. He will endeavor to eliminate the adoration of God in order to be considered as God himself. Much blood will flow. Then the earth will be visited by all kinds of blows, from constant wars until the last war which finally will be made by the ten kings of the Antichrist.

 "During the time of the arrival of Antichrist, the Gospel will be preached everywhere, and all Peoples and Nations then recognize the Truth.

 "Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of Antichrist. Yet the Heathen Rome will disappear. See, here is the Beast with its subjects that claims to be the Savior of the world. Proudly it rises in the air to go straight to Heaven, but it will be strangled by the Archangel Michael and cast down. And the earth, which for the past three days was in continuous Convulsions opens her fiery jaws and swallows him with all his cohorts forever into its hellish abyss. Eventually will water and fire cleanse the earth and the works of human pride will be destroyed and all will be renewed Then will all serve God and glorify
Him.

 "The just will have much to suffer; their prayers, works of penance and tears will ascend to Heaven. All of God's people will cry forgiveness and grace and beg My help and intercession Then Jesus Christ will command His Angels, by a special act of His Justice and Mercy, to deliver all His enemies to death Then suddenly all persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all evil doers will perish, and rest and peace between God and man will appear. Jesus Christ will be served, adored  and glorified. Love of neighbor will begin to flourish all over. The new  kings will be on the right hand of the Church which will grow strong,  and which will be humble, pious, poor, zealous and followers of the virtues. All over, the Gospel will have be preached, people will make great progress in faith; there will be united amongst the laborers of Jesus Christ, and people will live in the fear of God.

 "Behold the reign of the ten Kings Woe to the inhabitants of the earth; there shall be sanguinary wars, and famine, and plagues and contagious maladies; there shall be showers of a frightful hail of animals; thunder shall shake entire cities; earthquakes which shall swallow up some countries; voices shall be beard in the air; men [in despair] shall knock their beads against the walls; they shall call on death, and death shall be their torment; blood shall flow from every side. Who shall be able to overcome [all these evils]? Fire shall rain from Heaven, and shall destroy the cities. The whole world shall be struck with terror, and many will allow themselves to be seduced because they have not believed the True Christ living among them. The sun becomes dark. Faith only shall survive. So the time! The abyss opens. behold the king of kings of darkness! Behold the beast with his subjects!

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 When I was close to the Beautiful Lady, in front of her to her right, she began to speak and from her beautiful eyes tears also started to flow.

 "If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go off the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much I can no longer keep hold of it.

 I have suffered all the time for the rest of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually. And the rest of you thin little of this. In vain you will pray, in vain you will act, you will never be able to make up for the troubles I have taken over for the rest of you.

 I gave you six days to work, I kept the seventh for myself, and no one wishes to grant it to me. This is what weighs down the arm of my Son so much.

 Those who drive carts cannot speak without putting the name of my Son in the middle.

 These are the two things which weigh down the arm of my Son so much. If the harvest is spoiled, it is only because of the rest of you. I made you see this last year with the potatoes, you took little account of this. It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes, you swore oaths, and you included the name of my Son. they will continue to go bad, at Christmas there will be none left."

 At this point, I was trying to interpret the word "potatoes" [pommes de terre]: I thought I understood it to be "apples" [pommes].

The Beautiful and Good Lady, reading my thoughts, repeated thus:

 "You do not understand, my children. I will tell it to you another way.

 "If the harvest is spoiled, it does not seem to affect you. I made you see this last year with the potatoes. You took little account of this. It was quite the opposite when you found bad potatoes, you swore oaths, and you included the name of my Son. They will continue to go bad and at Christmas, there will be none left.

 If you have corn, you must not sow it. The beasts will eat all that you sow. And all that grows will fall to dust when you thresh it. A great famine will come. Before the famine comes, children under the age of seven will begin to tremble and will die in the arms of those who hold them. The others will do penance through hunger. The nuts will go bad, the grapes will become rotten."

 At this point, the Beautiful Lady, who was entrancing me, for a moment did not make herself heard. I could see, however, that she was continuing, as if speaking, to move graciously her kindly lips. At this moment, Maximin was receiving his secret. Then, turning to me, the Most Holy Virgin spoke to me and gave me a secret in French. Here is this secret in its entirety as she gave it to me."