By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY
Part 2
The previous article detailed how our Lady appeared to Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Mathieu on Saturday, September 19, and now we can see what happened to them afterward. It was only when the Blessed Virgin had disappeared that the children fully realized that the Lady they had seen was more than an ordinary human being, and they began to wonder if she was some great saint.
This conviction was strengthened, when on returning to pick up their belongings, they realized that Maximin’s dog Loulou was still asleep and had not barked at the Lady; this would certainly have happened had she been an ordinary person. The children spoke to each other about her and realized that both had been given a secret that was not to be revealed. They continued to talk as they drove their cattle homeward, little realizing that the moment they spoke about what had happened their lives would be completely transformed.
Mélanie and Maximin separated at the village as dusk fell, and the boy went to Pierre Selme’s cottage, where, on being questioned, he expressed surprise that Selme had not seen what had happened, since he too had been on the mountain; Maximin recounted how he and Mélanie had seen a beautiful Lady who had spoken with them for a long time. He repeated her message, and Selme, somewhat surprised at the serious tone of Maximin, usually the most lively of boys, made no comment.
The youngster then ran off toward home calling at the house of Mélanie’s employer, Baptiste Pra, where, on meeting the man’s mother, he immediately said to her: “Didn’t you see a beautiful Lady, all on fire, float above the valley?” The old woman asked which Lady, and Maximin described the glittering woman who had spoken to him and Mélanie. He then went inside to recount what had happened to the Pra family, who listened to him in silence, struck by the solemn way that he spoke. When he finished, the old grandmother expressed her belief that the Lady must have been the Blessed Virgin, since she was the only one who had power over her Son.
Mélanie was still in the cowshed, and she was told to come in and say what she had seen, and while Pierre Selme arrived to consult with his neighbor over Maximin’s story, the boy slipped away. Baptiste Pra rebuked her for not speaking sooner, but she said she had intended to tell them once her work was finished. Mélanie then told her version of what had happened, and again there was surprise, not just at the things she said but also at her whole manner, which had been transformed; usually she was shy and a little abrupt, but now she seemed more gentle, yet confident and fluent.
The grandmother spoke up and rebuked her son for working on Sundays, but he retorted that he couldn’t be expected to believe that the Blessed Virgin had appeared to a girl who didn’t say her prayers. Nevertheless, he decided not to work the following day, and proposed that both children should tell the local priest, Fr. Perrin, what had happened, the next morning, Sunday.
Mélanie and Maximin told their story before Mass, and the priest in his excitement and emotion repeated it to his meager congregation as his homily. The mayor of La Salette-Fallavaux, M. Peytard, and the council were informed and soon the news was well known. He decided to investigate; and so on that same evening he called to see Mélanie and heard her story, threatening her with jail if she was lying, and even trying to bribe her with 20 francs, a very large sum at the time, to say nothing more.
The mayor questioned her for three hours but was unable to shake her insistence, and left impressed by what she had said, as was Baptiste Pra, who, once he had gone, called in Pierre Selme and another neighbor to record Mélanie’s experience in writing. As she dictated, Baptiste Pra wrote her words down and the other two men checked this and signed it jointly, thus giving us the most important basic text of the apparition, written only a day after the event.
The mayor went to see Maximin the next day and questioned him, as he had Mélanie, but despite the same tactics the boy maintained his story, something that M. Peytard found all the more impressive since by now he was aware of Maximin’s reputation for carelessness and his tendency to tell lies. The boy’s father became the subject of mockery and he in turn took it out on Maximin, but this did nothing to affect his steadfastness.
A few days later the mayor led a little party, including the children, up the mountain and they showed him the place of the apparition and indicated what had happened. Shortly after this they again went up the mountain, this time with Fr. Mélin, the parish priest of Corps, his sacristan, and other witnesses, where the children faced more questions.
Although this priest was favorably impressed by their demeanor, he decided to act as prudently as possible. He informed the aged bishop of Grenoble, Philibert de Bruillard, of events, telling him that, despite everything the children were clinging to their story, and the latter told his priests not to mention the matter in their sermons. The two children were kept apart for the next few months, and so did not have the opportunity of collaborating and so enhance their accounts.
The bishop set up two commissions to study the matter, one made up of cathedral clergy and the other of professors from the seminary. Their initial report came in December, and while favorable toward the children, cautioned that extreme care was needed in the matter, and that it was best to wait before giving any definitive ruling as to the truth or falsity of events at La Salette.
To further the investigation, two of the seminary professors interviewed both of the children the following summer, while also collecting evidence on the miraculous cures apparently resulting from the use of spring water from the place of the apparition.
Once the two professors had reported, another commission, headed by the bishop, again considered the whole matter, once more questioning the children separately and also looking at the reported healings, so that by the final session a majority of the commission accepted the truth of the apparition.
Devotion Is Authorized
The bishop then allowed his clergy to accompany pilgrimages to La Salette and authorized the production of a book on the apparition. It was not until four years later, though, in 1851, that he publicly declared his acceptance of the children’s apparition, in an episcopal letter read out in the churches of Grenoble Diocese, which contained the following points:
“We judge that the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to two shepherds, on September 19, 1846, on a mountain in the Alpine chain, situated in the parish of La Salette, of the archpresbytery of Corps, bears all the characteristics of truth and that the faithful have grounds for believing it indubitable and certain;…Wherefore, to show our heartfelt gratitude to God and to the glorious Virgin Mary, we authorize the devotion of Our Lady of La Salette.”
(The final article in this series will deal with the implications of our Lady’s words at La Salette for today, and also with aspects of the secrets revealed to the children, and how they relate to Fatima.)
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(Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian apparitions, and maintains a related website at www.theotokos.org.uk.)
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