Tuesday, October 22, 2013

STRANGE ECHO OF LA SALETTE




 [Editor’s note:  this article appeared in APPROACHES, No. 86, edited by Hamish Fraser, in 1984.  Our thanks to Anthony Fraser for his gracious permission in allowing us to re-publish on this blog articles from his father’s periodical APPROACHES as well as those from his own sorely-missed APROPOS.]

Writes Hamish Fraser:

In Approaches No. 75 (Christ the King, 1981) Father Lawson reviewed Shepherdess of La Salette by Abbe Gouin.  Now he sends us a translation of an insert in an article in the July-August 1984 issue of the Italian review CHIESA VIVA by its Rev. Editor, Father Luigi Villa.  The insert had been reproduced from the November 1972 issue of Chiesa Viva.  Here it is in full.

FACTS ARE…. FACTS!

In 1846, in a Commune in Isere (La Salette), the Blessed Virgin appeared to two young children, Massimino Giraud and Melanie Calvat-Mathieu.

                                            -----------------------------------

Four French bishops made it their business to stifle people’s belief in the apparition.  But… all four of them died a tragic and mysterious death.  Bishop Ginovilhac of Grenoble who had had little Melanie shut up in an English Convent to keep her quiet, died shortly afterwards in a lunatic asylum.  His successor, Bishop Fava, who did everything in his power to stop the spread of news of the apparition, was found dead flat on the floor, naked, his eyes bulging and his fists clenched.  Bishop Gilbert of Amiens (and later of Bordeaux), who had said: ‘The secret of La Salette is nothing but a tissue of anti-religion, lies and exaggerations’, was found a short time later, on August 16, 1889, dead in his room stretched out on the floor; and during his funeral the coffin fell off the catafalque.  Archbishop Darfoy of Paris, who himself interrogated Massimino and did violence to his mind with questions about ideologies so as to get at the secret of the boy:  ‘The words of your beautiful Lady are at times just stupid, as your secret will prove stupid.’  But the boy answered:  ‘It is as certain that I saw the beautiful Lady as I am certain that within three years you will be shot dead.’ It was a long time to the Commune and attempts at revolution, and France, unthinking and comfortable in the Second Empire, did not foresee them; but on May 24, 1871 that prophecy came true: the Archbishop was shot dead by the Paris communards.
 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our Lady of La Salette,
restore the Holy Church.

I love tradition, and I see the Church being bombarded from outside and inside from satan.
It can cause great anxiety and cause us to take our eyes off Jesus as Peter did on the
sea and thats exactly what satan wants. Let us keep our eyes on the cross and trust Jesus.
As St Teresa of Avila said " let nothing disturb you and nothing frighten you,
all things are passing, God never changes"....... JMJ

a quote from Bishop Fulton Sheen:

....."The reason why people are in error, may be likened to passengers analyzing the waters outside of a ship when it loses its course, instead of inquiring from the 'pilot' the real reason".

Instaurare Omnia in Christo!
Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat!

Anonymous said...

How shall I put this? Occurrences such as these seem to happen, sometimes. Balthazar (Hell is Empty) was to be made a cardinal, but this was 'over-ruled.' I'm curious to see the result of certain planned canonizations over the next year, but not, however, without some trepidations.

I hope those souls are in Heaven, or at least, on the way, but I'm not sure that they should be held up as an example of Catholic Sanctity.

Wulfrano Ruiz Sainz said...

I love to hear how the four stupid bishops got what they deserved.

Wulfrano Ruiz Sainz said...

I love to hear how the four stupid bishops got what they deserved.

EditorCT said...

Would you provide an independent, verifiable source for the deaths of those bishops?

Thank you.

Aged parent said...

Dear EditorCT:

Thank you for your comment.

The sources which you want were listed at the very top of this article, which were printed in the periodical APPROACHES out of Scotland. I believe that is what you need. As I cannot read French alas! it might be difficult for me to elaborate on the details any further than what the late Mr Fraser supplied. If there are any French-speaking/reading readers here perhaps they might be of some help.

I had heard that story once before, in the mid-1970s, from the parish priest of the church I attended in Milwaukee at the time so it would appear to be a story that is at least somewhat familiar to a number of people.

Jane said...

Wulfrano, please don't say that. May God forbid that I get what I deserve and might I say the same goes for the rest of us.

The Woman of the House said...

Jane, then you and I ought to be very good, or very likely the same could happen to us. Thank God when he punishes those who deserve it.

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