Fatima: The Signs and the Traces of Hidden Things

Below is an excerpt from Part 11 in my book, "Fatima: The Signs and Secrets" (available through Amazon in both paperback and Kindle readers). Numbers within brackets indicate the paperback book's footnote number.
++++++++++++

At Fatima, Our Lady’s distinct words provided counsel and admonition, while the accompanying signs and symbols fulfilled all seven purposes that authentic prodigies may hold. While scholars examine all the text from and about Fatima in regard to the Third Secret and the collegial consecration, we must also study the Fatima signs. That God wills the elect to understand His signs, at the proper time, is supported by inerrant Scripture: “For the Lord knoweth all knowledge, and hath beheld the signs of the world, he declareth the things that are past, and the things that are to come, and revealeth the traces of hidden things.”[364]

The Purposes of Signs 
Part 3 of this book stated, "Throughout salvation history, the signs of God indicate various purposes. A true sign can possess any one or more of the following seven functions: It confirms God’s Word, His goodness, authenticates prophesy, verifies God’s blessings and His intervention for the sake of the elect, strengthens the faithful with hope, insures or testifies to God’s Presence, or declares His judgment upon sin. [365] The signs of the world oppose the Catholic City, both in her human and eternal nature, leading souls to revolt against God, mimicking but falsifying God’s Word, undermining true prophecy, weakening or destroying the virtues by employing their imitators as replacements, and working contrary to God’s Will. [366] In sum, God’s signs and the world’s signs contradict each other. This explains why “the whole truth about Fatima,” [367] specific to the salvation of souls living in this era, remains contradicted by the world.

Fatima follows the pattern of Scriptural prophecy, which is given by visions, words, types and signs. In regard to Scripture, the usual course is to first study the text of its prophecy. As most Catholic biblical exegetes agree, “When the generations for whom it was chiefly intended would come into being, the true author of all true prophecy, the Holy Spirit, would in his own ways allow his elect to take from the text the knowledge that had from the beginning been concealed therein. In this, then, is to be found the reason why the magisterium of the Church, which is based directly on tradition in all matters of faith and morals, must depend largely on experience and the interpretation of signs when there is a question of unfulfilled or only partially fulfilled prophecy.” [368]

What St. Justin the Martyr said in relation to the Old Testament which prophesied Jesus as the Son of God can also be applied to the public revelation and prophecies of Fatima: We are “compelled to belief by those who prophesied before the events. With our own eyes, we are witness to things that have happened and are happening, just as they were predicted. And this, we think, will appear to you as the strongest and surest proof.” [369]

Fatima, judged by the Church as “worthy of belief,”[370] prophesied “things that have happened and are happening.” Above all, Fatima has proven to be in perfect accord with Church dogma and doctrine, which is the supreme test of any revelation. The validity of the Virgin’s merciful message and apocalyptic warnings – and, principally, the solution to avert the latter - was authenticated by miraculous signs, from the seemingly small to the stupendous.

The Mother of God vs. Modernism
The Virgin Herself is a sign: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel.”[371] Our Lady is the same Woman foretold in Genesis who will crush the serpent and his plots: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” [372]

This same Virgin, who came to Fatima, subtlely underscored dogma, doctrine, sacred history and Scriptural prophecy in the dates She appeared, the place She chose, the distinct dress and adornments She wore, the succinct words She uttered, the visions and secrets She revealed, and the many signs She gave. Together they form a consistent whole, fortifying the Secret given in three parts which concern the following: first, the salvation of souls; second, the salvation of the nations and of Christendom, the peace of the world; and third, the preservation of the Catholic Faith and the salvation of the Church. “These three themes, which are joined by an indissoluble bond, reveal to us the extraordinary mystical, moral, political, ecclesial, and dogmatic implications of the Secret of Fatima.”[373]

Not long before the first Fatima apparition, Pope St. Pius X had issued Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907) against the modernists and Our Apostolic Mandate (1910), in which the latter declared:

“We must repeat with the utmost energy in these times of social and intellectual anarchy when everyone takes it upon himself to teach as a teacher and lawmaker - the City cannot be built otherwise than as God has built it; society cannot be set up unless the Church lays the foundations and supervises the work; no, civilization is not something yet to be found, nor is the New City to be built on hazy notions; it has been in existence and still is: it is Christian civilization, it is the Catholic City. It has only to be set up and restored continually against the unremitting attacks of insane dreamers, rebels and miscreants. Omnia instaurare in Christo. (To restore all things in Christ.)” [374]

Because Modernism is insubordinate to Tradition and Scripture, it redefines everything pertaining to sacred dogma and doctrine, leaving no stone of the Catholic City unturned. It is especially defiant against Vatican I, which affirmed the “sacred dogmas must be perpetually maintained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be a recession from that meaning under the pretext of a deeper understanding." [375] As the prophetic Pascendi expounded, modernism pretends that dogmas are merely symbols instead of absolute truths. “Thus the way is open to the intrinsic evolution of dogma. Here we have an immense structure of sophisms [false reasoning] which ruin and wreck all religion.” [376]

Modernism, the “synthesis of all heresies,” [377] is an insidious sign of apostasy that lives in the souls of men, wherein should reside the kingdom of God. [378] It is the heresy of inversion, spawned by the same evil entity behind liberalism, which brought forth the “Enlightenment,” the French Revolution, and “The Age of Reason.” However, throughout salvation history, when the elect are (or soon shall be) insidiously besieged, God manifests His Divine Intervention in diverse ways – as did the Sacred Heart in the visions of Paray-le-Monial before liberalism and rationalism began to sweep Christian Europe.

The year 1830 initiated the prelude to “The Age of Mary,” in which the Virgin Mother of God herself began to earnestly entreat Her children, giving us a repeated message of prayer and penance, and sacramentals like the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, the Badge of the Immaculate Heart (the Green Scapular), and the miraculous water at Lourdes. Yet Fatima is the crown of all, with its message and its signs to the world, culminating in the Miracle of the Sun.

The First Sign: Immaculate Spouse of the Holy Ghost,
Figure of Israel and the Church

The smallest of the Fatima signs are two adornments of the Virgin. The ornaments, however, speak for themselves, if only we have the eyes to see: “For it is good to hide the secret of a king, but honourable to reveal and confess the works of God.” [379]

The first symbol was a waist-length yellow necklace, from which hung a luminous orb or ball of light; the orb shone even brighter than the radiating light of Our Lady’s risen and glorious body. [380] The second ornament was a small yellow star, suspended on Our Lady’s long gown between knee and hem. [381] There is no extant record that Our Lady or Sr. Lucia, the last surviving visionary who died in 2005, ever commented upon these two adornments.

Of the necklace and the shining orb, Fatima historian and expert Frére Michel of the Holy Trinity wrote, “… in the light of the liturgy, itself completely saturated with Holy Scripture, it seems to us that we can easily guess the symbolic meaning of this ornament. Does it not remind us of the ‘jewels,’ the traditional attribute of the spouse? Sicut sponsam ornatum monilibus suis – ‘As a bride adorned with her jewels,’ continues the canticle of Isaiah, which the Church places on the lips of the Immaculate One.”

“Is it not in this sense that we must look for the most profound significance of this mysterious jewel described by Lucy? Several verses of the Canticle seem to invite us to do so; thus the divine Spouse [is] speaking to the Bride, the figure of Israel and of the Church, personified in the Blessed Virgin: ‘You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride!’ (Cant. 4:9-10)” [382]

The Second Sign: The Mediatrix of All Graces
The meaning of the jewel and necklace is intertwined with the little yellow star. Known as “The Star of Esther,” it “points to a particular Old Testament history called The Book of Esther, which relates the story of a Hebrew queen whose intercession saved her people from annihilation…Just as the star adorning Our Lady of Fatima points to The Book of Esther, so does The Book of Esther point to all of the Fatima revelations. Esther’s theme centers on secrets and revelations, suggesting [it] is a figure type for The Apocalypse (Greek for Revelations)…The Book of Esther appears to encapsulate what Fatima highlights about both the Virgin’s and the Church’s singular office in salvation history.”

Centuries ago, St. Albert noted Queen Esther [383] as a figure type of the Virgin Mary. Since the Star of Esther was one of the Fatima Virgin’s adornments, it is clear that The Book of Esther calls for a thoroughly traditional, theological study. That said, it must also be noted that no Church Doctor ever attempted a complete examination of this canonical, historical book. For those of us living in the Fatima era, the proper interpretation of Esther is vital. The interpretation must be in accord with Church dogma and doctrine, the constitution of the Church, apostolic tradition, and study of history with a “Catholic conscience.” [384] Such a venture includes “studies into the spiritual, moral, social, political, educational, economic and cultural conditions of the times,” [385] employing the Scholastic method of faith and reason.

Both of the Virgin’s adornments reveal the “secrets” of Mary and about Mary, which are carefully hidden in the Old Testament and apocalyptic figure types. As to the method prescribed for the interpretation of Scripture (which, with Tradition, is one of the two sources of Revelation), Pope Pius IX clarified that “the rules which the holy Synod of Trent salutarily decreed concerning the interpretation of Divine Scripture in order to retrain impetuous minds, are wrongly explained by certain men. We, renewing the same decree, declare this to be its intention: that, in matters of faith and morals pertaining to the instruction of Christian Doctrine, that must be considered as the true sense of Sacred Scripture which Holy Mother Church has held and holds, whose office it is to judge concerning the true understanding and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures; and, for that reason, no one is permitted to interpret Sacred Scripture itself contrary to the sense, or even contrary to the unanimous agreement of the Fathers…” [386] (All emphasis mine) In regard to the literal and mystical sense of Scripture, Pope Pius XII taught, “In this work, let interpreters keep in mind that their greatest care should be to discern and define what the so-called literal sense of the Bible is.” [387] In obedience to Trent’s decree, this examination of The Book of Esther will hold to the sense held by the Church and the Fathers, for as St. Augustine noted: "What lies hidden in the Old Testament, is made manifest in the New."  [388]

The Central Figures in Esther
Almost five hundred years before Christ, God raised up a Hebrew virgin, an orphan adopted and educated by her uncle Mardochai, to save the Israelites from annihilation. Through an unusual series of events, she became the queen of ancient Persia, living in its capital city of Susan.

The very name of this Hebrew queen, who was loved by the king above all others, refers to “hidden things.” She was “named Edissa, ‘who by another name was called Esther.’” In the Old Testament of the Hebrew text, her name was Hádássah - meaning myrtle, a white, five-pointed, star-shaped flower. The Hebrew texts [also] relate that she gave her name as Hester (in Persian, Esther – which means ‘star’)…The alteration from Hádássah to Hester refers to a secret, because Hester translates to ‘hidden [meaning of the] star.’” In addition, the “Hebrew name for the Book of Esther is Megillat Esther – e.g., "revelation [of that which is] hidden.”

Intriguing as a figure type is Assuerus, Esther’s spouse, the Persian monarch apparently serving as a figure type of God. Modern-day Iran is the heart of ancient Persia, even to the city of Susan (Susa). Is it not possible that Our Lady’s choices to appear at Fatima, a village named after a Mohammedan woman who converted to Catholicism, and Her display of Esther’s Star provide many traces of the Third Secret’s hidden things? For The Book of Esther centers on secrets and revelations, a plot among nations against one kingdom and the elect, prayer and sacrifice, and the final triumph of the Queen.

 ---Continued in "Fatima: The Signs and Secrets"

St. Bernadette: A Life of the Beatitudes, Part 2

Bernadette, the Little Maiden of Lourdes:
A Life of the Beatitudes (Part II)

“I must become a saint. My Jesus wants it.”
– St. Bernadette

by Marianna Bartold

 “At fourteen, not knowing how to read or write, a complete stranger to the French language and ignorant of the Catechism, Bernadette looked upon herself as the most worthless child of her years.” [1]  On Thursday, January 28, 1858, the 14 year-old Bernadette returned to her parents, joyfully exclaiming, “Now at least I shall be able to go to school and Catechism! That’s why I’ve come back.” [2]
 
Circumstances were no better for the Soubirous family, but her parents gave their promise. The next day, Bernadette was in school. Upon hearing the child’s motive and determination, the Sisters enrolled her as a future communicant.
Coincidentally, on Thursday, February 11, 1858 – exactly two weeks after her return because she greatly desired her First Holy Communion - the humble girl was graced to see a “most beautiful Lady.” Bernadette would see this Lady a total of 18 times, the last vision occurring on July 16, 1858.
 
That particular Thursday was a school holiday, so Bernadette was home with her family. Although a bitterly cold day, the air was still and there was no wind under the sunless sky. Shortly after 11 a.m., Bernadette set out on a necessary, tiresome task, accompanying her sister Toinette and a younger, impulsive classmate, Jeanne Abadie. The trio went in search of two things: fallen branches and twigs that they could rightfully take and use in the Soubirous’ fireplace and old bones to sell to the rag-and-bone man. [3] Their expedition led them into a forest and then over a foot-bridge to the Lafitte family’s property, which formed an island. One side was enclosed by a bend in the Gave River, the other by a canal which powered a saw-mill and flour-mill, called the Savy. The extreme point of the triangle was a tall, rocky formation known as “Massabielle” (Old Hump).

Massabielle was “naturally shaped into an arch from which a cave ran backwards, and to the right, about fourteen feet up, there was a small niche where a wild rosebush was growing.” [4]   In the spring season, the bush was “ablaze with white blooms.” This wild outgrowth of rock, with its little oval niche, was also called “the grotto.” In the small space before the grotto, Bernadette was forced to wait, as her healthier companions decided to remove their shoes and stockings, cross the freezing cold stream, and continue their search for dead branches and discarded bones.

They were already on the stream’s other side when, anxious to help, Bernadette resolved to join them. She removed her shoes in anticipation of walking through the water. “I had hardly begun to take off my stocking when I heard the sound of wind, as in a storm.” [5]  (Two days later, Fr. Pomian – an assistant priest to Fr. Peyramele, the parish priest at Lourdes – was particularly struck by Bernadette’s mention of the “sound of wind, as in a storm.” It reminded him of Acts 2:2, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Virgin and the Apostles: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”)

Although the trees across the way were not moving at all, Bernadette said, “I had half-noticed, but without paying any particular heed, that the branches and brambles were waving beside the grotto.” She returned to removing her stockings and was already putting one foot into the water when she again heard the same sound of wind, this time in front of her. She looked up and saw the branches and brambles “underneath the topmost opening in the grotto tossing and swaying to and fro, though nothing else stirred around.”

The Lady at the Grotto
It was within the oval niche that Bernadette saw a “golden cloud” and then a beautiful light, instantly followed by “a girl in white, no bigger than myself, who greeted me with a slight bow of the head; at the same time, she stretched out her arms slightly away from her body, opening her hands, as in pictures of Our Lady; over her arms hung a Rosary.” Bernadette described that the Lady was “smiling at me most graciously and seemed to invite me to come nearer. But I was still afraid. It was not, however, a fear such as I have had at other times, for I would have stayed there forever looking at her; whereas, when you are afraid, you run away very quickly.”

The Lady wore “a white dress reaching down to her feet, of which only the toes appeared. The dress was gathered very high at the neck by a hem from which hung a white cord. A white veil covered her head and came down over her shoulders and arms almost to the bottom of her dress. On each foot, I saw a golden rose. The sash of the dress was blue and hung down below her knees. The chain of the Rosary was yellow; the beads white, big, and widely spaced. The girl was alive, very young, and surrounded with light.” [6]
 
When asked for additional details, Bernadette would also describe the girl’s face as oval in shape and of “an incomparable grace.” The Lady’s eyes were blue, and her voice, “Oh, so sweet!” The Rosary held by the Lady was not the usual length for the Psalter of all 15 decades but a five-decade Rosary. As Bernadette prayed the Rosary, the Lady let Her own Rosary slip through Her fingers, silently counting the beads with Bernadette. The Lady, however, did not pray the Our Father or the Hail Mary, but She did pray the Glory Be.

Abbé Trochu, her foremost biographer, noted: “This last detail, which the little one in her ignorance could not have invented, reveals an accurate and deep theological truth. The Gloria, which is a hymn of praise to the Adorable Trinity, and is Heaven’s Canticle, is indeed the only part of the Rosary suitable for Her, whose name Bernadette would not learn for another month. The Pater is the prayer of needy mortals, tempted and sinful, on their journey to the Fatherland; as for the Ave, the Angel’s greeting (to the Virgin Mary), this could be used only by the visionary, as the Apparition had no need to greet Her own self.” [7]

In the first two apparitions, the Lady did not speak to Bernadette, although She greeted the girl with a noble, yet inviting, bow of the head. During the third apparition, the Lady spoke for the first time, asking Bernadette, “Will you do me the favour of coming here for a fortnight?” [8] Bernadette said, “After asking permission from my parents, I will come,” to which the Lady replied, “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the other” (a literal French-to-English translation).

As Bernadette would soon understand, the Lady did not state that She herself would always appear. Rather, the request applied only to Bernadette.  A brief summary provided by the first inquiry of the ecclesiastical Commission which later investigated the Lourdes apparitions thus states: “Bernadette was faithful to her appointment: she went most punctually to the grotto for a fortnight.  She always obtained the same favours there, except on two days when the Apparitions did not appear.” It was from this time forward that the young Bernadette was “accompanied by an ever increasing crowd. When she had the happiness of seeing the Vision, she forgot everything: she no longer noticed what was taking place around her: she was entirely absorbed.” [9]
 
This World and the Other
As for the Lady saying, “I do not promise you happiness in this world, only in the other,” her words quickly became self-evident. From the first day of the Apparition and until the end of her brief life, Bernadette would suffer misunderstandings, humiliations, false accusations, open derision, and many other trying circumstances.

For example, when her mother, Louise, first heard the story from the younger sister, Toinette, she questioned Bernadette and then took a rod to discipline both girls. At school, a much younger student slapped Bernadette across the face, while some of the teaching sisters taunted her to learn her catechism from the Lady. For many hours, the secular authorities would discourteously treat her, not even offering her a chair while they interrogated her. Even Fr. Peyramele was, at the first, very gruff with Bernadette.

Throughout her life, Bernadette was many times cross-examined about the Apparitions. In fact, she “wrote and signed numerous accounts of her visions In addition, she underwent repeated interrogations by both ecclesial and civil authorities, during which her testimony was transcribed. In none of these accounts did she contradict herself; on the other hand, there is no one single version that includes every detail.” [10]

What is consistent is Bernadette’s fidelity to testifying to the Virgin’s message and in living it. In the total of 18 apparitions, the Blessed Mother only spoke a handful of times. Once, She delivered three secrets that were for Bernadette alone – “a commission which, on her deathbed, she [Bernadette] declared she had carried out.” [11] For the public, however, the main message was one of penance, prayer for the conversion of sinners, and a request that the priests build a chapel and that processions come to the grotto. There was also the Lady’s gift, through the hands of Bernadette, of a hidden spring of water where graces of spiritual and bodily healing are to this day bestowed.

When the fortnight ended, the Lady had still not identified herself. During that interim, Bernadette had, at Father Peyramale's insistence, requested two things of the heavenly visitor – Her name, as well as a sign to confirm that the Apparition’s request for a chapel was truly from God.  On Thursday, February 25, 1858, the Lady had already instructed Bernadette, “Go and drink at the spring and wash yourself in it.” From young girl’s hand, the miraculous spring of Lourdes would come forth.  To the request for Her name, however, the Lady only gave Bernadette a gentle smile.

After March 4, Bernadette felt no inner call to return to the grotto until March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation. When she arrived, she found the Lady was already waiting for her. On this day, Bernadette thrice implored the Lady for Her name.  Then came the final confirmation of Lourdes, for the Lady raised Her eyes to Heaven as She joined Her hands, brought them close to Her heart, and said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” After the briefest moment, She then smiled at Bernadette and disappeared.

Life after Lourdes
The Holy Communion so ardently desired by Bernadette was received on the Feast of Corpus Christi. Then, on July 16, the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the Lady appeared to Bernadette one last and unexpected time. To deter pilgrims, civil authorities placed boards around the grotto, including the spring. Bernadette was by the Gave River when suddenly the Lady appeared: “I saw neither the boards nor the Grave. It seemed to me that I was in the grotto, no more distance than the other times. I saw only the Holy Virgin. I had never seen her so beautiful.” [12]

Bernadette’s actions during the apparitions emphasized both the Rosary and humiliating penance for sinners, but the Vision’s requests also tested her humble piety, fortitude, spirit of penance, and perseverance. Thus her coming years were foreshadowed, for she would continue to practice and interiorly grow in these and many other virtues.

The future saint was well aware that the grace of seeing the Mother of God did not grant her automatic access to Heaven. She would later write in her spiritual diary: “Often remind yourself of this word that the Most Holy Virgin said to you: Penance! Penance! You should be the first to put it into practice. For this intention, suffer trials in silence so that Jesus and Mary may be glorified…” [13]
  
Bernadette learned to read, write, embroider and sew. She became a Sister of Charity and Christian Instruction at Nevers, France, and was given the name of Sister Marie-Bernard. She worked in the infirmary as a nurse’s aide, and was later given the lighter task of altar sacristan. In the convent, she lived a life of both interior and physical suffering. She was often ill and frequently misunderstood and humiliated by her superiors and, on occasion, her fellow sisters. Abbé Trochu noted that “for the space of eleven years – much as she was esteemed and loved by her companions – she had been subjected to an undeserved coldness by those in authority over her. She always refused to speak of her suffering, which was a mixture of bewilderment and pain. She put up submissively with being reprimanded in public and more frequently than was her share.” [14]

Due to Bernadette’s lack of higher education and her frequent illnesses, to cite just two examples, she was called a “good for nothing” and “a lazy lie-abed.” Deeply hurt by such uncharitable comments, Bernadette never retaliated, although on occasion she might respond with a brief, appropriate remark. Once, when a passing superior flung a quick jest that the ailing Bernadette needed to arise and get about her business, the saint calmly replied, “It is my business to be ill.”

St. Bernadette understood that hers was an apostolate of suffering. A brief glimpse into her diary reveals the hidden gem of her interior life: “My divine Spouse has made me desire a humble and hidden life. Jesus has often told me that I will not die until I have sacrificed all to Him. And to convince me, He has often told me that when it is over, He alone, Jesus crucified, will console me.” [15]

At the young age of 35 years, on April 16, 1879, St. Bernadette died an agonizing death from tuberculosis of the bone. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI on December 8, 1933.  Enclosed in a glass casket in the convent chapel in Nevers, France, her incorrupt body sleeps, as it awaits its reunion with her holy soul at the final Resurrection.

What was the secret of Bernadette? She tells us in her own words: “To love what God wills always, to will it always, to desire it always, to do it always: this is the great secret of perfection, the key to paradise, the foretaste of the peace of the saints!” [16]

---In case you missed it, you can also read St. Bernadette: A Life of the Beatitudes, Part I

Notes
   [1] Trochu, Abbé Francois. St. Bernadette Soubirous: 1844-1879 [Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, 1985. Translated and adapted by John Joyce, S.J. First published in France under the same title by Librairier Catholique Emmanuel Vitte, Paris, 1954. English edition copyright 1957 by Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., London. Published by TAN in arrangement with Longman Group Limited, London. Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, June 21, 1957): p. 36.
  [2] Ibid.
  [3] Bones were used “for knife handles, toys and ornaments, and when treated, for chemistry. The grease extracted from them was also useful for soap-making.” Rag-and-bone man, Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag-and-bone_man]
  [4] Foley, Donal Anthony. Marian Apparitions, the Bible, and the Modern World. [Herefordshire, England: Gracewing, 2002. Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur]: p . 159.
  [5] Trochu, loc. cit., p. 42.
  [6] Loc. cit., pp. 42-43.
  [7] Loc. cit., p. 44.
  [8] A fortnight is 15 consecutive days.
  [9] Trochu, op. cit., p. 63.
  [10] McEachern, Ph.D., Patricia A. A Holy Life: The Writings of St. Bernadette of Lourdes [San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2005. Kindle Edition]:  Loc. 116.
  [11] Foley, op. cit., p. 160.
  [12] McEachern, op. cit., Loc. 2354.
  [13] Ibid., Loc. 573.
  [14] Op. cit., Loc. 284.
  [15] Op. cit., Loc. 330.
  [16] Op cit., Loc. 542.

St. Bernadette of Lourdes: A Life of the Beatitudes

Bernadette, the Little Maiden of Lourdes:
A Life of the Beatitudes

 “Humility is the secret of God’s glory.”
– St. Bernadette Soubirous

by Marianna Bartold

In reading the lives of the saints, St. Bernadette once mused, ““I think that they ought to point out the faults the Saints had and indicate the means they employed to correct them. That would be helpful to us. We would learn how to set about it. But all that is mentioned is their revelations or the wonders they performed. They cannot serve our advancement.” [1]

However, her most famous biographer, Abbé Trochu, did not quite agree. “She failed to add that, even so, these imperfect authors are to be commended for raising the pre-eminent qualities of the Saints, and that she found in them examples to imitate. The Church in its infallible decisions was one day to adopt the well-founded verdict of a Superior General of Saint-Gildard: ‘It is my own opinion that during her life Sister Marie-Bernarde [the saint’s name in religious life] put into practice the virtues that constitute sanctity.” [2]

What is sanctity? It is the “state of Christian perfection,” which is the result of a “fervent surrender of one’s self to God and the practice of virtue. It does not require extraordinary works. The Blessed Mother of God, the most holy of mortals, never performed any extraordinary works to excite worldly admiration.  ‘Love is fulfilling of the law.’ ” [3] 

A saint is a person who “fulfills all the demands of the law” (Rom. 13:10) which is accomplished by charity, the virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbors as ourselves. Charity is considered the queen of all virtues, since it is the one virtue that will always exist in Heaven. In the Beatific Vision, souls will no longer possess any need for the other virtues. Charity, however, will remain, since it perfectly unites God and man, just as it perfectly unites man to man. [4]  Those souls who are canonized as saints by the Catholic Church are those who were known to practice all of the virtues to a heroic degree – i.e., heroic virtue.

What is meant by heroic virtue? Pope Benedict XIV, “whose chapters on heroic virtue are classical,” thus describes it: “In order to be heroic, a Christian virtue must enable its owner to perform virtuous actions with uncommon promptitude, ease, and pleasure, from supernatural motives and without human reasoning, with self-abnegation and full control over his natural inclinations.” The 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia comments,  “A heroic virtue, then, is a habit of good conduct that has become a second nature, a new motive power [that is] stronger than all corresponding inborn inclinations, capable of rendering easy a series of acts each of which, for the ordinary man, would be beset with very great, if not insurmountable, difficulties.” [5]
 
In reading the lives of the saints, time and prayer are needed to assess, study, and contemplate in them the supernatural virtues and the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost. In addition, “the Holy Ghost also grants certain extraordinary gifts, which are given only on rare occasions and to selected persons. Such extraordinary graces are granted principally not only for the benefit of the recipient, but of others.” Among these graces are included the gift of visions, of miracles, and of prophecy.

In St. Bernadette – handmaiden of the Lord’s Handmaiden, the Blessed Virgin Mary - we will discover all of these things: the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity); the four cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude); the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord), the twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost (charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, and chastity) and the extraordinary graces of visions, miracles, and prophecy. Of St. Bernadette’s many virtues and gifts, space will permit that only a few examples can be spotlighted – especially her fortitude and long-suffering.

The Saint’s Early Years
Bernadette Soubirous, the firstborn of her parents, was born about two o’clock in the afternoon, as the bell was ringing for Vespers on Sunday, January 7, 1844 in Lourdes, France, a small market town near the Pyrenees in the country’s southwest.  Her parents had named her Bernarde Marie, but the priest who baptized her kept referring to her and registered the name as Marie Bernarde. Her father reminded the priest that the child’s name was already registered at the Town Hall as Bernarde-Marie, but history shows that the priest never did change the register. Her family, however, considered her first name to be Bernarde, although she was called by the diminutive of Bernadette.

As for the parents, neither had ever gone to school but they were known to be good Catholics who faithfully carried out their religious duties and respectable people of irreproachable integrity. Of the nine children born of the marriage between Louise Castérot and Francois Soubirous, not all lived to adulthood.

In Bernadette’s sixth year, she began to suffer from asthma, which afflicted her until the end of her life. She was small for her age but she was a happy and lovable child with a sweet smile. She easily took to caring for her younger siblings so her parents could work. She, like her parents, received no education.

By her tenth year, 1854, the family was in serious financial straits. For various reasons, their mill was lacking customers and so the father sought odd jobs, as did her mother. Bernadette remained at home, taking care of her younger siblings. (On an important and related note, it was in this same year that Pope Pius IX defined as a dogma the Immaculate Conception.)

In the saint’s 11th year of life, Bernadette became one of many children who were stricken by a cholera epidemic. Since cholera is usually fatal, her recovery truly must have been a miraculous one. In her 12th year, her godmother Aunt Bernarde took her home, where she was fed well but also became nurse-maid to her younger cousins.  Once again, her education was neglected. Her aunt would later say that Bernadette knew the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Credo. However, she had never been taught to read, so her only prayer book was a small Rosary.

By the winter of 1856, Bernadette insisted on returning to her family. By this time, the Soubirous became so impoverished that they were forced to accept the free lodging of a cold, damp room known as Le Cachot (The Dungeon), once used to hold prisoners. Everyone in the town knew the family’s situation, but this “was an age of scant help for the poor. For example, no conference of St. Vincent de Paul was established in Lourdes till 1874 (three years before Bernadette’s death). It was a harsh age when too many of the wealthy, lacking pity because they lacked the Gospel, exploited the labour of the poor; and mothers of large families received only ten sous for a whole day’s work!” [6]
 
Bernadette’s father found work from day to day with the baker or the horse-and-coach service, while her mother worked in the fields, or gathered wood in the forest and later sold it to buy bread, or did the washing and housework for people in town. Previously, Bernadette and her sister Toinette stayed at home, caring for the younger brothers. Now, however, Toinette at age ten was able to attend school with the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, who had come to Lourdes in 1834.

For her part, the 13 year old Bernadette would often say that books were not meant for her, that the Sisters did not know in which class to put her since she could not read and could hardly scratch out a few letters. There was also her asthma and the fact that she was needed at home. Her only real desire for herself was the reception of her First Holy Communion.

Little Shepherdess of Bartres
Louise Soubirous thought of what seemed to be a good solution. In June of 1857, Bernadette was sent to Bartres, to the household of Marie Lagües, who had been Bernadette’s wet-nurse after Louise suffered an unfortunate accident with a candle. As a baby of 10 months of age, Bernadette was brought to live with the Lagües and there she stayed until her 20th month of life. Considering Marie’s supposed affection for the child, as well as her home’s proximity to church and school, Louise had thought it would be easier for Bernadette to attend school and Catechism at Bartres.

In reality, however, Bernadette again became a nursemaid, this time to her former “foster mother’s” four young children. By August, she was also entrusted with the care of the family’s lambs, and so she became a shepherdess. When school opened in September, she was not sent to class. Instead, she was given the additional care of the sheep.

What this meant was that the young girl worked from sunup to sundown, caring for children in the early morning and spending the rest of the day outside, in good weather or bad, with the sheep and lambs. At first, she was allowed to attend some catechism classes and the Sunday Masses and holy days. However, her inability to read and her legitimate exhaustion made it difficult for her to memorize the catechism.

Bernadette was a responsible worker, she never complained, she asked for nothing, and she gratefully accepted whatever was given to her. This made it easy to treat her as an unpaid servant, working for her bed and board. The true purpose for which she was sent to her former wet-nurse was neglected. A priest, the brother-in-law of Mr. Lagües, did intervene on Bernadette’s behalf, telling his sister’s husband that he was not treating Bernadette as one of the family. The reproach had little effect. Rarely was she seen at catechism, and never was she seen in school.

It was during these solitary days as a shepherdess that Bernadette made a stone altar at the foot of an old chestnut tree, setting on top of it a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There she would kneel, praying the Rosary with a gift given to her by her mother – a set of poor black beads, threaded on plain string.  She would play with the flock of lambs and then, resting, her eyes would fall on the valley; her ears heard the rustling of the trees, the occasional bird song and the other sounds of nature. “God made all that,” she would think to herself. She did not know she was in the very early stages of meditation or that God was already preparing her soul. She was to be another handmaiden of the Immaculate Mother of God.

In early January of 1858, Bernadette’s 14th birthday found her still at the house of the Lagües. Circumstances continued as they had since August – she still helped with the children, she still retained the entire responsibility of the flock, and she still was not receiving any form of proper catechesis and education.

In humility, Bernadette did all that was asked of her, and she did it well - but eventually her ardent longing for her First Holy Communion began to manifest itself. At least three times, she asked to be brought home, through verbal messages given to her visiting Aunt Bernarde, a neighbor from Lourdes who was passing through the area, and the Lagües servant who one day took a trip to Lourdes. For the Soubirous, however, the situation was no better, so their daughter’s entreaties fell on deaf ears. Finally, Bernadette took matters into her own hands.

On a Sunday near the end of January 1858, she requested permission to go to Lourdes. Although given consent, she was instructed by the Lagües to return the very next day. She came back three days later, humbly yet forthrightly explaining, “I must go home. The parish priest is going to have the children prepared for First Communion, and if I go back to Lourdes, I shall make mine.” In this one example, one should easily recognize Bernadette’s fortitude, that “moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause.” [7]

Within two weeks upon Bernadette’s return to Lourdes, the Queen of Heaven would appear to this poor, neglected, and uneducated child. She was obedient, meek, and conscientious and had never insisted upon anything for herself – until now. Her only longing was a spiritual one, and that was to receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist.  Bernadette was humble and set her sight not on material riches but only those of the interior life. At the age of 14 years, her brief life was already one of which Our Lord taught in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” [8]

-Continue with St. Bernadette of Lourdes: A Life of the Beatitudes, Part 2

Notes
[1]  Trochu, Abbé Francois. St. Bernadette Soubirous: 1844-1879 [Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, 1985. Translated and adapted by John Joyce, S.J. First published in France under the same title by Librairier Catholique Emmanuel Vitte, Paris, 1954. English edition copyright 1957 by Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., London. Published by TAN in arrangement with Longman Group Limited, London. Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, June 21, 1957): p. 346.
[2]  Ibid.
[3]   Morrow D.D., Most Rev. Louis LaRavoire, My Catholic Faith: A Manual of Religion [Kansas  City, MO: Sarto House. Third edition published from the 1954 edition by Sarto House]:  p. 85.
[4]  Ibid., p.83.
[5]  BENEDICT XIV, De servorum Dei beatificatione et beatorum canonizatione, chs. xxxi-xxxviii, in Opera omnia, III (Prato, 1840); DEVINE, Manual of Mystical Theology (London, 1903); SLATER, A Manual of Moral Theology (London, 1908); WILHELM AND SCANNELL, Manual of Catholic Theology (London, 1906). Cited by Wilhelm, Joseph. "Heroic Virtue." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 6 Jan. 2014 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07292c.htm>.
[6]  Trochu, op cit., p. 17.
[7]  "Divine Mysteries: The Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance," Legion of Mary website < http://www.legionofmarytidewater.com/news/news07/may/divinemysteries.htm>
 [8] Matt. 5:3, The Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims translation. With revisions and footnotes (in the text in italics) by Bishop Richard Challoner, 1749-52. Taken from a hardcopy of the 1899 Edition by the John Murphy Company.

Homeschooling through the Holidays - with KIC!

Here's a great Christmas gift that lasts through the year! And it's a wonderful way to keep the teens going with Catholic homeschooling - throughout Advent, again as you "start up" in the New Year, and right through the late spring!

Now, when you order KIC's DIGITAL "The Age of Mary Guides," you will receive the FIRST TWO Guides (almost 30 weeks of lesson plans alone!) within 24 hours of your order and email confirmation! The cost is the same - anywhere in the world - and there are no shipping charges because the Guides come to you via digital delivery!

These digital Guides are "the ultimate" Catholic "unit studies" for teens. Your teens can get all of "The Age of Mary" lessons done, with the help of your home computer and the included, pre-screened Internet links! "The Age of Mary" syllabi include Religion, History/Geography, English (Literature, Composition, and/or Poetry), and Science - with each subject "connected" to each other AND the central theme.

What's the central theme? The Marian apparitions found worthy of belief since 1830, beginning with Our Lady of Paris (the Medal of the Immaculate Conception). All the other subjects circle around it, explaining why Our Lady has appeared so often in "the Modern Age."

You have NEVER seen a thoroughly Catholic curriculum like this one! [And it's available only through KIC!] "The Age of Mary Guides" mean neither 'easy-peas-y' homeschooling nor do they mean struggling on a daily basis! Your high school teens or older children will look forward to their Catholic homeschooling because they'll use the computer every day. "The Age of Mary Guides" include colorful syllabi, SCREENED links to other websites, and give your teens great practice with basic computer skills and writing (ok, typing)! You'll love the Catholic syllabi and the incredible convenience!

To see three web pages of previews of the first "Age of Mary Guide," please see the following links:

The Age of Mary - Preview Page One

The Age of Mary - Preview Page Two

The Age of Mary - Preview Page Three


After you confirm your order via our private list, you'll receive the first Guide within 24 hours. You'll ALSO receive the download information for the second Guide (Our Lady of LaSalette, plus the Holy Face devotion), which is available in a Windows ebook (Windows XP recommended, not Vista! At this time, KIC cannot guarantee the ebook will work in the new Vista environment.). Nothing else is needed because the Catholic "unit study" is in the software; the only thing required for the software is a Windows (up to Windows XP) operating system and Internet Explorer (5.5 or better).

----Give yourself and your children a Catholic Christmas gift for the home computer that perks up everyone, gives you peace of mind, AND ensures a Catholic education - at home!

---All digital Guides are in full color, with Catholic graphics, carefully screened links, and lots of interesting lesson ideas!

Remember, the preview of the FIRST "Age of Mary" Guide starts here: http://www.keepingitcatholic.org/ageofmary_ preview1.html

And please don't forget: When you order "The Age of Mary" today, you'll quickly receive TWO digital Guides... and have the older kids and teens happily homeschooling - on the home computer, under your careful eye - RIGHT AWAY!

Our Lady of LaSalette: The Madonna in Tears

In “modern times,” as error begat error, Our Lady began to plead with her children to stop offending God. Appearing at the Rue-de-Bac (Paris, France) in 1830, She made prophecies of the future that came to pass by the year 1870; She also gave a great sacramental to the world, commonly called "the Miraculous Medal." (Its official name is the Medal of the Immaculate Conception.) Our Lady came again to the world in 1836 and in 1840 to offer special spiritual helps, but the world paid little heed.

Some souls were led back to God through the Miraculous Medal (1830), the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart (1836), and the “Badge of the Immaculate Heart” (1846), commonly known as “the Green Scapular.” Miracles of grace were given, as in the famous case of Alphonse Rathisbonne. But as a whole, the world continued to ignore Our Lady’s messages.

"As men of science made new discoveries," pride in intellectual prowess led most of them and others "to thrust God into the background" and then abandon Him altogether. “Books attacking religion were coming off the presses in great numbers. The ranks of freethinkers, agnostics and atheists were swelling every day.”

“An ordinary creature would have been tempted to leave the world to the fate it so richly deserved” – but not Our Lady! On September 19, 1846 - the eve of the “Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows” - the Madonna appeared in a one-time apparition to two children, the eleven-year old Maximin Giraud and the fifteen-year old Melanie Mathieu Calvat. At the moment these simple, barely catechized children first saw the Lady, they had been "tending cows on the slope of Mt. Gargas, which rises above the village of La Salette in southeastern France."

The children first “saw a globe of dazzling white. While they gazed in wonderment, the globe opened and they saw a woman seated on some stones” near a spring that was dry at the time. “The Lady’s elbows rested on her knees, her face was buried in her hands, and she was weeping.” The children were very afraid, not knowing who the Lady was or why She was so desperately crying.

The Lady rose, crossed her arms, and “in the sweetest of tones,” said:

“Come near, my children. Do not be afraid. I am here to tell you important news.”

Advancing closer to the Lady, the children saw that “Her face was beautiful, though her eyes were filled with tears. She wore white shoes encircles by roses. Her apron was golden and descended to the bottom of her full white robe. Her arms were concealed within broad straight sleeves which reached beyond her finger tips. A white cape bordered with roses hung over her shoulders. She wore a thin chain upon which hung a crucifix," upon which the Body of Christ seemed very real. "Her head-dress was white; above it was a royal diadem wreathed with roses of many hues.” Her beauty was “so radiant and dazzling that the children could scarcely look at her.” They would later say that “nothing could begin to compare with her beauty.”

“The Lady spoke again in a voice sweeter than the sweetest of melodies” but tears continued to fall from Her eyes as She spoke.

“If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let go the hand of My Son. It is so strong, so heavy, I can no longer withhold it.”

“How long a time do I suffer for you! If I would not have My Son abandon you, I am compelled to pray to Him without ceasing. But, as to you, you take no heed of it.”

“However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have taken for you.”

Halt for just a moment…think of those beautifully stirring words issued by the Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces! Although eternally happy in heaven, She showed Herself as the Weeping Madonna - weeping over the greater number of her spiritual children on earth who have left the Narrow Road. Why did they leave - and why do they continue in this vein - to seek so many “easy” but dangerous paths, unless the cause was at least one of the seven capital sins? For example, only spiritual sloth or anger could lead a baptized Catholic to desecrate the Sabbath or use Our Lord’s name in vain – and it was these two particular, latter sins of which Our Lady of LaSalette would speak.

She wept because too many dismissed and forgot the love Her Divine Son. Too many were calling down the punishment of God on their own heads as well as upon the heads of innocents, for such are the mysteries of the Mystical Body of Christ. To save Europe from the punishments, Our Lady revealed that She prayed unceasingly to withhold the Justice of Our Lord but still – “you take no heed of it.”

“Blessed are the poor in spirit” – this Beatitude from Our Lord Himself, which centers on the virtue of humility coupled with trust in God, comes to mind even as we recall Our Lady’s words at LaSalette: “However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have taken for you.” The best each faithful member of the Mystical Body can hope to accomplish here on earth is the work expected of one of God’s servants. We shouldn’t congratulate ourselves at all because if any good is accomplished, it is only through the grace of God. Knowing that, we should attempt to do more – in thought, word, and action - since we can never hope to recompense either Our Lord or His Virgin Mother for Their Sufferings on our behalf.

As if the Lady’s preceding tears and sad words were not enough, She continued to speak to the children:

“If the harvest is spoiled, it is your fault. I gave you warning last year in the potatoes, but you did not heed it. On the contrary, when you found the potatoes spoiled you swore, taking My Son’s Name in vain. The potatoes will continue to decay, so that by Christmas there will be none left.”

The Virgin made clear that the calamities then falling on the world were a result of two sins, seriously offending Her Son and wounding the Mystical Body of Christ. How many more of the Commandments are broken in our own day – and to what a greater extent!

Then Our Lady foretold the continuing failure of the potato crop if the people did not repent.

Most curious is the fact that, up to this point, Our Lady spoke in the noble French of the cultured classes, not the “patois” dialect of the children. Melanie did not understand the “cultured” French word for “potatoes,” so she turned to Maximin and asked him for the meaning of “pommes de terre.”

“Ah, my children,” said the Lady, “you do not understand. I will say it in a different way.” (Of course, there can be no doubt the Our Lady already knew the children could not understand the “noble” French. It is clear She had a purpose for first speaking it – which was to place yet another piece of evidence before the Church authorities who would later investigate the claims of these very poor and uneducated children.)

So the Lady then proceeded in “patois”:

“If you have wheat, it is no good to sow it; all that you sow the insects will eat. What comes up will fall into dust when you thresh it.”

Then, the conditional prophecy became even more sorrowful:

“There will come a great famine. Before the famine comes, the children under seven years of age will be seized with trembling and will die in the arms of their mothers. Others will do penance by famine.”

“The walnuts will become worm-eaten; the grapes will rot.”

“But if the people are converted, the stones and the rocks will become heaps of wheat and the potatoes will be self-sown.”

Our Lady was asking for repentance, in itself an important form of “conversion,” and at the same time making clear that if Her requests were not heeded, God would impose terrible penances on the populace. If they did listen, the punishments would be withheld and their material needs abundantly met.

Suddenly, the Lady’s message became more personal. She spoke separately to each of the children, who later reported they could see Her lips moving as She spoke, first with one and then the other, but neither could hear Her words addressed to the other child. Then She asked both of them, “Do you say your prayers well, My children?”

“Not very well, Madame,” they both admitted. Of course, the Lady already knew that the children were poorly catechized, due to the grave neglect of their parents, but She was going to further the grace of faith given to them at baptism. In their adult lives, both children would fail in developing "heroic virtue," but they remained constant in the Faith and never denied the Vision of Our Lady of LaSalette. To the children's response about their prayers, Our Lady sweetly and seriously replied:

“You must say them well, morning and evening. When you cannot do better, say at least an ‘Our Father’ and a “Hail Mary.’ When you have time, say more.”

Once again, She complained of the few people who attend Mass on Sunday. When it came time for Her departure, Our Lady spoke again in the noble French.

“Well, my children, you will make this known to all the people.” She crossed the little stream and then turned to them to repeat, “Well, my children, you will make this known to all the people.”

"Moving along the tips of the grass, the Lady ascended the mountain for a short distance, then gently rose about a yard from the ground. Remaining in that position for a moment, She lifted her gaze heaven-ward and then back to the earth. Then She disappeared, but the light remained for another moment."

“Maximin had no idea who the Lady was…When She spoke of the heavy arm of Her Son, he thought She meant her son had been beating her.” Melanie was not much better informed than Maximin, but she was older and perhaps a bit more reflective. “Maybe she is a great saint,” she said.

This was a new idea to Maximin, who enthusiastically responded, “If we had known she was a great saint, we could have asked her to take us to heaven!”

“Oh, I wish she was still here,” answered Melanie.

It is reported that both children were “rather slow of mind.” Melanie was judged by a teaching nun "not to have sufficient knowledge to receive Holy Communion until her 17th year," and Maximin was unable to remember the “Our Father” until he was 15. Yet when questioned about the apparition – together or separately – they never failed to give complete details which never contradicted the other's testimony.

Although people began flocking to LaSallete, and miracles took place through use of the spring’s now-flowing waters, not enough responded to Our Lady’s call for repentance (much less reparation) and “the calamities foretold by Our Lady took place. The famine had already begun in 1845," as a heavenly warning. "In 1846, this famine was so severe in Ireland that Queen Victoria of England had to appeal to Parliament for special funds.” (The injustice done to Ireland, dear reader, is another sorrowful story in itself.) “The wheat shortage was so severe in Europe that more than a million people died. A grape disease decimated all of the vineyards in France. Babies and little children died trembling...just as Our Lady foretold.”

Within two years of Our Lady’s appearance at LaSalette, France lived through the horrors of the “February Revolution,” the “March Revolution” and then the “June Days.” The year 1848 saw Communism arising in France.

The punishments, so severe and sorrowful, may have been even greater if Our Lady had not continued to intercede before the throne of Her Divine Son and also because some people, at least, did respond to Her entreaties. Many began attending Mass again, the shops were closed on Sundays, people stopped doing unnecessary work on the Sabbath, and cursing and swearing became less common.

After a thorough investigation, the Bishop of the diocese was satisfied that the appearance was authentically supernatural (which means issuing from God) and made his official declaration to that effect. Later, Pope Pius IX would also approve devotion to Our Lady of LaSalette and his successor, Pope Leo XIII, built a great basilica on the mountain. Five years after the apparition, Pope Pius IX would inquire about the Secrets of LaSalette and the children would agree to write down their secrets for him on two conditions: That the Secrets would be placed in sealed envelopes and that they would be directly delivered to the Pope. “Maximin wrote his four or five paragraphs quickly” but Melanie took awhile longer. As she was writing, she asked for the proper spelling of the word “infallibility” and the meaning of the word “anti-Christ.”

The two secrets were taken to Rome by two priests, Frs. Rousellot and Gerin of the Grenoble diocese. On July 18, 1851, the Holy Father Pope Pius IX received them in audience, took the sealed envelopes, and opened them in the presence of the two Fathers. He chose to first read Maximin’s letter. After finishing it, the pope smiled and said, “Here is all the candor and simplicity of a child.”

To read Melanie’s letter, however, he walked over to a window and opened the shutters for better light. Her letter was longer and its contents seemed to be more serious, for the Holy Father did not smile; in fact, “the Pope pressed his lips more tightly together and puffed out his cheeks.”

“Calamities threaten France,” he said to the two priest witnesses, “but she is not the only guilty nation. Germany, Italy, and all Europe are guilty and deserve punishment. I have less to fear from open impiety than from indifference and human respect. It is not without reason that the Church is called militant, and here,” he said, as he touched his breast, “you see Her Leader.”

That is all of what is officially known of the Secrets of Our Lady of LaSalette. Through the years, there has been much speculation about the revelations later made by Melanie in regard to the Secret given to her. One thing we must recall are the words of Pope Leo XIII, who said: “Do you want to know the secret? This is it: Unless you do penance, you shall perish.”

In this year of Our Lord 2008, we can deduce much of Melanie's Secret by the history that has already come to pass, as well as the hints and traces given by Pope Leo XIII and Melanie’s questions as she wrote the Second Secret imparted to her.

---We know that France, Germany, Italy and all of Europe suffered from war, famine and desolation – not once but many times since 1846. At LaSalette, the Virgin gave the reasons for these temporal chastisements. And, as Our Lady would later reveal at Fatima, "War is a punishment for sin."

---We know that the dogma of papal infallibility was defined in 1870 at Vatican I - about 25 years after LaSalette. It was Melanie who, as she wrote down her secret, asked for the spelling of the word "infallibility," so we know at least a part of the Secret had to do with papal infallibility.

---Because not enough people heeded the Weeping Madonna's requests, we know that an even greater chastisement fell upon France as well as other nations. Communism has spread not only through France but also -as Our Lady would prophesy at Fatima in 1917 – throughout the world. Many people understand the connection between Communism and the growing spirit of anti-Christ.

---Recalling Pope Pius' remarks after reading Melanie's secret: "Religion indifferentism" has infilitrated the Church, replacing the cardinal virtues of faith, hope, and charity. This great sin is born of "human respect," which itself has replaced a holy fear of the Lord.

---Furthermore, Pope Pius' words, "It is not for nothing that the Church is called militant, and here you see Her Leader" suggest that Melanie' Secret has to do with the sacred duties of the Holy Father's office if not also the daily duties of the entire Church Militant - an astonishing similarity to what Our Lady would later reveal at Fatima.

---Finally, we might wonder at Melanie's question about "anti-Christ." Some declare that she never really asked about that particular word or that it did not appear in the Secret she wrote down. Can they be so certain? Since Melanie's Secret (nor Maximin's, for that matter) has never been officially released, and since the passage of time provides us with a different historical vantage point, we must again consider the unfolding importance of history and the reasons for Our Lady's continuing apparitions, especially those at Fatima (the crown of all the Marian apparitions proven to be supernatural and therefore worthy of belief):

"If my requests are not heeded, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. Good people will be martyred...various nations will be annihilated." What else could be the cause of obstinate sin and the resulting terrible chastisements, except the spirit of anti-Christ permeating the world?

“The keynote of Our Lady's message at LaSalette lay in the words: ‘If my people will not submit.’ Although She still calls us Her people, "She summed up the great evil of our times – human pride. Her message was for all times and all places, but particularly was it meant to show how false was the idea that man no longer needs God.”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
(All excerpts are denoted by quotations and come from “The Woman Shall Conquer” by Don Sharkey, now out-of-print)

"The Age of Mary": Ultimate Catholic Unit Study for Teens

Today commemorates the 162nd anniversary of Our Lady of LaSalette,"The Madonna in Tears," a perfect day to again mention "The Age of Mary" Catholic, Internet-Based Study Guides. Designed for high school students, "The Age of Mary" is parent-adaptable for parents of good readers at the "middle" school age level. Not just "kids' stuff," The Age of Mary is also perfect for adults - including converts, teachers and Marian catechists - who want to learn more about the Virgin Mary and also understand the reason for Our Lady's "modern-age" appearances. The Guides are a series of 'electronic' Guides - integrating Religion, History/Geography, Language Arts (Literature & Composition), and Science into one "beautiful" theme.

Catholic and convenient! Simply open "The Age of Mary" digital Guides and enjoy your Catholic studies. Using the Lesson Ideas section, you or your students will visit webpages I've personally screened, read online articles and books, use a suggested list of Catholic "living books," take virtual tours keyed to the currrent study - and accomplish all lessons using the home computer!

"The Age of Mary" is the ultimate CATHOLIC UNIT STUDY, using a central theme of Church-approved Marian apparitions that began in 1830. As the Church doctrine teaches, "Religion must permeate the curriculum" and that is exactly what "The Age of Mary" does. In addition, this unique, one year curriculum helps you bring yourself and your family closer "TO JESUS through MARY!"

These specially-priced electronic Guides allows users to aquire a one year, all-Catholic curriculum (36 weeks), with no extra purchases required for the core subjects (except higher math).

Within 24 hours of receiving your payment at our ONLINE ORDER page, you''ll receive the first "Age of Mary" Guide by EMAIL. The others will be delivered at subsequent intervals with instructions on where and how to acquire each downloadable, WINDOWS ONLY ebook.

The first Guide is entitled "Our Lady of Paris and the Medal of the Immaculate Conception," featuring a special focus on world events that led to the 1830 visions and messages of the Virgin, in which She gave "the Miraculous Medal" to the world. The time to complete this first Guide is a minimum of 9-10 weeks.

Students will learn the philosophy (and the philosophers) behind the French Revolution, the Sacred Heart's request to the King of France and the Nine First Fridays, and the tragic fates of King Louis, Queen Marie Antoinette and their children.

Yet the thrust remains "True Devotion" (to Jesus through Mary) via the Message of Our Lady of Paris, the virtuous life of St. Catherine Laboure, and the writings of St. Alphonsus de Liguori and St. Louis Marie de Montfort. This first Guide (like those that follow) includes a "Bonus List" of Catholic living books you may wish to purchase elsewhere, Lesson Ideas with PRE-SCREENED links to website pages for the study of Religion, History, Geography, Literature and Science.


"Our Lady of LaSalette" combines the second and third Guides in one expansive and colorful Windows-only ebook - and includes 20 weeks of Lesson Ideas (that is one whole semester!). The singular vision of LaSalette illustrated how our personal lives either conform to or wound the Mystical Body of Christ and displays the gravity of breaking the First Two Commandments. Study what happened (and why it happened) in France and Ireland, including the devastating Potato Famine, as well as historical figures. This Guide also includes the apparition which gave the world the Green Scapular, the discovery of St. Louis de Montfort's lost manuscript (True Devotion), Our Lord's messages to St. Marie de St. Pierre, and more - seamlessly interweaving Religion, History, Geography, Poetry, and Science.

The last Guide for the first year (scheduled for release in the summer of 2009) focuses on "Our Lady of Lourdes," and also includes information on Our Lady of Pontmain, Pellevoisin, and Knock.

For another overview of "The Age of Mary" and your convenience, please see: http://www.keepingitcatholic.org.order.html

For a detailed preview, kindly start here: http://www.keepingitcatholic.org/ageofmary_preview1.html

To Jesus through Mary!

Marianna Bartold

We're Keeping It Catholic on the Net!

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

"One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular,

I shall save the world."

~ Our Lady to Blessed Alan de la Roche

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

Discounts! "The Age of Mary" and "The Return of the King"

For a limited time, educators all over the world can receive discounts on both "The Age of Mary" and "The Return of the King" electronic Catholic Study Guides (for Windows users ONLY). Designed for Catholic high school students, these electronic Guides are perfect for homeschooling parents and students, catechetists, and English/Literature teachers!

"The Age of Mary" discount (50% OFF) ends this Friday, Sept. 12, 2008. Featuring a full-color electronic syllabi with graphics & interactive link, it is designed for grades 9 and up. You choose for which grade you wish to use it! The first "Age of Mary" Guide is quickly available via email; the remaining Guides will be released on a quarterly basis via downloadable Windows-ONLY Ebook.

Due to popular request, KIC is again offering The Return of the King Catholic Study Guide - with NEW additions to the original 2004 paper version! Soon to be released in a Windows-ONLY Ebook format, this is a great time to take advantage of the PRE-ORDER Discount!

Order now in time for its holiday-release and save $5! The colorful, unique, downloadable "Return of the King" Guide" will open on your desktop (just like The Keepsake Collection), include interactive SCREENED Links (just like The Age of Mary), and provide a compelling Catholic study of the religious elements and symbolism in Tolkien's epic historical romance. (Not only that, it allows for a relaxing 'breath of fresh air' during the school year, so that you may all enjoy a HOLY Advent, Nativity of Our Lord, and post-Christmas season!)

Please see the ORDER page for an explanatory overview of The Return of the King.

And please don't forget that the 50% discount on "The Age of Mary" ends THIS Friday, Sept. 12! To preview "The Age of Mary" Catholic Study Guides, kindly start here.