Mastodawn

Melanie Calvat

Francoise Melanie Calvat (November 7, 1831-December 14, 1904, 73 upon passing) was a French religious sister/nun in the Roman Catholic Church. A religious sister is a Christian woman who has taken public vows in a religious order dedicated to apostolic works. Even though they’re called nuns, they’re canonically distinct. She & Maximin Guiraud, was/were the 2 seers of Our Lady of La Salette.

Melanie was born in Corps in Isere, France. She was the 4th of 10 kids in a family of extreme poverty. The family was so poor “that the young were sometimes dispatched to beg on the street.”

By the age of 9, Melanie Calvat was hired out as a shepherdess. This is where she met Maximin Guiraud on the eve of their apparition. Her contemporary employers described her as “sulky,” “lazy,” & “uncommunicative.” She spoke the regional Occitan dialect (Patois) & fragmented French. She didn’t have any formal schooling, religious or secular. So naturally, she couldn’t read or write well or at all.

On September 19, 1846, Melanie (a teen at the time) & Maximin (aged 11) saw a vision of the Virgin Mary while tending cows, in the mountains of La Salette. The kids reported seeing a “Beautiful Lady” sitting on a rock, weeping with her head in her hands. She wore a high headdress of roses & a golden crucifix.

The Lady (the Virgin Mary) spoke of the sins of the people. Specifically, the profanation of Sundays & the use of the Lord’s name in vain. She warned of a coming famine (the “potato blight”) if the people didn’t convert. Crucially, the Lady reported sharing individual secrets with each kid, which they were forbidden to reveal until a later date.

The bishop of Grenoble, Philibert de Bruillard, named several commissions to examine the facts. The Marian apparitions were formally approved by the Bishop of Grenoble in 1851. While the event was accepted, Melanie’s personal trajectory became increasingly difficult. Maximin, who entered the seminary, also had difficulties living a normal life.

After the Marian apparition in 1846, Calvat was placed as a boarder in the Sisters of Providence Convent in Corenc, close to Grenoble. She entered religious life at the age of 20. In 1850, she became a postulant with this order & in October 1851, she took the veil.

In May 1853, Bishop de Bruillard died. In early 1854, his replacement refused to grant permission for her to be professed. Because he found that she wasn’t spiritually mature enough. Calvat claimed that the real reason for the refusal was that the bishop was aiming to gain the favor of Emperor Napoleon III of France.

Following the bishop’s refusal to permit her to be professed, Calvat was officially allowed to move to a convent of the Sisters of Charity. However, after 3 weeks, she was returned to Corps en Isere for further education.

She was then allowed to move to Carmel at Darlington in England. She arrived in 1855. She took temporary vows in 1856. In 1858, she wrote to the Pope to tell him a part of the secret she was “authorized” to reveal in that year. In 1860, she was released from her vow of cloister at Carmel by the Pope & returned to mainland Europe.

She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Compassion in Marseille. Marie, a sister, was appointed as her companion. After a stay in their convent at Cephalonia, Greece, where she & Sister Marie went to open an orphanage. Then, after a short journey at the Carmelite convent of Marseille, she came back to the Sisters of Compassion for a brief time.

In October 1864, she was admitted as a novice, on the condition that she kept her identity secret. But she was recognized. In early 1867, she was officially released from the order. She & her companion then went (following a short stay at Corps & La Salette) to live at Castellamare near Naples in Italy. She was welcomed by the local bishop. She lived there for 17 years & wrote down her secret, including the rule for a future religious foundation.

In 1873, Calvat wrote her personal message again, with the official permission of Sisto Riario Sforza, the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples. Meanwhile, religious orders were being formed at La Salette of Grenoble. These were to provide from pilgrims & spread the message of the vision.

Calvet claimed she had been authorized by the apparition to provide the names of these orders, their rules, & their habits. The 1 for the men was to be named: Order of the Apostles of the Last Days. The 1 for the women was to be named: Order of the Mother of God.

The bishop refused her demands. So she appealed to the Pope. The Pope granted her an audience. She was received by Pope Leo XIII on December 3, 1878. The message was officially published by Calvat herself on November 15, 1879. She got an official ok from Mgr. Salvatore Luigi Zola, Bishop of Lecce near Naples (who had protected & assisted Calvat in his diocese), under the title: Apparition of the Blessed Virgin on the Mountain of La Salette.

Later, the Vatican put this book on the Index of Prohibited Books. The “Secret of La Salette” is actually a series of documents written by Calvat at different stages of her life. The 1851 secret was sent to Pope Pius IX. It warned of “France’s corruption” & a coming “general war.” The 1879 secret was published in Lecce, Italy. It contained the famous line: “Rome will lose the faith & become the seat of the Antichrist.”

Calvat visited the Sanctuary at La Salette for the last time on September 18-19, 1902. In the last months of her life, she lived at Altamura, Italy, where she didn’t reveal her identity. Her identity was revealed only AFTER her death.

She passed away on December 14, 1904, at her home in Altamura, Italy. She was interred in Altamura under a marble monument with a bas-relief picturing the Virgin Mary welcoming the “shepherdess of La Salette” into Heaven.

One-Time Monthly Yearly

Make a one-time donation

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

$1.00 $5.00 $10.00 $1.00 $5.00 $10.00 $5.00 $10.00 $15.00

Or enter a custom amount

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate Donate monthly Donate yearly #14December1904 #15November1879 #1819September1902 #1846 #1850 #1851 #1854 #1855 #1856 #1858 #1860 #1873 #1879 #19September1846 #3December1878 #7November1831 #Altamura #antichrist #ApostolicWorks #ApparitionOfTheBlessedVirginOnTheMountainOfLaSalette #BasRelief #BishopOfGrenoble #CardinalArchbishopOfNaples #Carmelite #CarmeliteConvent #Castellamare #Cephalonia #Christian #COngregationOfTheSistersOfCompassion #Corenc #CorpsEnIsere #crucifix #Darlington #Diocese #Early1867 #EmperorNapoleonIII #England #France #FrancoiseMelanieCalvat #French #Greece #Grenoble #Heaven #IndexOfProhibitedBooks #Italy #LaSalette #Lecce #MainlandEurope #MarianApparition #Marseille #MaximinGuiraud #May1853 #MelanieCalvat #MgrSalvatoreLuigiZola #Naples #Nun #Occitan #October1851 #October1864 #OrderOfTheApostlesOfTheLastDays #OrderOfTheMotherOfGod #Orphanage #OurLadyOfLaSalette #PhilibertDeBruillard #Pilgrims #Pope #PopeLeoXIII #PopePiusIX #Postulant #Rome #SanctuaryAtLaSalette #SecretOfLaSalette #Seminary #ShepherdessOfLaSalette #SisterMarie #SisterOfCompassion #SistersOfCharity #SistersOfProvidenceConvent #SistoRiarioSforza #Vatican #VirginMary

Memberships

Visit the post for more.

Spirituality & Religious Studies Oct 6

Three Secrets of Fatima

In Portuguese: Os Tres Segredos de Fatima.

This was a series of apocalyptic visions & prophecies given to 3 young Portuguese shepherds (Lucia Santos, & her cousins, Jacinta & Francisco Marto) by a Marian apparition. It started on May 13, 1917. The 3 shepherd kids claimed to have been visited by the Virgin Mary 6 times between May & October 1917. This apparition is now popularly called: Our Lady of Fatima.

According to Lucia (who became the de facto leader of the 3 kids), around noon on July 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary entrusted the kids with 3 secrets. 2 of the secrets were revealed in 1941, in a document written by Lucia, at the request of Bishop Jose Alves Correia de Silva (Bishop of Leiria) to help with the publication of a new edition of a book on her cousin, Jacinta.

When the bishop asked, in 1943, to reveal the 3rd secret, Lucia struggled for a short period. Because she was “not yet convinced that God had clearly authorized her to act.” In October 1943, the bishop ordered her to put it in writing. Lucia then wrote down the secret & sealed it in an envelope not to be opened until 1960, when “it will appear clearer.”

The text of the 3rd secret was officially released, allegedly, by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Some claim the 3rd secret wasn’t fully revealed by Lucia. Despite the Holy See’s protests to the contrary. According to various Catholic interpretations, the 3 secrets involve Hell, WWI, WWII, & the modern-day persecutions of Christians.

NOTE: Only 12 of the hundreds of alleged Marian apparitions the Catholic Church has investigated have gotten ecclesiastical approval. 9 occurred between 1830 & 1933.

On June 17, 1921, 14 year old Lucia was accepted as a boarder at the Sisters of St. Dorothy school in Vilar. In 1925, at the age of 18, Lucia began her novitiate at the convent of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in Tui, just across the border in Spain. Novitiate is the period of training, or probation, for a beginner, or novice, usually in a religious order, during which they learn about that community’s practices & deepen their commitment to a vowed life, or to see if they want to continue their journey within the organization.

Lucia continued to report private visions intermittently throughout her life. In the mid-1930s, the Bishop of Leiria encouraged (or strong-armed, depending on the account) Lucia to write her memoirs. So that she could disclose further details of her cousins & the 1917 apparitions.

As early as July 1917, mention was made that the Lady of the apparitions had entrusted to the kids a secret, “that was good for some & bad for others.” It wasn’t until her 3rd memoir, written in 1941, that Lucia began to write more in depth about the content of the secret.

In this, she follows the French visionary, Melanie Calvat, who saw Our Lady of La Salette in 1846, who wrote down the secrets from that event almost 20 years after. Lucia wrote that the secret has 3 parts. The 1st 2 of which she revealed in 1941. The 3rd wasn’t written down until January 3, 1944.

In her 3rd memoir (1941), Lucia said that the 1st secret was a vision of Hell. This was given to the kids on July 13, 1917.

The 2nd secret refers to the devotion to the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was initially only partially revealed to the kids of July 13, 1917.

Various prophecies related to this devotion were made. Such as a statement that WWI would end. Along with a prediction of another war during the reign of Pope Pius XI, should men continue offending God & should Russia not convert. The 2nd half is a future request of the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary & the First Saturdays Devotion.

On December 10, 1925, Sister Lucia reported an apparition of the Virgin Mary, joined by the Child Jesus on a luminous cloud, while living at the Convent of St. Dorothea at Pontevedra, Spain. The Virgin Mary specified the conditions for the First Saturdays Devotion & asked her to spread the devotion. Later, on February 15, 1926, she reported a subsequent vision on the Christ Child reaffirm this request.

On June 13, 1929, she reported a vision of both Mary & the Holy Trinity, in which Mary had asked for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart by the Pope. This is in communion with all the bishops of the world.

This later vision fulfilled what was said in 1917 about how the Virgin Mary would come later to request the consecration. The message regarding the establishment of the 1st 5 Saturday Devotions is reminiscent of that reported by Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century which led to the First Friday Devotions.

The 2nd prophecy wasn’t revealed until August 1941, after WWII had already begun. Those skeptical of the prophecies have questions whether Mary, in 1917, explicitly referred to Pope Pius XI. As Ambrogio Ratti didn’t choose the regnal name until after his election in 1922.

The European portion of WWII is generally held to have begun on September 1, 1939. But by then, Pope Pius XII had succeeded Pope Pius XI. As for the Conversion of Russia, the Bolshevik Revolution didn’t happen until November 1917.

Some supporters of the Fatima prophecies argue that the secret didn’t say the war must begin in Europe, & during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI, Japan had already invaded China in 1937, which is generally seen by historians of China, & other parts of Asia, as when the WWII actually began.

Some critics argue that the Russian Civil War (1918-1921), the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), the Chinese Civil War (1927-1937), the war between Italy & Ethiopia (1935-1936), & the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) serve to illustrate that the prediction that 1 war will end & that another will start isn’t necessarily an indication of divine inspiration.

Supporters of the prophecy point out that the 2nd secret called for a war worse than WWI, not simply any armed conflict. In addition, with regards to the conversion of Russia, there was already, at the time, strong revolutionary ferment in Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution as witnessed by the earlier February Revolution in 1917 & the active Communist & anarchist movements. This would explain Mary’s reference on July 13, 1917 to the need for a conversion of Russia.

Sister Lucia chose not to disclose the 3rd secret in her memoir of August 1941. Lucia fell seriously ill with influenza & pleurisy. Pleurisy is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs & line the chest cavity (pleurae).

Bishop Silva, visiting Lucia on September 15, 1943, suggested that Lucia write the 3rd secret down to ensure that it would be recorded in the event of her death. Lucia was hesitant to do so. Because upon receiving the secret, Lucia had heard Mary say not to reveal it.

Because Carmelite obedience requires that orders from superiors be regarded as coming directly from God, she was in a dilemma as to whose orders took precedence. Finally, in mid-October, Bishop Silva sent her a letter containing a direct order to record the secret. Lucia continued to struggle, even after this direct order. According to Lucia, she overcame it after the Virgin Mary appeared to her in early January 1944.

The 3rd part of the secret was written down “by order of His Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and the Most Holy Mother” on January 3, 1944. In June 1944, the sealed envelope containing the 3rd secret was delivered to Silva. This is where it stayed until 1957, when it was finally delivered to Rome.

Canon Galamba, who was an advisor to the Bishop of Leiria, is quoted as saying that when the bishop refused to open the sealed envelope, Lucia made him promise that it would definitely be opened & released to the world at her death, or in 1960, whichever came 1st. The bishop passed away in 1957.

It was announced by Cardinal Angelo Sodano on May 13, 2000 (83 years after the first apparition of the Lady to the kids in Cova da Iria & 19 years after the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II) that the 3rd secret would be FINALLY be released.

In his announcement, Cardinal Sodano implied that the secret was about the 20th century persecution of Christians that concluded in the failed Pope John Paul II assassination attempt on May 13, 1981, which was the 64th anniversary of the 1st apparition of the Lady at Fatima. The idea of an already fulfilled secret is contested by some Catholics.

There’s speculation that the 3rd secret hasn’t either fully been or revealed at all. There’s a plethora of reasons for why & what the secret actually said/says. Such as the secret contained info about the Apocalypse, apostasy, & Satanic infiltration of the Church. Yes, like the actual devil, Satan himself. Why they don’t release it is because they don’t want to induce mass panic among the global Catholic community.