Hidden prophecy from apparition in France indicated 'anti-christ'
by Michael H. Brown
A hidden prophecy from a secret attached to the obscure apparition site of LaSalette, whose anniversary was celebrated earlier this week, warned of the rise of an evil personage described in the secret as the "anti-christ" and "king of kings of darkness."
The prediction, controversial and never widely circulated, was allegedly dispensed by the Virgin Mary on a mysterious mountain high in the French Alps on September 19, 1846. Among the projections was for a rise of evil starting with the mid-point of the 1800s, followed by the arrival of "the Beast with his subjects, calling himself the Savior of the world. He will rise proudly into the air to go to heaven. He will be smothered by the breath of the Archangel Saint Michael. He will fall, and the earth, which will have been in a continuous series of evolutions for three days, will open up its fiery bowels; and he will have plunged for eternity with all his followers into the everlasting chasms of hell."
This may be the most dramatic prophecy known to be associated with an approved site of apparition. It said that the onset of evil would begin in 1864 -- soon before Pope Leo XIII himself reportedly experienced a similar vision in which he saw Satan given extended powers to test the Church. This same theme has also been expressed at more recent sites such as Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina, where the Virgin Mary warned that "this is the time of the devil" and that "darkness reigns over the whole world."
Remarkably, the secret, confided to a shepherd girl named Melanie Francois Calvat, also referred to a time when "the seasons will be altered."
This occurred the same year as a dramatic spike was observed in temperatures at an ancient observatory in Ireland -- beginning a trend that has continued since and is now referred to as "global warming."
The secret from LaSalette has never met with formal Church approval. Although the apparition itself was officially accepted and the secret has received various imprimaturs or approvals from local bishops and cardinals -- and was read with great seriousness by Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII -- it was later placed on a forbidden list of literature (since dissolved) by the Vatican when it began to appear in booklets containing accompanying commentaries that were vehemently anti-clerical. A public prophecy at LaSalette that did meet with Church approval correctly foresaw a great famine caused by irreverence in Europe, which came about that very year with failure of the potato crop near LaSalette and up through Ireland, where more than 800,000 perished.
While that message was sanctioned, the longer version given in secret to Melanie and not released for 25 years was especially controversial in criticizing priests for becoming "cesspools of impurity" and stating that "the society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events" -- some of which immediately materialized with civil wars across Europe, followed by a "general war" which may have been fulfilled in the way of World War I or the previous uproar of revolts.
"People will think of nothing but amusement," said the alleged secret of coming times. "The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principal, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism, and vice of all kinds. Evil books will be abundant on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening in all that concerns the service of God. The demons of the air together with the anti-christ will perform great wonders on earth and in the atmosphere, and men will become more and more perverted."
Although some of the events in the long prophecy, which was released in 1872 and 38 paragraphs long, can be seen as already having transpired, others are either inaccurate or have not yet happened, including the apocalyptical vision of the evil personage. The prophecy does not pertain to the end of the world, indicating that after the evil figure is defeated, men will again serve God. Suppressed by the Vatican, the predictions have gained interest in a world where indeed evil books now predominate, men have strayed from the Church, there is crisis in the priesthood, people have given themselves over as slaves to amusement, materialism, and irreverence, and worries have mounted that civil governments will form into a world government that will negate religion, perhaps as an offshoot of the United Nations (recently criticized by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's second most powerful man, for trying to form a "new world order").
In addition to its rejection by Church officials at two junctures, questions can be raised about the secret's similarity to previous predictions from questionable seers earlier in the 19th century who the Church feared may have influenced Melanie. The girl had entered a convent after her experience. A second seer, Maximin Giraud, 11 at the time of the apparition, was also given a secret that referred to loss of faith and a "monster" that would arise during the twentieth century. It is not known how accurate versions of this secret are (one of which claimed incorrectly that the next pope -- this in the mid-1800s -- would not be Roman).
But other aspects of the secrets have been remarkably prescient and Pope Pius IX, who never formally released the texts, was described by those who presented him with the secret, Canon Rousselot, who was designated to deliver the secrets, as well as Abbe J.-B Gerin, cure of the cathedral in Grenoble, as reflecting great emotion after he had read Melanie's lengthy secret. the Pope reportedly commented that all of Europe merited chastisement. The secret was also read and accepted by Cardinal Lambruscini, first minister to the Pope and prefect for the Congregation of Rites. The nuncio to Paris, Cardinal Fornari, who also read it, told Rousselot, "I am terrified of these prodigies."
The
apparition occurred on a Saturday afternoon after the two younsters had ambled to an overlook, a ravine, to see where their animals,
owned by local farmers, had wandered. Spotting the livestock and returning to
where they had left their knapsacks, Melanie suddenly noticed a bright light, a
strange circular luminosity, and pointed it out to Maximin, who was equally
stunned.
It was in the ravine, a light that whirled, turned on itself, and grew
stronger. They were about to flee when they noticed the circle opening. Soon
they could make out a form inside. There was the shape of a woman seated
with her head down and her face in her hands, weeping. As they stared they could
make out her head, hands, and elbows. Soon the figure stood, crossed her arms
across her breast, and approached along a brook. There was an immediate feeling
of "something inconceivably fantastic," Melanie later told countless
inquisitors. The woman had a face of magnetic beauty and her voice exuded peace.
She began to address the astonished youngsters. "Come to me, my
children. Do not be afraid. I am here to tell you something of the greatest
importance."
The secret is the subject of a new book by Michael H. Brown, Sent to Earth, that will be available soon (1-800-647-9882). We'll be discussing these secrets in upcoming articles.