The failure of potato and other crops in the 1840s afflicted not just northern France but also, across the channel, Ireland, leading to the mass immigration of Irish Catholics (and so many priests!) to the U.S., where they largely founded the U.S. Church.
The famine was predicted — in France — by the Virgin of LaSal
ette, who had warned in 1846:
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“If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let fall the arm of my Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that I can no longer withhold it.
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“For 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; and as to you, you take not heed of it.
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“However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have taken for you.
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“Six days I have given you to labor, the seventh I have kept for myself; and they will not give it to me. It is this which makes the arm of my Son so heavy.
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“Those who drive the carts cannot swear without introducing the name of my Son. These are the two things which make the arm of my Son so heavy.
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“If the harvest is spoilt, it is all on your account. I gave you warning last year with the potatoes (‘pommes de terre’) but you did not heed it. On the contrary, when you found the potatoes spoilt, you swore, you took the name of my Son in vain. They will continue to decay, so that by Christmas there will be none left.”
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The French expression “pommes de terre” intrigued Melanie. In the local dialect the word for potatoes was “las truffas”, whereas “pommes” for Melanie meant the fruit of the apple tree. Hence she instinctively turned towards Maximin to ask for an explanation, but the Beautiful Lady forestalled her.
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“Ah, my children, you do not understand? Well, wait, I shall say it otherwise”.
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And she continued her discourse in the local dialect of their region.
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“If you have wheat, it is no good to sow it; all you sow the insects will eat, and what comes up will fall into dust when you thresh it.”
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“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 hands of those who hold them; the others will do penance by the famine. The walnuts will become bad, and the grapes will rot.”
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Here the Beautiful Lady addressed the children separately, confiding to each a secret.