Were the Prophesies of La Salette Fulfilled?

The Apparition

In the mountainous region of southeastern France, on a clear September morning in 1846, two shepherd children, eleven-year-old Maximino Giraud and fifteen-year-old Mélanie Mathieu, tended their sheep as they had done many times before. The day was calm and uneventful until a brilliant light suddenly appeared on the mountainside.

To their amazement, within that light sat a beautiful Lady, crowned with roses, her face hidden in her hands as she wept. The children watched in wonder as she slowly rose to her feet and spoke to them in a voice filled with deep kindness and sorrow.

“Come to me, my children. Do not be afraid. I am here to tell you something of the greatest importance.”

This was the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing at La Salette, delivering a message of both warning and compassion.

A Message of Warning

Our Lady lamented the people's sins, their blasphemies, neglect of Sunday Mass and indifference to God’s commandments. Then she shared a serious prophecy:

“If the harvest is spoiled, it is your own fault. I warned you last year by means of the potatoes. You paid no heed. Quite the reverse, when you discovered that the potatoes had rotted, you swore and abused my Son’s name. They will continue to rot, and by Christmas this year, there will be none left.

“If you have grain, it will do no good to sow it, for what you sow the beasts will devour, and any part of it that springs up will crumble into dust when you thresh it.

“A great famine is coming. But before that happens, the children under seven years of age will be seized with trembling and die in their parents’ arms. The grownups will pay for their sins with hunger. The grapes will rot, and the walnuts will turn bad.”

Sounding like any good mother explaining to her children the punishments they must suffer because of their errant ways, the Virgin’s words were soon fulfilled with chilling accuracy.

Her Prophecies Come True

Shortly after the apparition, the Great Potato Famine of 1846 devastated Europe, especially in Ireland, where more than a million people died. Throughout France, crops failed, wheat and corn became scarce, and a mysterious blight attacked the vineyards, causing the grapes to rot just as Our Lady had foretold.

Her prophecy about children “seized with trembling and dying in their parents’ arms” also came to pass. In the years afterward, scarlet fever swept across Europe, claiming the lives of many children, mostly between ages one and seven. Historians later observed that the epidemic exceeded diphtheria and measles as the leading cause of death among young people.

And yet, amid the suffering, grace started to take hold. Churches reopened. People came back to Sunday worship. Businesses shut on the Lord’s Day. Blasphemies, once widespread, became infrequent. The tears of a sorrowful Mother touched hardened hearts — at least for a time.

The Conversion of Maximino’s Father

Among those whose lives were changed was Mr. Giraud, the father of the young seer, Maximino.

After the apparition, the Blessed Virgin gave each child a personal message. To Maximino, she mentioned a seemingly minor act of kindness from years ago.

At that time, Mr. Giraud, a widower, had become indifferent to religion. He no longer went to church and had little patience for matters of faith. When he heard about his son’s vision of a “beautiful Lady,” he angrily forbade the boy to speak of it again.

But when Maximino insisted that the Lady had spoken of his father, curiosity overcame anger. “What did she say?” he demanded.

The boy then recalled how the Virgin reminded him of a forgotten incident from long ago. Years earlier, when the wheat harvest failed in the small town of Corps, Mr. Giraud was distraught, worried that his child would go hungry. On that same day, a stranger had given little Maximino a piece of bread on his way home — a simple act of kindness that the family never thought of again.

Yet Our Lady revealed that God had seen that moment, heard the father’s silent worry, and answered his prayer.

The Mercy of God

This revelation shocked Mr. Giraud. He had thought he was forgotten by God, but now saw that the Almighty had never stopped watching over him—even in his unbelief. The realization touched him deeply, and his heart began to change.

Not long afterward, he was cured of his chronic asthma, a condition that had long troubled him. The healing confirmed his conversion. From that point on, he became a devoted and faithful father, recognized in Corps for his renewed faith and dedication.

A Message for Every Generation

The story of Our Lady of La Salette is not only a warning of chastisement but also a tender call to conversion. The Virgin’s tears were those of a Mother who loves her children, pleading for them to return to her Son before it is too late.

Her message continues to echo through time: “Come to me, my children. Do not be afraid.”

In every generation, there are those who believe they have “expelled” God from their lives—those who think He no longer listens. Yet, the story of La Salette shows otherwise. Even a forgotten act of charity or a piece of bread given to a peasant boy in France can become a sign of God’s ongoing presence.

The Virgin’s tears at La Salette remind us that Heaven sees all and cares deeply for us. God hears the sighs of every heart, watches over every soul, and patiently waits for His children to return.

And though the world has once again turned away, Our Lady’s voice still calls from that lonely mountain in France, urging all who will listen to repent, believe and remember that devotion to her Immaculate Heart is the solution to all of our problems.