The Most Beautiful Description of The Virgin Mary You Will Ever Read by La Salette visionary Mélanie Mathieu

Excerpt from Book “Beauty Will Save the World” now on Amazon

Nestled amidst the picturesque Alps of southeastern France lies the village of La Salette, a place forever etched in the annals of Catholic history as the site of a series of Marian apparitions that left an indelible mark on the faith of countless individuals. On September 19, 1846, two young shepherd children, Mélanie Mathieu and Maximin Giraud, experienced an extraordinary encounter that would forever alter their lives and send ripples of spiritual awakening throughout the world.

A Radiant Vision and a Message of Hope

On that fateful afternoon, as Mélanie and Maximin grazed their cows on the slopes of La Salette, their attention was drawn to a radiant figure descending from the heavens. The figure, identified as the Virgin Mary, appeared seated on a large rock, her face etched with sorrow and her eyes filled with a profound compassion that captivated the young shepherds.

Here is how visionary Mélanie Mathieu described the radiant beauty of the Virgin Mary

“The Most Holy Virgin was tall and well-proportioned. She seemed so light that a mere breath could have stirred her, yet She was motionless and perfectly balanced. Her face was majestic, imposing, but not imposing in the manner of the Lord’s here below. She compelled a respectful fear. At the same time as her Majesty compelled respect mingled with love, she drew me to her.

Her gaze was soft and penetrating. Her eyes seemed to speak to mine, but the conversation came out of a deep and vivid feeling of love for this ravishing beauty that was liquefying me. The softness of her gaze, the air of incomprehensible goodness made me understand and feel that she was drawing me to her and wanted to give herself. It was an expression of love which cannot be expressed with the tongue, nor with the letters of the alphabet.

The clothing of the Most Holy Virgin was silver white and quite brilliant. It was quite intangible. It was made up of light and glory, sparkling and dazzling. There is neither expression nor comparison to be found on Earth.

The Holy Virgin was all beauty and all love; the sight of her overwhelmed me. In her finery as in her person, everything radiated the majesty, the splendor, the magnificence of a Queen beyond compare. She seemed as white, immaculate, crystallized, dazzling, heavenly, fresh and new as a Virgin. The word LOVE seemed to slip from Her pure and silvery lips.

She appeared to me like a good Mother, full of kindness, amiability, of love for us, of compassion and mercy The crown of roses which She had place on her head was so beautiful, so brilliant, that it defies imagination. The different colored roses were not of this Earth; it was a joining together of flowers which crowned the head of the Most Holy Virgin.

But the roses kept changing and replacing each other, and then, from the heart of each rose, there shone a beautiful entrancing light, which gave the roses a shimmering beauty. From the crown of roses there seemed to arise golden branches and a number of little flowers mingled with the shining ones. The whole thing formed a most beautiful diadem, which alone shone brighter than our earth’s sun.

The Holy Virgin had a most pretty cross hanging round her neck. This cross seemed golden, (I say golden rather than gold-plated, for I have sometimes seen objects which were golden with varying shades of gold, which had a much more beautiful effect on my eyes than simple gold-plate). On this shining beautiful cross, there was a Christ; it was our Lord on the Cross. Near both ends of the cross there was a hammer, and at the other end, a pair of tongs.

The Christ was skin-colored, but He shone dazzlingly; and the light shone forth from His holy body seemed like brightly shining darts which pierced my heart with the desire to melt inside Him. At times, the Christ appeared to be dead. His head was bent forward and His body seemed to give way, as if about to fall, had He not been held back by the nails which held Him to the cross.

The Holy Virgin was crying nearly the whole time she was speaking to me. Her tears flowed gently, one by one, down to her knees, then, like sparks of light, they disappeared. They were glittering and full of love. I would have liked to comfort her and stop Her tears.

But it seemed to me that she needed the tears to show better Her love forgotten by men. I would have liked to throw myself into Her arms and say to her: “My kind Mother, do not cry! I want to love you for all men on Earth.” But she seemed to be saying to me: “There are so many who know me not!”

I was in between life and death, and on one side, I saw so much desire by this Mother to be loved, and on another side, so much cold and indifference . . . Oh! My Mother, most beautiful and lovable Mother, my love, heart of my heart!

The tears of our sweet Mother, far from lessoning her air of majesty, of a Queen and a Mistress, seemed, on the contrary, to embellish her, to make her more beautiful, more powerful, more filled with love, more maternal, more ravishing, and I could have wiped away her tears which made my heart leap with compassion and love.

To see a mother cry, and such a Mother, without doing everything possible to comfort her and change her grief to joy, is that possible?

Oh! Mother, who is more than good; you have been formed with all the prerogatives God is able to make; you have married the power of God, so to speak; you are good, and more, you are good with the goodness of God Himself. God has extended Himself by making you His terrestrial and celestial masterpiece.

The Most Holy Virgin had a yellow pinafore. What am I saying, yellow? She had a pinafore more brilliant than several suns put together. It was not a tangible material; it was composed of glory, and this glory was scintillating, and ravishingly beautiful. Everything in the Holy Virgin carried me firmly and made me kind of slide into the adoration and love of my Jesus in every state of His mortal life.

The Most Holy Virgin had two chains, one a little wider than the other. From the narrower one, hung the cross which I mentioned earlier.

These chains (since they must be given the name of chains) were like rays of brightly shining glory, sparkling and dazzling. Her shoes (since they must be called shoes) were white, but a silvery brilliant white.

There were roses around them.

These roses were dazzlingly beautiful, and from the heart of each rose there shone forth a flame of very beautiful and pleasing light. On Her shoes there was a buckle of gold, not the gold of this earth, but rather the gold of paradise.

The sight of the Holy Virgin was itself a perfect paradise. She had everything needed to satisfy, for earth had been forgotten. The Holy Virgin was surrounded by two lights. The first light, the nearer to the Most Holy Virgin, reached as far as us. It shone most beautifully and scintillatingly.

The second light shone out a little around the Beautiful Lady and we found ourselves bathed in it. It was motionless (that is to say it wasn’t scintillating) but much more brilliant than our poor sun on earth. All this light did not harm nor tire the eyes in any way.

In addition to all these lights, all this splendor, there shone forth concentrations or beams of light and single rays of light from the body of the Holy Virgin, from Her clothes and from all over her.

The voice of the Beautiful Lady was soft. It was enchanting, ravishing, warming to the heart. It satisfied, flattered every obstacle, it soothed and softened. It seemed to me I could never stop eating up her beautiful voice and my heart seemed to dance or want to go towards her and melt inside her.

The eyes of the Most Holy Virgin, our sweet Mother, cannot be described in human language. To speak of them, you would need a seraph, you would need more than that, you would need the language of God Himself, of the God who formed the immaculate Virgin, the masterpiece of His omnipotence.

The eyes of the majestic Mary appeared thousands of times more beautiful than the rarest brilliants, diamonds, and precious stones. They shone like two suns; they were soft, softness itself, as clear as a mirror. In her eyes, you could see paradise. They drew you to Her, She seemed to want to draw and give Herself.

The more I looked, the more I wanted to see; the more I saw, the more I loved Her and I loved Her with all my might.

The eyes of the beautiful Immaculate One were like the door to God’s Kingdom, from which you could see all that can elate the soul. When my eyes met those of the Mother of God, I felt within me a happy revolution of love and wanted to declare that I love her and that I am melting with love.

As we looked at each other, our eyes spoke to each other in their fashion, and I loved her so much I could have kissed her in the middle of her eyes, which touched my soul and seemed to draw it towards them, making it melt into Hers. Her eyes set up a sweet trembling in all my being; and I was afraid to make the slightest movement which might cause her the slightest displeasure.

Just the sight of the eyes of the purest of Virgins would have been enough to make the heaven of a blessed creature, enough to fill the soul with the will of the Most High amid the events which occurs in the course of mortal life, enough to make the soul perform continual acts of praise, of thanksgiving, of atonement and expiation.

Just this sight focuses the soul on God, and makes it like a living- death, looking upon all the things of this earth, even the things which seem the most serious, as nothing but children’s playthings. The soul would want to hear no one speaking unless they spoke of God, and of that which affects His Glory.

Sin is the only evil She sees on earth. She will die of grief unless God sustains Her.

Amen.

Signed: Maria of the Cross, Victim of Jesus, born Melanie Calvat, Shepherdess of La Salette, Castellamare, 21 November 1878.