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distance made me see less and less light as She
rose. What I do know, is that I was a long time
with my head raised up, staring at the light, even after the light, which kept getting further away
and decreasing in volume, had finally disappeared. I take my eyes from the firmament, I look
around me.

I see Maximin looking at me, and I say to him: "Maxi, that must have been my father's Good Lord
or the Holy Virgin, or some other great saint"5.

And Maximin throws his arms into the air and
says: "Oh! If only I'd known!"

V

The evening of the 19th of September, we
went back down a little earlier than usual. When
I arrived at my master's farm, I was busy tying

5. My Father's Good Lord: this is the Crucifix, this living cruci­
fix which the beautiful Lady wears round Her neck, and which seemed to talk to Her. The Holy
Virgin ... Melanie does not seem to have doubted for a moment that it was Her, this comes out
in the account, however, she does not dare to be the first to state it: it is for the Church
of Jesus Christ to do so, she has this intuition. In effect, the next morning, it is the
parish priest of La Salette who cries out, at the account of the two children: "It

was the Holy Virgin who appeared to you", and from that pulpit, will announce this to his
parishioners. and to all the faithful ones among them.