The Secrets of La Salette    193 

will be so full of evil intentions, thoughts, and deeds that he can scarcely be 

considered human. Antichrist will be a human being who has lost his 

humanity; he will be worse than Hitler. 

    Antichrist will come to power during the 25th century by the Christian 

calendar (in A.D. 2430/2431). But he will have been born in the 24th 

century, during the A.D. 2300's. 

8.   `In this time the Antichrist will be born of a nun of Hebraic descent, a 

false virgin, who will have communication with the ancient serpent, with the 

master of impurity and putrefaction. His father will be a bishop. He will 

perform false miracles and subsist only on vitiating faith. He will have 

brethren, who will be children of evil but not incarnate devils like himself. 

Soon they will be at the head of armies, supported by the legions of hell.'   

    These words are true. They agree thoroughly with what the Virgin Mary 

said to Melanie (paragraph 26). Either the Virgin Mary gave this very similar 

paragraph to Maximin also, or these  words were derived from Melanie's 

secret. In either case, the words are true. 

    Antichrist's parents will be a nun and a bishop. Even when there is much 

sin in the world, it is the sins of Christians which do the most harm and 

which are the cause of the most intense sufferings. If all Christians would at 

least avoid every mortal sin and worship God with a sincere heart, there 

would be no Antichrist and much less suffering in the world. Antichrist is 

the offspring of the sins of Christians. 

    The expression  incarnate devils  is merely a metaphor or figure of 

speech. God does not permit devils to become incarnate, nor do they have 

the power to accomplish this. Rather, Antichrist is so full of evil deeds that 

he seems as if he were a devil incarnate, but his brethren, who are also 

children of evil, are not so evil as he. 

9.   `Up, ye children of light, and fight! For behold, the age of ages, the end, 

the extremity is at hand! The Church passes into darkness. The world will be 

in a state of consternation, perplexity, and confusion.'   

    These words refer primarily to the time of the reign of Antichrist, the time 

of the Church's greatest suffering. The Virgin Mary is not asking God's 

children to fight with weapons of violence, but to fight with prayer and faith 

and holiness and love. These words are true; they agree with what the Virgin 

Mary told Melanie (paragraphs 30, 31). 

    The Church's suffering during the time of the Forty Years (especially the 

latter part) is a foreshadowing of the Church's suffering during the nearly 

seven years of the reign of Antichrist. Thus, these words also refer somewhat