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I.
The Supreme Call of the Sacred Heart in Loublande :
The Perpetual Mass for the salvation of mankind
“The
buried message of Loublande must be unearthed for the salvation of
the world.
For 50 years or more, the descent has been dizzy and all attempts
to rise are in vain.
Lord, let Your
Voice be heard like thunder and, on our foreheads bowed in
repentance, Your Anger will be changed into Mercy.”
(Claire Ferchaud,
31st March 1970)
Claire
Ferchaud was born on the 5th of May 1896
(Feast day of St Pius V,
the Pope who codified the Mass bearing his name)
in a
rural family of tenant farmers running the farm called “Les
Rinfillières”, situated in the parish of Le Puy-Saint-Bonnet,
between Cholet and Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, in the heartland of the
“Vendée Militaire”
(this is the name given
to the territory which fiercely opposed with armed resistance the
French Revolution in 1793).
The Annals of the “Souvenir Vendéen” (Vendée’s Memoirs) have kept
the historical records on this farmhouse, where during the
Revolution a non-jurist priest would hide in order to escape the
massacres of the Infernal Columns
(the name given by the brave Vendee people to the murderous
anti-Catholic revolutionary armies).
According to the Autobiographical Notes
that she wrote later in obedience to her confessors, it is in this
environment that Claire, from a very early age was graced with
Apparitions of the Child Jesus, who came to educate her in
acquiring a sense of self-sacrifice and the acceptance of
suffering. Then during the Great War in 1914, He will manifest
Himself as The Lord Christ bruised by the sins of men and pierced
with a deep wound, “which”, He declared “had been
inflicted upon Him by France”.
First
mission : the Emblem of the Sacred Heart on the Flag
From
then on, we may gather that according to God’s Plan the education
that she received from the Lord Himself had been designed for a
mission. While her family, like so many other French families must
contribute to the fight in the War, and the Western region of France
is providing full-size regiments
(thus perpetuating the tradition of Catholic patriotic fervor,
typical of the Vendee region),
and while her two brothers are on the War front, Claire is summoned
by Our Lord to meet in Paris the President of the French Republic,
Raymond Poincaré, in order to fulfill at long last the ancient
promises contained in the Message that had been sent by Saint
Margaret-Mary to King Louis XIV, and then relayed by Cardinal Pie to
Napoléon the Third, on behalf of Madame Royer : it consisted in
placing the Image of the Sacred Heart on the French flag, and more
generally on the flags of the Allied nations. As a reward for this
act of faith, France would defeat not only the traitors destroying
her from within, but also the invading Prussians, and above all
« the enemies of our souls » (sic) – this is the expression
used by Claire when referring to Free Masonry and its relentless
struggle against the Church.
From a
historical point of view, there is no novelty in the requests and
the promises of the Sacred Heart, except that they are being
reiterated after the period of the Monarchy and that of the Empire,
under the sectarian régime of the Third Republic, which had exiled
from France the Religious Orders and had unilaterally imposed, in
1905, the law of Separation between Church and State, in defiance of
Pope Saint Pius X. On the other hand, in compliance with a National
Vow drawing its inspiration from the ordeals suffered by Pope Pius
IX in Rome and the disastrous defeat of their army at Sedan (in
1870), the French had tried to rekindle their courage, bringing to
fruition the plan already set out in another request by
Margaret-Mary : the construction of the Basilica of the Sacred-Heart
in Montmartre, which would be completed and finalized only after the
14-18 conflict.
Claire
Ferchaud’s mission occurs at a time, one can easily imagine, in a
context of heightened anticlerical policy that had become far more
stubborn and vicious than anything the previous messengers could
have been confronted with.
Nevertheless, enjoying full support from Mgr Humbrecht, her Bishop,
Claire was instructed to submit herself for examination by a
commission of theologians in Poitiers, and by Abbé Audebert, parish
priest of Loublande, the village where she attended Mass and
where she used to go to school as a child.
So, on
January 1st 1917, Claire wrote a letter to President Poincaré,
commenting on the great misfortunes that befell France, and
recalling the demands and promises of the Sacred Heart. In this
letter, she also unveiled a secret relating to his private life that
only the President himself could be aware of. At that time she was
twenty years old.
Her
letter was handed over to the President by M. Baudry d’Asson, member
of Parliament for the District of Vendée.
In her
writings Claire described her journey to Paris, the half-hearted
welcome – to say the least – that she received from Cardinal
Archbishop Amette
(he appeared to be, alongside Card. Billot, part of a small but
influential minority among French bishops : those who were the main
opponents of the Flag of the Sacred Heart) ;
she
recalls the priests and the theologians that she met on that
occasion, her nighttime worship in the Basilica of Montmartre where
the Great Host of the monstrance appeared to her torn by the same
wound that she had seen on the Bruised Heart of Jesus at
Rinfillières; then she recounts her moving encounter with Raymond
Poincaré at the Elysée Palace, the President’s objections, but also
his troubled mind when he contemplated the image of the Sacred Heart
that she had uncovered in front of him; and she mentions at last the
promise that he made to her, including his final heartening words
when he saw her to the door: « You have done your duty as a noble
Frenchwoman ! »
The second mission : the ways of atonement
At
this stage, we ought to dwell upon the night that she spent in
Montmartre (from
the15th to the 16th of March 2017),
which took place before her encounter with Poincaré
(on March 21),
because it is during these hours dedicated to Eucharistic Adoration
that she grasped the full meaning of her second mission : the need
to atone for what all French political regimes have done – be it the
Monarchy, the Empire, or the Republic –, when they rejected, each in
its own way, the act of Faith demanded by the Sacred Heart. Indeed
Claire distinctly heard those words by the Saviour :
« My
hour has not yet come, because the time of trial for you is not yet
spent; know that you must suffer deeply for My glory. The greater
the contradictions, the more you are bound to trust in the final
success and the triumph of My Heart. »
The
consequence is clear: while she was being entrusted by the Saviour
with the mission of an apostle, He Himself impressed upon her soul
the awesome idea that she would meet with failure! For, even though
she was wholeheartedly dedicated to winning over Poincaré to a
sacred cause, we must point out the contradiction which will leave
in her mind, till the end of her life, the trace of deep and lasting
sufferings. These would increase in a crescendo, so that her life
was nothing but a focal point of contradictions, of « purely
opposing forces », she used to say.
As was
to be expected, Poincaré did not intervene. Back in her native
Vendée, Claire wrote to him once again, in order to remind him of
his promises; likewise she sent a letter to the fourteen generals of
the High Military Command, and this was all the more relevant as the
government was hunting down the thousands of pennants and flags of
the Sacred Heart that were displayed and worn on the front; while,
on the other hand, what she had predicted became true: ministers,
journalists, and other personalities would be indicted by Military
Justice for treason in time of war!
These
circumstances may have played a part in Marshall Foch’s decision
(inspired by the Chaplain of the Headquarters) to privately
consecrate, in his own personal capacity, the French and Allied
troops to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, on the eve of his famous
counter-offensive dated July 1918, which enabled France, within four
months, to win a war that had been dragging on for four years!
Meanwhile, it should be remembered that whole crowds had been
gathering in prayer in Loublande for the success of Marshall Foch;
but being established on shaky foundations, the peace that followed
the war was described by Claire Ferchaud as a mere “ truce »
… and the same could be said in 1945…
In the
freezing night of Christmas 1917, Claire had received permission
from her bishop to start – together with a few female companions – a
fellowship of “victimes expiatrices”
(victims of Reparation)
in the workroom that belonged to the Parish of Loublande: a place
that was extended and became a convent, whose chapel was open to the
public and consecrated by the Bishop, Mgr Humbrecht, on June 12
1918. Since that day, the Blessed Sacrament has always been kept in
the Chapel.
The decree of 1920:
On
March 12 1920, two years after the Great War, while her bishop and
the priest of her parish were being swiftly removed from their post
by the Holy See, a decree was issued by the Holy Office and ratified
by Pope Benedict XV, stating: « The alleged visions,
revelations, prophecies, etc., commonly referred to as ‘the facts
pertaining to Loublande’, including the writings related to these,
cannot be approved (latin: ‘probari non posse’) ».
Although her name was not mentioned, Claire was notified of the
content. Steeped in a spirit of Reparation, she took upon herself
the burden of the decree as the main cross of her life:
« My Cross, my immense Cross, is there, she
exclaimed. From now on, it is this cross, stretching out both arms,
which will declare my love of the Church! ». Thus, it was not
for France alone, but for the Church as well that Claire Ferchaud
had come into this world.
The third mission : The Perpetual Mass
Except
for a few priests close to her, no one knew that Claire would soon
reveal « the soul of her soul », « another message richer
in hope than the first one » - as she would say. This
corresponds, therefore, to the third mission that she had come to
realize since the days of her childhood, when at the age of 5, 11,
and 14, during the period when she was looking after the lambs,
she had caught sight, on the highest hill at Rinfillières, of a
boundless Cross reaching out to the sky: its base consisted of four
altars, erected at the four cardinal points, where priests appeared
succeeding one another - night and day - for the celebration of Holy
Mass!
She
confidentially explained the meaning of this revelation
- in the year 1922 -
to Reverend Father Lémius, Rector of the Basilica of the
Sacred-Heart in Montmartre, and to her second bishop, Mgr de
Durfort, who had pleaded her cause when he met Pope Benedict XV,
so as to counter the harmful impact of the 1920 decree on crowds
easily swayed by contrary opinions (« a mountain of mud was
poured on Claire»: this is what a prelate of the Vatican,
Cardinal Philippe, would not hesitate to say in those days).
Mgr de
Durfort was able to obtain from Holy Father that Claire’s
community should be permitted to live on undisturbed. Moreover, in
the same year 1922, the Pope, who may have been urged by a feeling
of remorse, wished to receive Claire at the Vatican… but he died
very suddenly when she was just about to leave for Rome!
Mgr de
Durfort kept on supporting Claire under the Pontificate of Pius XI.
He allowed her to go to Rome in 1925, where she was received at the
Holy Office by Cardinal Merry del Val. Alluding to the 1920 decree,
the prelate made to her this confession: « No, my child, you are
not condemned, politics has been meddling with it all ! ».
Clear-sighted minds were in no doubt that this had been the case, in
view of the fact that diplomatic relations between the Holy See and
Paris had been resumed in 1920, the same year when the decree was
issued ! In other words, Claire Ferchaud and the Message of the
Sacred Heart had been sacrificed on the altar of politics !
In
spite of all, Rome did not relinquish the social doctrine of
Christ the King. Pope Pius XI delivered his famous Encyclical
« Quas Primas » and pronounced, in the face of mounting perils,
his solemn condemnations of nazism and communism. On a supernatural
level, the triduum of Masses that he instituted in Lourdes, in the
year 1935 - with the hope of warding off the evils of two deadly
ideologies -, evinced striking affinities with the Perpetual Mass:
the means of salvation that had been demanded by Claire Ferchaud at
Rinfillières. In her eyes, the Lourdes triduum was « a stepping
stone for the future».
The Second World War
In
1940, politics would once more interfere! As the second World War
was likely to revive memories of Claire Ferchaud’s first mission,
the convent chapel was closed to the public by her 3rd
bishop, Mgr Mesguen, for the alleged reason: « disobedience » !
As a result, the refugees who were flocking in great numbers in
Loublande, no longer enjoyed from the clergy the same support that
the crowds had received during the Great War, and they were unable
to pray in the chapel, even for the sake of peace! And yet, it is in
those circumstances that a miracle took place: the multiplication
of loaves of bread by the hands of Claire Ferchaud for the benefit
of a troop of starving soldiers, when our army was being routed by
the Germans… Such was God’s Reply in His Mercy…
One
had to wait till the end of the war and the advent of the nuclear
weapon to see General de Lattre de Tassigny intervene and obtain
from Pope Pius XII that Claire Ferchaud’s requests be taken into
consideration more seriously, so that everything should be
implemented for the institution of the Perpetual Mass at
Rinfillières. Fully aware of the political and diplomatic opposition
roused by the issue of the Flag of the Sacred Heart, this Pontiff
recommended that « the facts which belong to the past in relation to
Loublande » be set aside, and that efforts focus exclusively on the
sheer spiritual implementation of the Perpetual Mass, for the sake
of securing the true peace: that of Our Lord, the Saviour.
Unfortunately, at a time when the world was experiencing the
division between East and West, the so called « balance of terror »
or « cold war », the enslavement of entire populations, the gulags,
the protracted bloodthirsty conflicts in the colonies, the millions
of dead that the aftermaths of the War held in store for us (a
situation getting worse day after day, thus contradicting the false
prophets who herald a “man-made peace”),
the
same bishop who had been responsible for the closing down of the
chapel was more than ever unshakeable in his clinging to the 1920
decree. According to him, the two messages – centering on the Flag
of the Sacred Heart and on the Perpetual Mass – had their origins in
the same person; so the Holy See could not “disapprove” of
one, and “approve” the other: this would be regarded by
public opinion (and by the government) as a « step backward ! »
(sic). One may guess the consequences of this attitude:
the disillusionment, the sudden turnabouts and the betrayals (we
shall not mention them here) that resulted from this thwarting of
the Pope’s designs, and the renewed sufferings inflicted on Claire
Ferchaud!
Summarizing this period, the lines that she wrote - in 1959 - are
worth pondering:
“Why were there
these two aspects of a Mission which apparently seemed
contradictory? Why at a certain time did I come in the forefront
before being thrown ~ immediately after ~ into a state of utter
dereliction, when the Good Lord knew that I would meet with a
setback? If there had not been this question of the Flag of the
Sacred Heart, the more important one of the institution of the
Perpetual Mass would have quickly taken off, without being exposed
to all this turmoil which put the Masonic sect on a war footing. (…)
and the last forty years would not have been drowned in the rivers
of blood of continual wars.”
The Council
In the
years following the Pontificate of John XXIII
(a
pope who had worked for the institution of the Perpetual Mass when
he was apostolic Nuncio in Paris),
we are confronted with a situation which — from a religious point of
view — is inevitably worsening. Although less aggressive than
militant forms of secularism, the secular basis of our society is by
and large paving the way for a process of dechristianization.
The
aftermaths of the pastoral Vatican Council (II) make plain the rift
developing within the clergy, the degeneration of morals and
manners, which is undermining our contemporary societies and
weakening their capacity for standing up to the newly evolving surge
of barbaric cruelty. Anticipating these self-destructive
developments, the Holy Office will respond under the authority of
his pro-prefect, cardinal Ottaviani, summoning Mgr Vion —
Claire’s fourth bishop
— to reopen the chapel of Loublande to the public, on July 1st
1964, the Feast Day of the Precious Blood! An intervention which
caused great displeasure to the bishop! Nevertheless, in a letter
that was sent to Claire Ferchaud by Substitute Dell’Acqua on behalf
of Pope Paul VI
(dated January 28 1966),
the Secretariat of State praised her virtues which he called « an
asset in the treasure of the Church » (“un acquis au trésor de
l’Église” /sic),
declaring that the Holy Father “had joyfully agreed” to the
reopening of the chapel ! This sanctuary, which for 24 years had
been a diocesan chapel, was now assuming papal dignity!
However the new type of theology advocated by the Council — based on
religious freedom, ecumenism, openness to the world, interfaith
dialogue — would incline Paul VI to declare the Perpetual Mass
« untimely » (in spite of the fact that he too had played a part
- in his capacity as Substitute for the Secretariat of State
under Pius XII –
in
trying to institute the Perpetual Mass).
Although this Pope had acknowledged that « the smoke of Satan had
entered the temple of God », and that what is regarded as
untimely today may well appear timely at a later stage, Cardinal
Dell’Acqua felt the need, in a second letter, to require from Claire
an act of “definitive renunciation”.
It was
precisely in this context that the 1969 liturgical reform
turned its back – at least for some time - on the « untouched rite
»: the one, according to Claire, which must prevail in the
celebration of the Perpetual Mass. (From a letter dated 29 January
1971 to Cardinal Ottaviani).
« To
impose a sacrifice on a humble woman —
wrote
Claire Ferchaud — is nothing in itself. What really matters is a
world being sacrificed by the denial of this tribute to God.
In the
very word « definitive » is enclosed for me the « consummatum est »
of a protracted agony affecting at once body and soul. Hanging on
the wood of the Tree, Jesus was aware of the comforting presence of
His mother and of John standing at the foot of the Cross… In the
Holy City, at the heart of Christendom, will there be a soul capable
of hearing this ultimate sigh of mine, lasting till the Day dawns
that will dispel the gloom by which I feel oppressed, just as the
world is suffocating under this gloom ? I have always been obedient,
without spinning stories about « victory »; I will obey once again,
« obediens usque ad mortem », on this earth soaked with the blood of
wars, an earth shaken in its very foundations. »
Upon
these words, Claire Ferchaud died on January 29 1972.
People
believed that the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the
Soviet bloc under the Pontificate of John-Paul II would vouchsafe
an enduring peace, but we are witnessing rather the opposite:
The
rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the many-sided threat of terrorism,
the persecutions against Christians of the East (and soon against
those in the West), the multiplying hotbeds of war, the illegal
proliferation of all kinds of weapons
(including nuclear ones),
the migration of entire populations, the economic crises, the
enslavement of nations subjected to the power of inter-national
finance, let alone the ravages caused by so-called natural
catastrophes, the anti-life laws, perversions of every sort, plus
the destruction of the family cell, which is the core of human
society. One cannot but shudder on reading these lines by Claire:
“I would like to
spare the Earth those great evils, which could be compared to the
destruction of men after the flood ... but what could I obtain???
Merely an extension of the Divine Patience of God, for I feel that
this scorned Divine Love needs to be avenged.”
Have
we come close to the End of the world? Is our planet on the brink of
explosion? Will mankind perish in the throes of despair and chaos?
Showing His Heart, Our Lord said:
« This deep wound was inflicted on me by France ! ».
Had not the Wound grown deeper after the Roman Decree of
1920?
Claire will have these words:
“The
Sovereign Lord, for the second time in human history, comes up
against man’s rebellion, His Merciful Plan destroyed, and it is then
that God decrees the chastisement which will plunge nations into a
dark chaos.”
“Yet,
God remains good”!
Thanks to the « motu proprio » of July 2007 issued by Pope Benedict
XVI, offering a new lease of life to the timeless Holy Mass, a light
has been rekindled in Heaven, because the Holy Spirit is still at
work:
So let
us listen to Claire once again:
“…Yet, God remains good, and just as He
promised a Saviour to Adam who had fallen because of his sin, so now
from the depth of the darkness which enfolds humanity like a shroud,
God does not withdraw without outlining another plan, richer in hope
than the first one. This is the way He will avenge His Honour and
show a greater Love … »
She
writes about her sacrifice and that of her companions, and she
describes « The Great Promise », the graces of renewal
and forgiveness pouring out from the celebration of the Perpetual
Mass:
“The Mass of unsurpassed sublimity will pour out on
the world the whole redemptive value of Christ the Saviour.
“It is the Mass that puts man back into Divine sonship,
restores weakened institutions and strengthens the shaky pillars of
the Church.
“The Mass is today the only way in, to open the
floodgates of Divine Mercy.
It is the Mass that pays the full debt of men!”
Conclusion
Our
concluding words will be those of Reverend Father Albert Hus,
Ex-Superior of the Montfortian Community at Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre,
who had served for 37 years as Chaplain of Claire Ferchaud’s
Convent.
This
is what he wrote on the 11th of February 1986, Feast Day of
Notre-Dame de Lourdes:
« To
abandon this Work, on account of certain difficulties
(a
euphemistic way of putting it!), would amount to a way of
betraying the Fathers who came before us. It would even be — somehow
— the betrayal of our duty towards the Church who has been
deceived…”
« At
the present moment, is not the Church in need of a new and powerful
supernatural remedy? »
Whether we like it or not, mankind as a whole is caught in a vortex
of events of apocalyptic dimension, due to man’s immeasurable pride
rising up against the Love of His Creator. But is it true or not
that Jesus gave Himself up to His Father for our Redemption? Is it
true or not that, in the course of two thousand years, the Holy
Sacrifice of Mass has proved to be the powerful and efficacious
means of renewing the face of the earth and opening up for us the
Path to Heaven ? Is man now pretending to tear away from his heart
the grace of God’s Mercy, by returning to Satan’s fold?
Speaking through His servant, Claire, how many times did the Heart
of Jesus issue His warnings, so as to touch man’s heart! How many
times did He show His Wound!
And
how deeply was Claire’s spirit communing with this Wound, in an
attempt to stem the rising tide of Evil!
No, it
shall not be said that France and the Church cannot recover!
Provided we respond to the act of faith demanded by the Lord, the
means of salvation is there, within our reach:
The
Perpetual Mass, a deluge of special graces pouring out from this
solemn revival of the Redemption; and this “Priestly Work”
which is “The Work of the Lamb” opens the Gate to man’s
survival, to the realization of God’s Will on earth and in Heaven,
and to the Advent of Christ The King in our hearts, in our laws, in
our institutions! In union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the
Reign of Our Lord will shine upon the newly converted nations of the
Earth!
Claude
Mouton-Raimbault March 2017.
***
Claude
Mouton-Raimbault is most successful in retracing and encompassing –
within nine dense pages - the major developments in Claire
Ferchaud’s mission, and in shedding a powerful light on its scope
for our time – while drawing our attention to details and
circumstances always in keeping with the basic theme. These pages
are translated from the text which appeared in the n°71 issue of the
French periodical ‘Lecture et Tradition’ (pages 18 to 26) of
‘Les Editions de Chiré-en-Montreuil’ (March 2017).
We
signal to the readers the most important books published by Claude
Mouton:
- Le Moyen du
Salut. Introduction au Message de Loublande (Ed. de Chiré, 1974)
- Au plus fort
de la tourmente … Claire Ferchaud (Ed. Résiac, 1979)
- Et Jésus
modela son âme … Claire Ferchaud (Ed. Résiac, 1981)
- Ils regarderont
vers Celui qu’ils ont transpercé
(Ed. Résiac, 1983)
- Pour l’honneur
de Claire (Ed. Résiac, 1995).
- Présence de
Claire Ferchaud. Réfutation d’un livre trompeur. (Ed. de Chiré,
2007)
- Vers la
lumière (Poèmes, autoédition).
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