Berthe Petit's prophecies about the two world wars

Synthèse :

Berthe was born in Belgium in January 1870 into a well-to-do and devout family. She was a gifted, precocious child. At the age of four, she reported a vision of the Virgin Mary. On the day of her First Communion, she expressed her desire for the religious life.

One day, when she was not yet ten, she told a nun who was her teacher: "I have to suffer a lot, I have to be like Jesus." The nun asked her: "Who told you that?" She replied: "The little host that is Jesus ". This statement cannot not be refuted, for her life was like a martyrdom.

At the age of fourteen, she fell seriously ill with typhoid, and remained in poor health for the rest of her life. By the age of fifteen, she was praying regularly for priests and longing to support them in their ministry. At seventeen, although she had long wanted to enter a convent, her family lost everything and she had to give up her wish to enter the convent. She began to work to help her family.

In 1888, Berthe's confessor told her that she was going to become "a crucified spouse of Christ" and a victim soul to help Jesus save many sinners. At the age of twenty-two, Berthe offered her life and health to God at midnight mass on Christmas. In exchange, she asked for the gift of a soul called to the priesthood. Jesus confirmed that she would suffer greatly, and that one day she would see and recognise the priest who was the fruit of her prayers.

That priest was Louis Decorsant, who was the same age as Berthe. He was studying to become a lawyer. One day, while praying to the Virgin in church, he realised that he was on the wrong track and that he was being called to the priesthood, even though he was happily engaged to be married. It was very sudden, but Louis didn't hesitate, and a year later, in 1893, he entered the seminary.

A few years later, as Berthe was preparing for a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the Blessed Virgin announced that she was going to meet the priest whose prayers had led to her vocation. In 1908, while Berthe was on the train to Lourdes, Father Decorsant sat down in her compartment and struck up a conversation. They saw each other regularly in Lourdes and stayed in the same boarding house. Berthe recognised him immediately and ended up telling him the truth. Touched, and convinced that Berthe was a victim soul, Father Decorsant became a priest in Belgium and supported Berthe all his life.

Berthe became a Franciscan tertiary and took the name Mary Magdalene of the Cross. At midnight Mass on Christmas Day 1909, she understood her vocation, which was dictated to her by the Lord. She had a vision of the united hearts of Jesus and Mary, pierced by a sword - a vision that would be repeated and that Jesus had her draw, with the hearts surmounted by a dove. Christ gave her a message: "Learn to love souls, and teach them to love the Heart of my Mother pierced by the pain that pierced my own Heart". This message was repeated in February 1910, and Berthe was invited to "live in the heart of Mary" and to make that heart known. A revelation during a pilgrimage to Sainte-Anne in Alsace that same year confirmed to her that her specific mission was to obtain "the consecration of the world to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary".

Later, Jesus told her: "By giving John to my Mother on the cross, I entrusted the whole world to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart." The Lord asked priests to make an act of devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary at the end of each Mass. The Virgin also confided to her: "It is by his unshakeable will that my Son wants souls to have recourse to my Sorrowful Heart. I await this from souls, my heart overflowing with tenderness, and I just want to tell the Heart of my Son what these souls entrusted to my Heart, and to obtain graces of salvation for all".The Virgin Mary often appeared in tears in Berthe's visions, and most of the messages she received spoke of Mary's sorrows and warned of divine chastisement for sinful humanity. Jesus told Berthe that recourse to his Mother and her sorrowful and Immaculate Heart was a grace given to the world, and that it was also the last help he would give before the end of time.

In 1912, Berthe took part in the Eucharistic Congress in Vienna, presided over by the Emperor of Austria-Hungary. In September of that year, she received a prophecy that the emperor would be killed. Franz Ferdinand was in fact assassinated two years later, an event that triggered the First World War. During the war, Berthe was forced to stay in Switzerland. She had frightful visions of countless people suffering, some of whom fell to their knees, touched by grace. She spoke of the "regeneration of the whole world".

Informed of Berthe's visions by the Belgian archbishop Cardinal Mercier, Pope Benedict XV recommended that bishops ask for consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

At the end of the war, Jesus confided to Berthe that "this peace is totally unworthy of the name". Berthe returned to Belgium and received prophecies of future conflicts in increasingly divided countries. Until 1940, she continued to receive prophecies about the coming war: she announced the surprisingly rapid invasion of Belgium by Germany, which was to happen on 10 May of that year.

Berthe died on 26 March 1943. For three days, pilgrims flocked from all over the world to pay her respect before her body. In her lifetime, she had received the last rites seven times due to her poor health. For half her life, she lived almost exclusively on the Eucharist.

Aller plus loin :

The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary by Berthe Petit, Lulu.com (January 14, 2004)

En savoir plus :

• The Art of Divine Love or Berthe Petit by Rev Louis M Shouriah, Lulu.Com (August 22, 2004)

• Words of Divine Love to Berthe Petit: Compiled from "The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary" by Loren L Swearingen, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 1, 2017)

• Article "The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary: The Revelations of Berthe Petit" in the Mother of All Peoples website