On 11 September 1886, around nine o’clock in the morning, in the hamlet of Le Cuchet, Besse-en-Oisans (Isère, Diocese of Grenoble), François Hustache, a farmer, was returning from the fields where he had just finished harvesting. As he approached his house, he encountered the following:

« I saw a woman sitting nearby, and upon seeing her, she did not appear to be an ordinary woman. This filled me with great fear, and I turned to leave, but she called out to me, saying:

— Come closer. I am not here to frighten you. I approached and told her I wished to go and drink. She asked if there was no one in the hamlet and where the water was. I replied:

— No, there is no one, and the water is quite far away.

— Rest for a moment, you will go to drink shortly. You are carrying a stick. Does your leg pain you?

— Yes, madam, it has been two years, and it will not heal.

— I have heard it said that miracles are performed at La Salette; have you never been there?

— No, madam, as for La Salette, I do not believe in it.

— You must have faith, for without faith we cannot be saved. I have heard it said that your priest has great faith in La Salette; he must have gone there with many of his parishioners.

— As for me, I do not believe that the Holy Virgin appeared at La Salette.

— I see that wherever I go, I hear only swearing and other such things; I believe that God will soon be forced to punish His people without delay. You others, in the mountains, must still retain a little faith...

— God will do as He wishes with us; He did not create us to lose us.

— Ah! My friend, if we do nothing to save ourselves, God will not save us on His own. We should pray earnestly, for at this moment, prayer is greatly needed. Pious souls and all good Christians should redouble their fervor, for we see corrupt youth abandoning prayer, and in schools, children are educated without religion. I believe that God will punish fathers and mothers who are the cause of this evil...

— God would need to perform great miracles to make us believe all that is said about the apparitions of the Holy Virgin and other matters, for there are many skeptics, myself included.

— Ah! My friend, I have always heard it said that God performs miracles only rarely; He wishes to test His people through faith and trust in Him.

I saw her standing before me, completely transformed, for previously she had worn a blue dress and a simple white bonnet and had not revealed herself. Now she wore a beautiful, radiant white dress and a crown upon her head, equally brilliant. She was so beautiful that fear overcame me; I wished to rise, but I could not stand. I sat down. I saw upon the crown: “I am the Queen of Heaven and Earth.” »

According to the Dictionnaire des Apparitions by Fr. René Laurentin – Fayard 2006