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On May 8, 1902, La Montagne, the volcano at the peak of Mount Pelée suddenly erupted. A discharge of lava immediately reached the city of Saint-Pierre de la Martinique and completely destroyed it. Of the estimated 30,000 population, only two survivors were known. One witness, Victor Albert, watched in horror from his farm and told the French newspaper La Croix: “A flash more dazzling than a lightning happened … At the same time, a cloud that formed on the summit of Montagne [Mount] Pelée literally fell on Saint-Pierre with such rapidity that it was impossible for anyone to escape.”
That day, the eruption mysteriously spared the village of Morne-Rouge, located between Saint-Pierre and Mount Pelée. The prodigious event was accompanied by an apparition of Jesus and His Sacred Heart in the Host exposed for public Eucharistic adoration. There were many witnesses to that extraordinary phenomenon.
On May 8, 1902, Ascension Day, the Mount Pelée volcano started erupting lava and ashes. The inhabitants of Morne-Rouge, strongly devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, immediately hurried to their parish church to ask Our Lady of Deliverance to spare their village from catastrophe. At that moment of sudden danger, people rushed to the confessionals.