Our Lady of Fátima

Our Lady of Fátima
Our Lady of Fátima
Location Fátima, Portugal
Date 13 May—13 October 1917
Witness Lúcia Santos
Jacinta and Francisco Marto
Type Marian apparition
Holy See approval 1930, during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI
Shrine Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, Fátima, Portugal

Our Lady of Fátima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora de Fátima) (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈfatimɐ]) is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as She appeared in apparitions reported by three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal. These occurred on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

The title of Our Lady of the Rosary is also sometimes used to refer to the same apparition (although it was first used in 1208 for the reported apparition in the church of Prouille), because the children related that the apparition called herself "Lady of the Rosary". It is also common to see a combination of these titles, i.e. Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima).

The events at Fátima gained particular fame due to their elements of prophecy and eschatology, particularly with regard to possible world war and the conversion of Soviet Russia.[1] The reported apparitions at Fátima were officially declared "worthy of belief" by the Catholic Church.

Contents

History

Page from Ilustração Portuguesa, 29 October 1917, showing the people looking at the miracle of the sun during the Fátima apparitions attributed to the Virgin Mary.

On 13 May 1917, ten year old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto were herding sheep at a location known as the Cova da Iria near their home village of Fátima in Portugal. Lúcia described seeing a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun."[2] Further appearances were reported to have taken place on the thirteenth day of the month in June and July. In these, the woman exhorted the children to do penance and Acts of Reparation, and to make sacrifices to save sinners. The children subsequently wore tight cords around their waists to cause themselves pain, performed self-flagellation using stinging nettles, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and performed other works of penance and mortification of the flesh.[3] Most important, Lúcia said that the lady had asked them to pray the rosary every day, and that saying the rosary many times was the key to personal and world peace. This had particular resonance since many Portuguese men, including relatives of the visionaries, were then fighting in World War I.[2] According to Lúcia's account, in the course of her appearances, the woman confided to the children three secrets, now known as the Three Secrets of Fátima.

Thousands of people flocked to Fátima and Aljustrel in the following months, drawn by reports of visions and miracles. On 13 August 1917, the provincial administrator and anticlerical Freemason,[4] Artur Santos[5] (no relation to Lúcia Santos), believing that the events were politically disruptive, intercepted and jailed the children before they could reach the Cova da Iria that day. Prisoners held with them in the provincial jail later testified that the children, while upset, were first consoled by the inmates, and later led them in praying the rosary. The administrator interrogated the children and tried unsuccessfully to get them to divulge the contents of the secrets. In the process, he threatened the children, saying he would boil them in a pot of oil, one by one unless they confessed. The children refused, but Lúcia told him everything short of the secrets, and offered to ask the Lady for permission to tell the Administrator the secrets.[6] That month, instead of the usual apparition in the Cova da Iria on the 13th, the children reported that they saw the Virgin Mary on 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption, at nearby Valinhos.[2]

Photograph taken during the reputed "Dance of the Sun" at Fatima on 13 October 1917.

As early as July 1917 it was claimed that the Virgin Mary had promised a miracle for the last of her apparitions on 13 October, so that all would believe. What happened then became known as "Miracle of the Sun". A crowd believed to number approximately 70,000,[7] including newspaper reporters and photographers, gathered at the Cova da Iria. The incessant rain had finally ceased and a thin layer of clouds cloaked the silver disc of the sun. Witnesses said later it could be looked upon without hurting the eyes.[citation needed] Lúcia, moved by what she said was an interior impulse, called out to the crowd to look at the sun. Witnesses later spoke of the sun appearing to change colors and rotate like a wheel. Not everyone saw the same things, and witnesses gave widely varying descriptions of the "sun's dance". The phenomenon is claimed to have been witnessed by most people in the crowd as well as people many miles away.[8] While the crowd was staring at the sun, Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta said later they were seeing lovely images of the Holy Family, Our Lady of Sorrows with Jesus Christ, and then Our Lady of Mount Carmel. They said they saw Saint Joseph and Jesus bless the people.[9] The children were aged 10, 9, and 7 at the time.

Columnist Avelino de Almeida of O Século (Portugal's most influential newspaper, which was pro-government in policy and avowedly anti-clerical),[2] reported the following: "Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws - the sun 'danced' according to the typical expression of the people."[10] Eye specialist Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the newspaper Ordem reported "The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceeding fast and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat".[11] The special reporter for the 17 October 1917 edition of the Lisbon daily, O Dia, reported the following, "...the silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy purple light was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds...The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands...people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they."[12]

Chapel of Apparitions, built at the place where the Fatima apparitions were reported

No movement or other phenomenon of the sun was registered by scientists at the time.[2] According to contemporary reports from poet Afonso Lopes Vieira and schoolteacher Delfina Lopes with her students and other witnesses in the town of Alburita, the solar phenomenon was visible from up to forty kilometers away. Not all witnesses reported seeing the sun "dance". Some people only saw the radiant colors, and others, including some believers, saw nothing at all.[13][14]

Since no scientifically verifiable physical cause can be adduced to support the phenomenon of the sun, various explanations have been advanced to explain the descriptions given by numerous witnesses. A leading conjecture is a mass hallucination possibly stimulated by the religious fervor of the crowds expectantly waiting for a predicted sign. Another conjecture is a possible visual artifact caused by looking at the sun for a prolonged period. As noted by Professor Auguste Meessen of the Institute of Physics, Catholic University of Leuven, looking directly at the Sun can cause phosphene visual artifacts and temporary partial blindness. He has proposed that the reported observations were optical effects caused by prolonged staring at the sun. Meessen contends that retinal after-images produced after brief periods of sun gazing are a likely cause of the observed dancing effects. Similarly Meessen states that the colour changes witnessed were most likely caused by the bleaching of photosensitive retinal cells.[15] Meessen observes that solar miracles have been witnessed in many places where religiously charged pilgrims have been encouraged to stare at the sun. He cites the apparitions at Heroldsbach, Germany (1949) as an example, where exactly the same optical effects as at Fatima were witnessed by more than 10,000 people.[15]

There is no evidence that people who came to Fatima, even those expecting a miracle, were staring at the sun before Lucia spoke. Most would have been focused on the tree where the children said the lady appeared. Some onlookers reported other phenomena, including luminous mist and the showers of flower petals seen around and above the tree during previous visitations.

In addition to the Miracle of the Sun, the seers at Fatima indicated that the lady prophesied a great sign in the night sky which would precede a second great war.[16][17] On January 25, 1938, bright lights, an aurora borealis appeared all over the northern hemisphere, including in places as far south as north Africa, Bermuda and California.[16][17] It was the widest occurrence of the aurora since 1709[18] and people in Paris and elsewhere believed a great fire was burning and fire departments were called.[19] Lucia, the sole surviving seer at the time, indicated that it was the sign foretold and so apprised her superior and the bishop in letters the following day.[16][17] Just over a month later, Hitler seized Austria and eight months later invaded Czechoslovakia.[16][17]

Three Secrets of Fátima

First two secrets

Lúcia Santos (left) with her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, 1917

The first secret was a vision of Hell, which Lúcia describes in her Third Memoir, as follows:

"Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror."[20]

The second secret included Mary's instructions on how to save souls from Hell and convert the world to the Christian faith, also revealed by Lúcia in her Third Memoir:

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."[21]

Fate of the three children

Statue depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary as described by Sister Lúcia of Fátima.

Sister Lúcia reported seeing the Virgin Mary again in 1925 at the Dorothean convent at Pontevedra, Galicia (Spain). This time she said she was asked to convey the message of the First Saturday Devotions. By her account a subsequent vision of Christ as a child reiterated this request.

Sister Lúcia was transferred to another convent in Tui or Tuy, Galicia in 1928. In 1929, Sister Lúcia reported that Mary returned and repeated her request for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.

Sister Lúcia reportedly saw Mary in private visions periodically throughout her life. Most significant was the apparition in Rianxo, Galicia, in 1931, in which she said that Jesus visited her, taught her two prayers and delivered a message to give to the church's hierarchy.

In 1947, Sister Lúcia left the Dorothean order and joined the Discalced Carmelite order in a monastery in Coimbra, Portugal. Lúcia died on 13 February 2005, at the age of 97. After her death, the Vatican, specifically Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (at that time, still head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), ordered her cell sealed off. It is believed this was because Sister Lúcia had continued to receive more revelations and the evidence needed to be examined in the course of proceedings for her possible canonization.[22]

Sister Lúcia's cousins, the siblings Francisco (1908–1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910–1920), were both victims of the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-20. Francisco and Jacinta were declared venerable by Pope John Paul II in a public ceremony at Fatima on 13 May 1989. Pope John Paul II returned there on 13 May 2000 to declare them 'blessed' (a title of veneration below that of sainthood; see Canonization). Jacinta is the youngest non-martyred child ever to be beatified.

In 1936 and again in 1941, Sister Lúcia claimed that the Virgin Mary had predicted the deaths of two of the children during the second apparition on 13 June 1917. Besides Lúcia's account, the testimony of Olímpia Marto (mother of the two younger children) and several others state that her children did not keep this information secret and ecstatically predicted their own deaths many times to her and to curious pilgrims.[23] In fact, it was the first thing Jacinta told her mother when she spoke to her after the initial apparition.[24] According to the 1941 account, on 13 June, Lúcia asked the Virgin if the three children would go to heaven when they died. She said that she heard Mary reply, "Yes, I shall take Francisco and Jacinta soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart."[25]

Exhumed in 1935 and again in 1951, Jacinta's face was found incorrupt.[26] Francisco's body, however, had decomposed.

Consecration of Russia

Statue of Pope Pius XII in Fatima, Portugal. Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart...

According to Sister Lúcia, the Virgin Mary promised that the Consecration of Russia would lead to Russia's conversion and an era of peace.[2]

Pope Pius XII, in his Apostolic Letter Sacro Vergente of 7 July 1952, consecrated Russia to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pius XII wrote,

Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart...[27]

In 1952 the Pope reminded the Russian people and the Stalinist regime that the Virgin Mary was always victorious. "The gates of hell will never prevail, where she offers her protection. She is the good mother, the mother of all, and it has never been heard, that those who seek her protection, will not receive it. With this certainty, the Pope dedicates all people of Russia to the immaculate heart of the Virgin. She will help! Error and atheism will be overcome with her assistance and divine grace." [28]

Pope Pius XII and Pope John Paul II both had special relations to Our Lady of Fátima. Pope Benedict XV began Pacelli's church career, elevating him to archbishop in the Sistine Chapel on 13 May 1917, the date of the first reported apparition. Pius XII was laid to rest in the crypt of Saint Peter's Basilica on 13 October 1958, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima. Our Lady of Fátima is credited by many faithful and by John Paul II himself,[citation needed] with saving his life during the assassination attempt, which took place on 13 May 1981.

Pope John Paul II again consecrated the entire world to the Virgin Mary in 1984, without explicitly mentioning Russia. Some believe that Sister Lúcia verified that this ceremony fulfilled the requests of the Virgin Mary.[29] However, in the Blue Army's Spanish magazine, Sol de Fatima, in the September 1985 issue, Sister Lúcia said that the ceremony did not fulfill the Virgin Mary's request, as there was no specific mention of Russia, and "many bishops attached no importance to it". In 2001, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone issued a statement, claiming that he had met with Sister Lúcia, who reportedly told him, "I have already said that the consecration desired by Our Lady was made in 1984, and has been accepted in Heaven." Sister Lúcia died on 13 February 2005, without making any public statement of her own to settle the issue.

Some maintain that, according to Lucia and Fatima advocates such as Abbe Georges de Nantes, Fr. Paul Kramer and Nicholas Gruner, Russia has never been specifically consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by any Pope simultaneously with all the world's bishops, which is what Lúcia in the 1985 interview had said Mary had asked for.[30][31][32]

However, by letters of 29 August 1989 and 3 July 1990, she stated that the consecration had been completed; indeed in the 1990 letter in response to a question by Rev. Father Robert J. Fox, she confirmed:

I come to answer your question, "If the consecration made by Pope John Paul II on March 25, 1984 in union with all the bishops of the world, accomplished the conditions for the consecration of Russia according to the request of Our Lady in Tuy on June 13 of 1929?" Yes, it was accomplished, and since then I have said that it was made. And I say that no other person responds for me, it is I who receive and open all letters and respond to them.[33]

Third Secret

The third secret, a vision of the death of the Pope and other religious figures, was transcribed by the Bishop of Leiria and reads:

"After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!' And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, Religious men and women going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, Religious men and women, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God."[34]

Controversy around the Third Secret

The Vatican withheld the Third Secret until 26 June 2000, despite Lúcia's declaration that it could be released to the public after 1960. Some sources, including Canon Barthas and Cardinal Ottaviani, said that Lúcia insisted to them it must be released by 1960, saying that, "by that time, it will be more clearly understood", and, "because the Blessed Virgin wishes it so."[35][36] When 1960 arrived, rather than releasing the Third Secret, the Vatican published an official press release stating that it was "most probable the Secret would remain, forever, under absolute seal."[37] After this announcement, immense speculation over the content of the secret materialized. According to the New York Times, speculation over the content of the secret ranged from "worldwide nuclear annihilation to deep rifts in the Roman Catholic Church that lead to rival papacies."[38]

Some sources claim that the four-page, handwritten text[1] of the Third Secret released by the Vatican in the year 2000 is not the real secret, or at least not the full secret.[39][40][41][42] In particular, it is alleged that Cardinals Bertone, Ratzinger and Sodano engaged in a systematic deception to cover-up the existence of a one-page document containing the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which some believe contains information about the Apocalypse and a great apostasy. These sources contend that the Third Secret actually comprises two texts, where one of these texts is the published four-page vision, and the other is a single-page letter allegedly containing the words of the Virgin Mary which has been concealed.[39][40][41] The content of two of these books, The Devil's Final Battle by Father Paul Kramer, and The Secret Still Hidden by Christopher Ferrara, are available online.

The Vatican has maintained its position that the full text of the Third Secret was published in June 2000. According to a December 2001 Vatican press release (subsequently published in L'Osservatore Romano), Lucia told then Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone in an interview that the secret had been completely revealed and published - that no secrets remained.[43][44][45] Bertone, along with Cardinal Ratzinger, co-authored The Message of Fatima,[1] the document published in June 2000 by the Vatican that allegedly contains a scanned copy of the original text of the Third Secret.

During his apostolic visit to Portugal between 11 and 14 May 2010 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the beatification of Jacinta and Francisco Marto,[46] Pope Benedict XVI explained in a rare conversation with reporters that the interpretation of the third secret did not stop with the interpretation of a prediction of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter's Square in 1981. The Third Secret of Fátima, said Benedict XVI, "has a permanent and ongoing significance" and that "its significance could even be extended to include the suffering the Church is going through today as a result of the recent reports of sexual abuse involving the clergy".[47]

Fátima prayers and reparations

Roman Catholic
Prayers of reparation

Emblem of the Papacy SE.svg

Golden Arrow
Morning offering
First Friday Devotions
First Saturday Devotions
Rosary of Holy Wounds
Reparation to The Trinity
Reparation to Virgin Mary

Many Roman Catholics recite prayers based on Our Lady of Fátima. Lucia later said that, in 1916, she and her cousins had several visions of an angel calling himself the "Angel of Portugal" and the "Angel of Peace" who taught them to bow with their heads to the ground and to say "O God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love you. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love you." Lucia later set this prayer to music and a recording exists of her singing it.[48] It was also said that sometime later the angel returned and taught them a eucharistic devotion now known as the Angel Prayer.[49][50]

Lucia said that the Lady emphasized Acts of Reparation and prayers to console Jesus for the sins of the world. Lucia said that Mary's words were "When you make some sacrifice, say 'O Jesus, it is for your love, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.'" At the first apparition, Lucia wrote, the children were so moved by the radiance they perceived that they involuntarily said "Most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my God, I love you in the Most Blessed Sacrament."[51] Lucia also said that she heard Mary ask for these words to be added to the Rosary after the Gloria Patri prayer: "O my Jesus, pardon us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need."[52]

In the tradition of Marian visitations, the "conversion of sinners" is not necessarily religious conversion to the Roman Catholic Church, for that would be the "conversion of heretics or apostates who are 'outside the church and alien to the Christian Faith' according to Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical on the Unity of the Church, Satis Cognitum". Conversion of sinners refers to general repentance and attempt to amend one's life according to the teachings of Jesus for those True Catholics who do profess the faith truly, but are fallen into sins. Lucia wrote that she and her cousins defined "sinners" not as non-Catholics but as those who had fallen away from the church or, more specifically, willfully indulged in sinful activity, particularly "sins of the flesh"[53] and "acts of injustice and a lack of charity towards the poor, widows and orphans, the ignorant and the helpless" which she said were even worse than sins of impurity.[54]

Pilgrimage

Pilgrims in the square of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima (Fátima, Portugal).

An estimated 70,000 people assembled to witness the last of the promised appearances of the Lady in the Cova da Iria on 13 October 1917. The widely reported miracle of the sun was a factor that led to Fatima quickly becoming a major centre of pilgrimage. Two million pilgrims visited the site in the decade following the events of 1917.[55] A small chapel - the Capelinha - was built by local people on the site of the apparitions. The construction was neither encouraged nor hindered by the Catholic Church authorities. On 13 May 1920, pilgrims defied government troops to install a statue of the Virgin Mary in the chapel,[56] and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was first officially celebrated there in January 1924. A hostel for the sick was begun in that year. In 1927 the first rector of the sanctuary was appointed and a set of Stations of the Cross were erected on the mountain road. The foundation stone for the present basilica was laid the next year.[57]

1930 was the year both of official church recognition of the apparition events as "worthy of belief" and the granting of a papal indulgence to pilgrims visiting Fátima. In 1935 the bodies of the visionaries Jacinta and Francisco were reinterred in the basilica. The coronation of the statue of Our Lady of Fátima there in 1946 drew such large crowds that the entrance to the site had to be barred.[58]

Today pilgrimage to the site goes on all year round and additional chapels, hospitals and other facilities have been constructed. The principal pilgrimage festivals take place on the thirteenth day of each month, from May to October, on the anniversaries of the original appearances. The largest crowds gather on 13 May and 13 October, when up to a million pilgrims have attended to pray and witness processions of the statue of Our Lady of Fátima, both during the day and by the light of tens of thousands of candles at night.[59]

Political aspects

From the French Revolution onwards the Catholic Church had adopted an increasingly embattled world view and from the pontificate of Pius IX the Church had been waging war against the twin enemies of liberalism and socialism. At the same time religion had become predominantly a female activity by the early twentieth century.[60] The numerical predominance of women within the Catholic Church went alongside a corresponding development of female divine symbols. Dramatic affirmations of feminine power were given in the apparitions of the Virgin Mary which occurred all over Western Europe from the 1840s. The Virgin, usually in the form of the Immaculate Conception, revealed herself to female seers, often children. When Our Lady appeared to Catherine Labouré, Bernadette Soubirous, Lucia dos Santos at Fatima, or to the children at Beauraing later, in 1932, and Mariette Beco in 1933 - these dramatic affirmations of divine power in an increasingly irreligious age offered 'proof' of the power of heaven against the onslaughts of secularizing government. "The Marian militancy of the Jesuit congregations divided the world into two camps, those who would defend the Virgin and those who would defile her. In the wake of the apparitions at Fatima in Portugal such a view of the world appeared to be shared by the Virgin herself. The 'secrets of Fatima' revealed periodically by the seer Lucia showed Mary's concern with the apostacy of Soviet Russia and the threat of communist anticlericalism. Our Lady of Fatima presented a vision of a world divided. Rome, and Mary, were ranged against the Soviet Union in a struggle between the redeemed and the fallen. With the advent of the Spanish Second Republic, the Virgin Mary [would be] seen on Spanish soil at Ezquioga. Ramona Olazabal insisted Mary had marked the palms of her hands with a sword. Seers gained much credence in Integrist and Carlist circles. The visions at Ezquioga were widely covered in the press, as were the sixteen other visitations of the Virgin to Spain in 1931. There was also the Fatima story, an officially sanctioned apparition, the cult of which, far from being condemned, was actively encouraged by the Church. As the forces of the Republic gathered strength in Spain, the Virgin Mary was to be found leading the armies of the faithful ranged against the Godless."[61]

The Blue Army of Our Lady is made up of Catholics and non-Catholics who believe that by dedicating themselves to daily prayer (specifically, of the Rosary) they can help to achieve world peace and put an end to the error of communism. In 1952, a feature film, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima, was released. Critics held that the film overplayed the role of socialist and other leftist elements in Portuguese government as the "adversaries" of the visions. They state that since the government was controlled not by socialists but by Freemasons at the time, most government opposition to the visions would have been motivated by concern for separation of church and state, not by atheistic or Communistic ideology. Other critics have stated that only the enemies of the message propose such a belief.

Official position of the Catholic Church

Inside the Basilica of the Rosary

Private revelations do not form part of the deposit of faith of the Catholic Church, and its members are not bound to believe in any of them. However, as a matter of prudence, assent would normally be expected of a Catholic based on the discernment of the Church and its judgment that an apparition is worthy of belief.[62][63] After a canonical enquiry, the visions of Fatima were officially declared "worthy of belief" in October 1930 by the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima.[64]

Popes and Fátima

Ecclesiastical approbation does not imply that the Church provides an infallible guarantee on the supernatural nature of the event. Theologians like Karl Rahner argued however, that Popes, by authoritatively fostering the Marian veneration in places like Fatima and Lourdes, motivate the faithful into an acceptance of divine faith [65] Popes Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI all voiced their acceptance of the supernatural origin of the Fátima events in unusually clear and strong terms. After the local bishop had declared that (1) the visions of the three children are credible and (2) the veneration of the Blessed Virgin is permitted, the Portuguese bishops approved and declared the genuine supernatural nature of the event. The Vatican responded with granting indulgences and permitting special Liturgies of the Mass to be celebrated in Fatima.[15] In 1939, Eugenio Pacelli, who was consecrated bishop on 13 May 1917—the day of the first apparition—was elected to the papacy as Pius XII, and became the Pope of Fátima.[66] One year after World War II had started, Sister Lucia asked Pope Pius XII to consecrate the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She repeated this request on 2 December 1940, stating in the year 1929, the Blessed Lady requested in another apparition the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. She promised the conversion of Russia from its errors.

Statue depicting Our Lady of Fátima.

On 13 May 1942, the 25th anniversary of the first apparition and the silver jubilee of the episcopal consecration of Pope Pius XII, the Vatican published the Message and Secret of Fatima. On 31 October 1942, Pope Pius XII, in a radio address, informed the people of Portugal about the apparitions of Fátima, consecrating the human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin with specific mention of Russia. (See below)[67] On 8 December 1942, the Pontiff officially and solemnly declared this consecration in a ceremony in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. On 13 May 1946, Cardinal Masalla, the personal delegate of Pius XII, crowned in his name Our Lady of Fátima, as the Pope issued a second message about Fatima:

  • "The faithful virgin never disappointed the trust, put on her. She will transform into a fountain of graces, physical and spiritual graces, over all of Portugal, and from there, breaking all frontiers, over the whole Church and the entire world".[68]

On 1 May 1948, in Auspicia Quaedam, Pope Pius XII requested the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of every Catholic family, parish and diocese.

  • "It is our wish, consequently, that wherever the opportunity suggests itself, this consecration be made in the various dioceses as well as in each of the parishes and families." [69][70]

On 18 May 1950, the Pope again sent a message to the people of Portugal regarding Fátima: "May Portugal never forget the heavenly message of Fátima, which, before anybody else she was blessed to hear. To keep Fátima in your heart and to translate Fátima into deeds, is the best guarantee for ever more graces".[71] In numerous additional messages, and in his encyclicals Fulgens Corona (1953), and Ad Caeli Reginam (1954), Pius XII encouraged the veneration of the Virgin in Fatima.

At the end of the Second Vatican Council Pope Paul VI renewed the consecration of Pius XII to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and, in an unusual gesture, announced his own pilgrimage to the sanctuary on the fiftieth anniversary of the first apparition. On 13 May 1967, he prayed at the shrine together with Sister Lucia. This historic gesture further cemented the official support for Fátima. Pope John Paul II credited Our Lady of Fátima with saving his life following the assassination attempt on Wednesday, May 13, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima, in 1981.[citation needed] He followed the footsteps of Paul VI, on 12 May 1987, to express his gratitude to the Virgin Mary for saving his life. The following day, he renewed the consecration of Pius XII to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin.[15]

On 12 and 13 May 2010, Pope Benedict XVI had visited the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima and strongly stated his acceptance about the supernatural origin of the Fátima apparitions. In the first day, the Pope arrived to the Chapel of Apparitions to pray and gave a Golden Rose to Our Lady of Fátima "as a homage of gratitude from the Pope for the marvels that the Almighty has worked through you in the hearts of so many who come as pilgrims to this your maternal home". The Holy Father also recalled the "invisible hand" that saved John Paul II and said in a prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary that "it is a profound consolation to know that you are crowned not only with the silver and gold of our joys and hopes, but also with the 'bullet' of our anxieties and sufferings".[72] In the second day, Pope Benedict's homily had pronounced in front of more than 500,000 pilgrims a reference to the Fátima prophecy about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and related it to the final "glory of the Most Holy Trinity".[73][74]

Media

In 1996, John Haffert (co-founder of the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima) spoke about Fatima and his book Meet the Witnesses in which he personally interviewed nearly 200 witnesses to the Fatima Miracle, describing their detailed witness accounts.

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c "The Message of Fatima – An attempt to interpret the "secret" of Fatima". Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html. Retrieved 2009-10-30. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f (De Marchi 1952)
  3. ^ Lucia Santos, Memoir 2, p. 93 in Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, entire text online, page found 2010-12-11.
  4. ^ "At twenty-six he joined the Grand Orient Masonic Lodge at Leiria." OPPOSITION TO FATIMA (Part I), The Fatima Crusader, Issue 7 Page 12, Spring 1981
  5. ^ Stanley Jaki God and the Sun at Fatima (1999) Real View Books, Michigan, p15
  6. ^ Lúcia explained this in an interview with seminary professor Manuel Formigao, published in John De Marchi's True Story of Fatima, entire text online, page found 2011-06-21.
  7. ^ Estimates of the crowd size range from "thirty to forty thousand" by Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século (De Marchi, John (1952). The True Story of Fatima. St. Paul, Minnesota: Catechetical Guild Entertainment Society. ), to one hundred thousand, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, Professor of Natural Sciences at Coimbra University (De Marchi 1952, p. 177), both of whom were present that day (De Marchi 1952, pp. 185–187). The accepted figure is 70,000.
  8. ^ Journal of Meteorology, Vol. 14, no. 142, October 1988
  9. ^ Lucia Santos, Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, entire text online at scribd.com, found 2010-12-04. Lucia's first four memoirs, written for the investigation for her cousins' canonization.
  10. ^ (De Marchi 1952, p. 144)
  11. ^ (De Marchi 1952, p. 147)
  12. ^ (De Marchi 1952, p. 143)
  13. ^ Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima
  14. ^ Jaki, Stanley L. (1999). God and the Sun at Fátima. Real View Books, ASIN B0006R7UJ6
  15. ^ a b c d Auguste Meessen 'Apparitions and Miracles of the Sun' International Forum in Porto "Science, Religion and Conscience" October 23–25, 2003 ISSN: 1645-6564
  16. ^ a b c d Petrisko, Thomas W., Rene Laurentin, and Michael J. Fontecchio, The Fatima Prophecies: At the Doorstep of the World, p. 48, St. Andrews Productions 1998
  17. ^ a b c d Hessaman, Michael The Fatima Secret, Random House 2008
  18. ^ "Aurora borealis glows in widest area since 1709" - [Chicago Daily Tribune, January 26, 1938, p.2
  19. ^ "Aurora borealis startles Europe. People flee, call fireman" - [New York Times, January 26, 1938, p.25 ]
  20. ^ Fatima In Lucia's Own words, Lucia de Jesus (1995), The Ravengate Press, pp101,104
  21. ^ Fatima In Lucia's Own words, Lucia de Jesus (1995), The Ravengate Press, pp104
  22. ^ Sister Lucy’s Cell Ordered Sealed by Cardinal Ratzinger by Christopher Ferrara. Article in the Fatima Crusader, #79, p. 15, text online found 2010-05-15.
  23. ^ "She said too, that she would take us all to heaven..." In John DeMarchi's 1952 book True Story of Fatima, entire text online, page found 2011-06-21.
  24. ^ Lúcia Santos, Fatima in Lúcia's Own Words, First Memoir, written in 1936, entire text online, page found 2011-06-21.
  25. ^ (De Marchi 1952, p. 62)
  26. ^ "When both coffins were opened, nothing was found of Francisco but his bones, but Jacinta's face was intact and incorrupt, she seemed to be only asleep, waiting for the Resurrection, and the good odor of Paradise hung about her. Her mother was one of those who saw her." Walsh, William. Our Lady of Fatima pg. 217.
  27. ^ PIUS PP. XII, Epist. apost. Sacro vergente anno de universae Russorum gentis Immaculato Mariae Cordi consecratione, [Ad universos Russiae populos], 7 iulii 1952: AAS 44(1952), pp. 505-
  28. ^ Sacro Vergente 12
  29. ^ Consecration of Russia FAQ at catholicdoors.com, with quotations from Lúcia and pointing out possible signs that the 1984 consecration was sufficient. Page found 2010-05-19.
  30. ^ Apocalyptic Times at Catholic Counter-Reformation, Abbe Georges de Nantes' website. Page found 2010-05-19.
  31. ^ Kramer, Father Paul. The Devil's Final Battle (1st Edition). (Content available for free online).
  32. ^ Sister Lucy States: "Russia Is Not Yet Properly Consecrated" at Fr. Nicholas Gruner's website, fatima.org. Page found 2010-05-19.
  33. ^ Fátima - 1984 Consecration EWTN Expert Answers, accessed July 9, 2010
  34. ^ The Message of Fatima (2000), The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
  35. ^ Kramer, Father Paul. The Devil's Final Battle (1st Edition). pp. 29–30. (Content available for free online). http://www.devilsfinalbattle.com/content2.htm. 
  36. ^ Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite (1990). The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume III. Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.. p. 470. 
  37. ^ Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite (1990). The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume III. Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.. pp. 578–579. 
  38. ^ Vatican Discloses the 'Third Secret' of Fatima, New York Times, May 14th, 2000.
  39. ^ a b Kramer, Father Paul (2002). The Devil's Final Battle (1st Edition). Good Counsel Publications Inc.. ISBN 978-0966304657. (Content available for free online --click book title). http://www.devilsfinalbattle.com/content2.htm. 
  40. ^ a b Ferrara, Christopher (2008). The Secret Still Hidden. Good Counsel Publications Inc.. ISBN 978-0981535708. (Content available for free online --click book title and scroll to lower right side of page). http://www.secretstillhidden.com/book.html. 
  41. ^ a b Socci, Antonio (2006). Il Quarto Segreto di Fatima ("The Fourth Secret of Fatima" -- Italian only). Italy. 
  42. ^ Tosatti, Marco (2002). Il Segreto Non Svelato ("The Unrevealed Secret" -- Italian only). ISBN 9788838445521. 
  43. ^ Holy See Press Office, (in Italian) (20 December 2001). "In Contro di S.E. Mons. Tarcisio Bertone con Suor Maria Lúcia de Jesus e do Coração Imaculado". Press Release. http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/10112.php?index=10112&po_date=20.12.2001&lang=en. Retrieved 30 March 2010. 
  44. ^ ETWN: Global Catholic Network (9 January 2002). "Meeting with Sr. Maria Lucia". (English translation of 20-12-01 Vatican Press Release). http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdflucia.htm. Retrieved 30 March 2010. 
  45. ^ Zenit News Agency (20 December 2001). "No More Mysteries in Fatima Secret, Sister Lucia Says". Innovative Media, Inc.. http://www.zenit.org/article-3261?l=english. Retrieved 30 March 2010. 
  46. ^ Vatican - Apostolic Journey to Portugal on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Beatification of Jacinta and Francisco, young shepherds of Fátima (11–14 May 2010)
  47. ^ ABC News - Pope Benedict XVI and the 'Third Secret' of Fatima
  48. ^ EWTN Special, Calls of the Fatima Message, 2009.
  49. ^ Our Lady of Fatima http://www.fatima.org/
  50. ^ Story of Fátima http://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-104.html
  51. ^ William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, p. 52.
  52. ^ Walsh, p. 220.
  53. ^ Walsh, p. 90.
  54. ^ From an undated letter written by Lucia and quoted in Fatima, caminho da paz (Fatima, the Path to Peace) by A. M. Martins (Braga, 1983), p. 88-89. Reprinted in The Whole Truth of Fatima, Part 4, webpage found 2010-04-30.
  55. ^ Ian Bradley, Pilgrimage: A Spiritual and Cultural Journey, Lion Hudson (2009), p. 68
  56. ^ International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe, Ed. Ring, Salkin, La Boda, Taylor & Francis, (1996), ISBN 1884964028, p. 245
  57. ^ Leo Madigan, A pilgrim's handbook to Fatima, Gracewing Publishing, 2001 pp. 20-24
  58. ^ Leo Madigan, A pilgrim's handbook to Fatima, Gracewing Publishing, 2001 pp. 24
  59. ^ International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe, p. 245
  60. ^ Ruth Bloch, Signs, 4 (1978), Hugh Mcleod, Religion and the People of western europe 1789-1945 (Oxford 1981), Lannon, Privilege, Persecution and prophecy (Oxford 1987), Gibson, Social History of French Catholicism 180-190
  61. ^ Mary Vincent, Catholicism in the Spanish Second Republic, chapter 4, p.82-108.
  62. ^ Pope Benedict XIV, De Serv. Dei Beatif
  63. ^ EWTN Apparitions
  64. ^ "In virtue of considerations made known, and others which for reason of brevity we omit; humbly invoking the Divine Spirit and placing ourselves under the protection of the most Holy Virgin, and after hearing the opinions of our Rev. Advisors in this diocese, we hereby: 1) Declare worthy of belief, the visions of the shepherd children in the Cova da Iria, parish of Fátima, in this diocese, from 13 May to 13 October 1917. 2) Permit officially the cult of Our Lady of Fátima.1 ", Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, 13 October 1930.
  65. ^ Karl Rahner, Visionen und Prophezeiungen, München 1960
  66. ^ H M Köster, Fatima, in Bäumer, Marienlexikon, II, 448 1940,
  67. ^ AAS, 1942, 313
  68. ^ AAS 1946 246.
  69. ^ Auspicia quadam 21
  70. ^ AAS 148, 171
  71. ^ AAS 1951, 780
  72. ^ ZENIT - Fatima Shrine receives Golden Rose
  73. ^ Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) - Our Lady of Fatima: Pope Benedict's Homily. 'I too Have Come as a Pilgrim'
  74. ^ Vatican - Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Beatification of Jacinta and Francisco, young shepherds of Fátima. Esplanade of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima. Thursday, 13 May 2010.

Bibliography

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