Fatima in Lucia's Own Words II This text from Sister Lucia's hand which, in its literary genre, is similar to the Four Memoirs composed between the years 1935 and 1941 and already published, originated at the request of the Rev. Luciano Guerra, Rector of the Sanctuary. Fatima in Lucia's Own Words II. This text from Sister Lucia's hand which, in its literary genre, is similar to the Four Memoirs composed between the years 1935 and 1941 and already published, originated at the request of the Rev. Luciano Guerra, Rector of the Sanctuary. We thank Sister Lucka herself for the precious gift she has given to all families.
COMMENTARY
Welch allyn driver download. The apparition at Fatima on Oct. 13, 1917, is the only approved apparition in 2,000 years in which the entire Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph appeared at the same time. The three little shepherd children saw Our Lady with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus, both blessing the world, during the time tens of thousands of people were witnessing the sun miracle.
The Miracle of the Sun was one of the most spectacular miracles recorded in the history of the Church. It was heaven’s verification of the message that the Mother of God came to deliver to the world. A miracle had been foretold months in advance, as to its exact day and hour. While the nature of the miracle was not foretold, three things were foretold: “In October, I will tell you [1] who I am and [2] what I want, and [3] I will perform a miracle so that all may believe” (July 13, 1917).
It is not correct to say that Our Lady foretold the Miracle of the Sun. She simply foretold a miracle, without stating what kind. The miracles of Jesus in the New Testament were to bring people to faith with a response in love. Such, too, was the reason for the Holy Family miracle of Fatima.
Before the release of the third part of the Fatima secret in 2000, Pope St. John Paul II sent two Vatican representatives to Sister Lucia. She took that opportunity to tell them that she had written a book. She requested permission from Pope John Paul to have it published. That book is described as having a catechetical dimension — and in fact is a “catechism of Fatima,” in both senses of the word. In English, it is titled Calls From the Messages of Fatima. In the preface, we read: “The entire message of Fatima is a great call to holiness for the Church of our time.
“Lucia sees this call to holiness in some of the details of the apparition. The presence of St. Joseph in one of apparitions is a pressing invitation to the sanctification of the family, a key theme throughout Lucia’s book and also one of the essential currents and main preconditions of the magisterium of John Paul II.”
Sister Lucia entitled the 18th chapter of her book “The Call to the Sanctification of the Family.”
Most importantly, Fatima is for faith, hope and love — and Fatima’s message can help the family to live in holiness, professing the totality of true faith. Waveplus driver download for windows.
My own meditation on Fatima has brought me to the realization that Fatima is a special message of holiness for the family, while its message embraces all of Catholicism. Popes have said that “Fatima reaffirms the Gospels.”
Sister Lucia wrote much on the family in her book: Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words — Volume II — Fifth and Sixth Memoirs, released in April 1999. She did the same, and more profoundly, quoting much sacred Scripture, in her more recent book, Calls From the Message of Fatima, released in 2000, which has recently been translated into various languages.
In her last book, Sister Lucia wrote: “In times such as the present, when the family often seems misunderstood in the form in which it was established by God, and is assailed by doctrines that are erroneous and contrary to the purposes for which the divine Creator instituted it, surely God wished to address to us a reminder of the purpose for which he established the family in the world. ..”
Sister Lucia continued: “In the message of Fatima, God calls on us to turn our eyes to the Holy Family of Nazareth, into which he chose to be born, and to grow in grace and stature, in order to present to us a model to imitate, as our footsteps tread the path of our pilgrimage to heaven.”
These are noble thoughts from Lucia, who was left in the world for years to spread devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What is meant by the Immaculate Heart devotion embraces our living the totality of Catholic faith and practicing the Christian virtues as Mary lived them. In the June apparition, Our Lady announced that Lucia was to live a long life so as to witness to how God “wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.”
In Lucia’s final years of life, she focused especially on the holiness that should be that of every family.
The family today is under constant attack throughout the world. The message of Fatima is more relevant today because of these attacks on the family. We as a society struggle with the roles of husbands and wives in the home and the formation of children.
At Fatima, we learned so many great devotions to Our Lady that can help us with our spiritual formation within the home. The First Saturday devotion is a great way to get involved in the Fatima message and receive an abundance of grace. There are four requirements to making the devotion:
Praying the family Rosary together each night is a wonderful practice and creates family bonding that will last a lifetime. I am a strong believer in the old saying, “The family that prays together stays together.”
As a family, we must appreciate and not underestimate the power of the Fatima message and the spiritual benefits. The call that the Mother of God imposed on the Church was not directed simply at the pope and bishops. It is a call to all of us, whatever our state of life. With this said, it is a call to families to live the faith in the example of the Holy Family. In order for peace to come and happiness among families to come more fully, we have to hear and answer Our Lady’s call at Fatima. This is a call to holiness.
Fatima Within the Family
The family is the beating heart of our world. When the family is weak, our society becomes weak. This is the challenge that we face today.
In our families, we lack devotion; Fatima promotes devotion. In our families, we lack purity; and in the Fatima message, we practice penance, and penance helps one to adhere to purity. Today our families are lacking in prayer; Fatima promotes prayer through the request of Our Lady to say the Rosary daily. If you are part of a family, then you realize that it is a sacrifice, and the message of Fatima promotes sacrifice.
On Oct. 13, St. Joseph appeared to the crowd of 70,000, blessing the people and holding the Child Jesus. The Holy Family appeared at Fatima to us all as an example of holiness that can be attained within the family. Each member of the family has a role, with the father as head of the home and the mother as the beating heart, plus the children as loving, obedient members. Also, immediately after this appearance, Our Lady of Sorrows appeared. The many scholars over the years have interpreted this appearance by Our Lady as an acknowledgement to the breakdown of family life.
Vatech mobile phones & portable devices driver. In order to help change our society, we must incorporate the Fatima message within our homes. If we want true peace and protection, we must submit to the will of Our Lady. If we submit, then we must learn the message, live the message and spread the message to the world — one family at a time.
John Preiss is president of Fatima Family Apostolate International.
- Keywords:
FATIMA:IntheEnd
by Mark Fellows
According tosome influentialmembers of the Vatican Hierarchy, the answer is yes. In Fatima on May13,2000, after the beatification ceremony for Francisco and Jacinta Marto,Secretary of State Angelo Cardinal Sodano told hundreds of thousands ofpilgrims that the Fatima Secret concerned only past events: RussianCommunism,and the 1981 assassination attempt on His Holiness, John Paul II.
JosephCardinal Ratzinger,prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [CDF],agreed.In a June 2000 document issued by Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone,entitled The Message of Fatima, Ratzinger stated: 'We mustaffirmwith Cardinal Sodano . . . the events to which the third part of thesecretof Fatima refers now seem part of the past.' 2
More recently [December, 2001] the Vatican made public an interviewbetweenArchbishop Tarcisio Bertone [the then CDF secretary] andninety-five-year-oldSister Lucy, the sole surviving visionary of the Fatima Apparitions.Accordingto Msgr. Bertone, in their interview Sister Lucy stated, incontradictionto her prior statements, that Pope John Paul II had successfullyconsecratedRussia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1984.3Moreover,Msgr. Bertone maintained that, again contrary to her previous remarks4,Sister Lucy now believed the Vatican had published the entire ThirdSecretof Fatima. 5
Accordingto the Vatican, then, we have reached 'the end' referred to by Our Ladyof Fatima on July 13, 1917. The Holy Father has consecrated Russia, andthe entire Fatima Message has been published. Our Lady said that 'intheend' Her Immaculate Heart would triumph, Russia would convert, and theworld would enjoy a period of peace. If the Vatican is correct in itsassessmentof the Fatima Message, we must now be experiencing the triumph ofMary'sImmaculate Heart.
TheConversionof Russia
Readersmay beexcused for not realizing this. Russia's conversion to Catholicismwhich,according to Our Lady of Fatima, would coincide with the consecrationofRussia, has been, well, subtle. The approximately six hundred thousandRussian Catholics6 are a tiny,legallypersecutedminority in a nation where two-thirds of the one hundred and forty-fivemillion people belong to the schismatic Orthodox Church, 7whose Patriarch refuses to allow the Pope to visit Russia.
Moreover,it is difficult to find evidence of even a veiled or embryonicconversionto Catholicism in pronouncements from the Orthodox Church-----likea recent blast in which a spokesman for Patriarch Alexy II expressedindignationthat the Church might attempt 'missionary activities among the peopleofour country, which has never been Catholic.'8
Sosubtle isRussia'sconversion to Catholicism that Alexy called the Vatican's simplerestructuringof the Russian Catholic Church into dioceses 'an unfriendly act.'Speakingof unfriendly acts, in April Russian police detained Msgr. Jerzy Mazur,the Catholic bishop of Russia's largest diocese, and Withoutexplanationexpelled him from Russian soil, forbidding him to return. 9Now that's subtle.
Itislikely the small remnant of faithful Russian Catholics are unaware oftheirnation's conversion to Catholicism. They are, one imagines, accustomedto making the best of a bad situation. And the situation in Russia isbadand getting abysmal. The societal indicators point not towards anationalconversion to Catholicism, but towards a decline into barbarism. Thedetailshave been chronicled elsewhere, 10but can be briefly summarized as woefullyhigh rates ofabortion, alcoholism,and organized crime.
The inconvenientfact of the matter is that Russia's decline seemed to accelerate afterPope John Paul II's 1984 consecration of the world to the ImmaculateHeart. 11 The razing of theBerlin Wall,the apparentattempts at democratic government, and the influx of consumerism andWesternculture into Russia have been taken as signs that Russia is'normalizing'after decades of Communist oppression. Although that is debatable, itisevident that none of these signs-----includingRussia'srecent inclusion into NATO 12-----isproof of a religious conversion to Catholicism of the magnitude of theFatima prophecy.
Onthis point it is worth recalling portions of a letter Sister Lucy wrotein 1936. Responding to a priest's inquiry about the consecration ofRussia,Lucy answered:
'I have spoken to Our Lord about the subject and not too long ago IaskedHim why He would not convert Russia without the Holy Father making theconsecration. [He replied] 'Because I want My whole Church toacknowledgethat consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary so thatit may extend its cult later on and put the devotion to the ImmaculateHeart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart.
'Prayvery much for the Holy Father. He will do it but it will be late . .Nevertheless,the Immaculate Heart of Mary will save Russia. It has been entrusted toHer.' ' 13So we haveit on Divine authority that, although 'it will be late', in the end,theImmaculate Heart of Mary will save Russia. In order to properly honorMary,it is necessary for the Pope and the bishops to solemnly consecrateRussiato Her Immaculate Heart. Only then will Russia convert.
Consequently,it isnot mere semantics to insist that a consecration of the world is notwhatHeaven is seeking.
Given Heaven'sinsistence that the Immaculate Heart be properly honored-----Jesus'wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart' theBlessed Virgin told Lucy 14-----wemay safely assume that the conversion of Russia will be a prodigiouseventthat commands attention, similar in magnitude to the Miracle of the Sunthat occurred at the final Fatima apparition on October 13, 1917-----justbefore Lenin and the Bolsheviks came to power.
That suchan event has not occurred is further evidence-----wereit needed-----that Russia has yet to convert toCatholicism.The reason is that Russia has not been consecrated to the ImmaculateHeartof Mary according to the requirements of the Fatima Message.
TheThird Secret Visible
Our Ladyalso said that 'in the end' there would be a period of peace whichwouldcoincide with the consecration and conversion of Russia. As the eventsof September 11, 2001, put in bold relief, however, there is no peace.Civil wars and persecution of the Catholic Church-----particularlyby Islam -----occur daily throughout the world.
Thesesoberingeventsare a jarring counterpoint to well-publicized interfaith ecumenicalgatherings,like Assisi.
Are weat the end of the Fatima Message? Are we living in the period of peaceOur Lady of Fatima promised would occur with the triumph of HerImmaculateHeart? There is, unfortunately, nothing factual to support this. Wellthen,where are we?
That weare living in a period of remarkable upheaval in the Catholic Church isnot merely a plausible argument supported by statistics and a myriad ofpost-conciliar horror stories. It is a fact attested to by the presentPope, his predecessor, Pope Paul VI, and other notable members of thehierarchylike Cardinal Ratzinger. The phrase they have used, 'crisis of faith',is an all embracing term for the utter decadence in religious orders,aninsipid, ever devolving liturgy, a corresponding steep decline in Massattendance and belief in the Real Presence, the indifference ordefianceof the world episcopate to papal authority, and numerous otherindicatorsof a universal loss of faith-----in a word,apostasy.
[The mostrecent catastrophe has been the discovery of hundreds of homosexualAmericanclergy who for decades have been preying-----notpraying-----onadolescent boys. Anyone wondering why vocations to the priesthood aredown,at least among heterosexual men? The numbing magnitude of this latestcrisisis unrelieved by the reaction of the American hierarchy: no anguish, noremorse, no contrition; just well managed press conferences staged by acorporation doing public relations damage control.]
Ratherthan document a depressing litany of scandal, heresy, and aberrationmostreaders are probably already aware of, suffice it to say that in theChurch,like the world, there is no peace. It seems evident that the ImmaculateHeart of Mary has not triumphed in the Church 15,and it is perhaps for this reason that the Immaculate Heart has nottriumphedin Russia.
Which bringsus to the Third Secret of Fatima, and an answer to the question: whereare we? To be precise, we don't need to know the exact contents of theThird Secret of Fatima to acknowledge that the Church is undergoing aconvulsiveapostasy affecting not just the laity but priests, bishops, andcardinals.However, it is interesting that all Fatima experts, and of course,SisterLucy, have pointedly implied or expressly stated that the Third Secretconcerns widespread apostasy in the highest levels of the Church.
There havebeen otherapostasy-ridden periods in Church history, but few of them have beenpredictedand given a prescription ahead of time by the Mother of God in a publicapparition. If, as most experts think, the Third Secret of Fatimaconcernsapostasy in high levels of the Church, it is surely significant thattheBlessed Virgin wanted the Third Secret revealed by the Church in 1960. 16 It was not. Thus began the timeof theThird Secret, which coincided with a great falling away from the truth.It would seem that until the Fatima prescriptions are followed, thefallingaway will continue, and in all likelihood accelerate. Evil, like good,has a momentum of its own, and a myriad of unforeseen consequences.
So whereare we? We are not 'at the end' of the Fatima Message. We are living ina time of great apostasy, which coincides almost exactly with the ThirdFatima Secret which was supposed to be revealed in 1960. In my humbleopinion,this is not mere 'coincidence.'
Beforethe End
In 2000Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone issued a booklet entitled TheMessageof Fatima that purported to reveal the entire Third Secret. Thecuriousthing about this document, however, is that it did not address thewordscommonly believed by Fatima experts to be the beginning of the ThirdSecret:'In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved . . .' 17
Lucia In Her Own Words
TheChurch-appointed historian of Fatima, Father Joaquin Alonso, explained:'All authors have taken into consideration how Lucia, in the fourthMemoir,introduced the famous paragraph with the words 'In Portugal the dogmaofthe Faith will always be preserved etc. . . .' They have deduced ascertainthat the third 'thing' began there. These words introduce therevelationof the third part of the Secret.' 18
FatherAlonso spoke often to Sister Lucy while researching his multi-volumeworkon Fatima. Frère Michel sums up Alonso's opinion on the ThirdSecret:
'Itis therefore completely probable that the text makes concretereferencesto the crisis of faith within the Church and to the negligence of thepastorsthemselves. He [Alonso] speaks further of 'internal struggles in theverybosom of the Church and of grave pastoral negligence by the upperhierarchy,'of 'deficiencies of the upper hierarchy of the Church.' ' 19
If FatherAlonso and Frère Michel are right, many things are explained,includingthe issuance by Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone of a booklet thatallegedly reveals the Third Secret of Fatima, but in fact omits theonlyknown words of the Secret. 20
SisterLucy spoke of a 'diabolical disorientation' that had gripped theclergy.Indeed, when one looks objectively at the level of evil in the Churchandthe world, and then hears prominent Churchmen describing this wretchedperiod of misery as the 'new advent of humanity', or worse, the work ofthe Holy Spirit, it is easy to feel disoriented. It is interesting tonotethat pre-conciliar Popes did not share the current optimism.
Pope PiusXII, who died less than five years before the Second Vatican Councilopened,declared:
'We believethat the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold byChrist.It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is inthegrip of a supreme crisis.' 21
His predecessor,Pope St. Pius X, related the following vision: 'I saw one of mysuccessorstaking to flight over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refugeindisguise somewhere; and after a short retirement he will die a crueldeath.The present wickedness of the world is only the beginning of thesorrowswhich must take place before the end of the world.' 22
St. Pius'vision is similar to the vision of Sister Lucy which Cardinal Ratzingerand Msgr. Bertone represented as the entire Third Secret. Sister Lucysawa Pope leading a small remnant through 'a big city half in ruins,' pastcorpses, and up a steep mountain to a cross where he and his followersare murdered en masse. 23 Thevisions ofSt.Pius X and Sister Lucy recall Blessed Jacinta Marto's visions of aweepingPope 'kneeling by a table with his head buried in his hands,'surroundedby enemies, and of 'highways and roads and fields full of people whoarecrying with hunger and have nothing to eat.' 24
Jacinta'svisions are often assumed to refer to World War II and Pope Pius XII.YetJacinta may have been shown a future conflict. As Father McGlynn notedin 1950, 'there is no indication in Her [Mary's] message that this[peace]will be achieved before another war.' 25Thepoint, however, is that the events seen by Lucy and Jacinta-----andperhaps by Pius X-----may come to pass before'theend,' that is, before the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart, theconsecrationand conversion of Russia, and the period of peace. Father Alonso said:
'The finaltriumph of Mary's Heart is certain and it will be definitive. But itwilltake place in the end, that is to say, after a terrible purification ofsinful humanity, in a baptism of fire, blood and tears.' 26
FatherAlonso's implications are sobering. He would seem to be in agreementwithSt. Pius X, that we are in the 'beginning of sorrows.' One wonders howmany more catastrophes will occur before the Fatima prescriptions arefollowed.
Memoirs Of Sr Lucia
A Vision of TriumphSister Lucy's vision in Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone's TheMessageof Fatima is assumed to refer to the Third Secret, and well it may,although from its content it could also refer to what is commonlycalledthe Second Secret: Mary's warning about Russia's errors resulting innationsbeing annihilated, the good being martyred, and the Holy Father having'much to suffer.' Another Fatima vision concerned what is commonlycalledthe First Secret: the sight of multitudes of souls falling into Hell-----likesnowflakes, Lucy said-----because there was nooneto pray and sacrifice for them.
Yet thereis another Fatima vision that must not be neglected. It happened duringthe apparition of June 13, 1917. After promising Lucy: 'My ImmaculateHeartwill be your refuge,' Mary opened Her hands in a gesture Lucy latercomparedto the Dominus Vobiscum at Mass.27From Her palms issued rays of an 'immense light' which appeared tosimultaneouslybear Francisco and Jacinta to Heaven and immerse Lucy on earth.
'In front ofthe palmof Our Lady's right hand was a heart encircled by thorns which piercedit,' Lucy said. 'We understood that this was the Immaculate Heart ofMary,outraged by the sins of humanity, and seeking reparation.' 28The light from Our Lady's palms 'penetrated to our inmost hearts,' saidLucy, adding: 'I think that on that day the main purpose of this lightwas to infuse within us a special knowledge and love for the ImmaculateHeart of Mary, just as on the other two occasions it was intended todo,as it seems to me, with regard to God and the mystery of the most HolyTrinity.' 29
'From that dayonwards,'Lucy writes in her Third Memoir, 'our hearts were filled with a moreardentlove for the Immaculate Heart of Mary.' 30What did this triumph of the Immaculate Heart in the lives of the seerslook like?
Much ofit was, like the life of the Blessed Virgin, hidden. The children keptthe Secret Mary gave them. They pondered it in their hearts, the samewaySacred Scripture describes Mary 'pondering all these things in Herheart.'They prayed much, and developed a thirst for penance and suffering. Itwas later discovered that Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucy all wore heavyknottedropes and engaged in other physical mortifications very unusual forchildrentheir ages.
Perhaps theirzest forsuffering was the outward manifestation of a love of the BlessedTrinity.Lucy said that in previous apparitions Mary had provided them withintimateknowledge of God and the Holy Trinity. Who can better teach us how toloveGod than the Blessed Virgin? What creature knows better how to pleaseGod,or wills what God wills more ardently? And if God wills that childrendopenance and mortification in reparation for offenses committed againstthe hearts of Jesus and Mary, what does this mean for the rest of us?
Mary'smantle spreads to cover all Her children, but it does not protect themfrom crosses. Instead crosses, properly used, accelerate love of Godanddevelop a more intimate knowledge between creature and Creator.FranciscoMarto developed a love for the 'hidden Jesus' so strong he spent allhisfree time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, until his last days, whenillness kept him bedridden. He confessed to Lucy that he suffered much,and added: 'But it doesn't matter. I suffer to console Our Lord, and ina little while I shall be with Him.' 31
Whenhe died, Jacinta was too sick to go to his funeral. She was put in thebed Francisco died in, but it was her fate to die far away from herhomeand family. She was devoted to the Immaculate Heart, and when theBlessedVirgin showed Jacinta that she would die alone in a Lisbon hospitalaftermuch suffering, the little girl embraced the repugnant fate with tearsbut without complaint. 'If only I could put in the heart of everybody,'Jacinta told Lucy, 'that light that I have here in my breast to burn meand make me love the heart of Jesus and the heart of Mary so much.' 32
The 'littleMother of Heaven,' as Jacinta called Her, had told the children theywould'have much to suffer,' but She promised that 'the grace of God will beyour comfort.' To Lucy She made an additional promise: 'I will neverforsakeyou. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will leadyou to God.' 33 The assuranceof notbeingforsaken was surely intended to comfort Sister Lucy over a long life ashidden and penitential as her cousins'.
How similarare these lives to the life of the Blessed Virgin, whose Heart waspiercedtime and again by swords of sorrow and thorns of grief. Just as Marydidnot avoid the Cross, so no one who follows Her can avoid the Cross, beit three Portuguese shepherd children or the remnant of RussianCatholics.However long it takes, in the end She will triumph universally becauseGod has so ordained it. Meanwhile, the triumph of Her Immaculate Heartin the lives of souls is as humble and hidden as Her own life, or anylifethat is completely absorbed in God.
To theeyes of the world, such triumphs are as incomprehensible as the triumphof the Cross was to the Sanhedrin. May those who wish to be Herchildrenbe given eyes to see, ears to hear, and the grace to follow to the endthis sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of our Mother of Fair Love.
Footnotes:
(1)Fr. Louis Kondor, SVD, Editor, Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, TheRavengate Press, p. 162.
(2)The Message of Fatima, the booklet published by CardinalRatzingerand Msgr. Bertone on June 26, 2000.
(3)Sister Lucy has in fact consistently maintained that a validconsecrationmust explicitly mention Russia by name and significantly involve theworldepiscopate. Pope John Paul II's 1984 consecration of the world to theImmaculateHeart of Mary did neither.
(4)The web page of the Italian daily la Repubblica carried aninterviewwith Father Luigi Bianchi, an old friend of Sister Lucy's. In theinterviewBianchi said Lucy agreed with his assessment that the Vatican issuedonlya 'watered down' version of the Third Secret. The November 2001 issueof CatholicFamily News (CFN) published a photocopy of the article in Italian,with an accompanying English translation.
(5)From a press release issued by the Vatican on December 20,2001, andlaterpublished in the January 9, 2002 English Edition issue ofL'OsservatoreRomano.
(6)Everything is disputed, however. The Orthodox claim there are not thismany Catholics in Russia; the Vatican puts Russia's Catholic populationat 1.3 million.
(7)From an AP news report from Moscow, April 1, 2002, entitled 'Head ofRussianOrthodox Church says talks with Vatican remain on hold.'
(8)'Russian Orthodox Church Angered by Vatican Diocese Plan,' reported in AgenceFrance Presse, February 11, 2002, from Moscow.
(9)As reported in Catholic, from a Fides News Report ofApril20, 2002.
(10)By the author of this article in the 'This Present Darkness' series,publishedin Catholic Family News (CFN) in the summer of 2000, and morerecentlyby John Vennari in CFN, February 2002.
(11)It has been maintained by some that this satisfied Our Lady of Fatima'srequest that Russia be consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart. Suchassertionsare generally made without offering supporting evidence.
(12)Russian head of state Vladimir Putin scored a coup at a May summitmeetingnear Rome when Russia signed onto NATO, pledging to fight alongside theUnited States against world terrorism. Doing his best Pope John XXIIIimitation,Putin told reporters: 'We're convinced that what unites us outweighswhatdivides us.' See news.colm.au-'NATO-Russia pact signed, May 29,2002.'
(13)Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth AboutFatima,Volume II, Immaculate Heart Publications, p. 631 (hereinafter referredto as TWTAF.) The italicized words are Our Lord's response toSisterLucy.
(14) Fatima in Lucia's Own Words,p. 161.
(15)In the current liturgical calendar the feast of the Immaculate Heart isoptional- the lowest rank possible.
(16) TWTAF, Volume Ill, p.472. When asked in 1946by CanonBarthas whythe Secret was to be revealed in 1960, Lucy replied: 'Because theBlessedVirgin wishes it so.' This was also the reply of Lucy's bishop, Bishopda Silva.
(17) Fatima in Lucia's Own Words,op. cit., p. 162(Lucy'sfourth memoir).
(18)Father Joaquin Maria Alonso, C.M.F., The Secret of Fatima, Fact andLegend, Revised Edition, The Ravengate Press, Cambridge, 1979, pp.69-70.
(19)See Frère Michel, The Whole Truth About Fatima, VolumeIII,p. 704, published by Immaculate Heart Publications. Frère Michelis quoting from the Spanish translation of Alonso's Fatima Fact andLegend.
(20)Except in a cryptic, unexplained footnote.
(21)As quoted in Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, The ComingChastisement,Rockford, Illinois, Tan Books, 1970, p. 22. (22)As quoted in ibid., p. 22.
(23)Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone The Message of Fatima,p.17.
(24)From Lucy's Third Memoir, as quoted in Kondor, or. cit., pp. 108-9.
(25)Thomas McGlynn, O.P., Vision of Fatima, Little, Brown AndCompany,Boston, 1950, p. 213.
(26)As quoted in Catholic Counter Reformation Journal, Englishlanguagetranslation, August 2000, p. 30. Emphasis supplied.
(27)McGlynn, or. cit., p. 95. Lucy also described the Blessed Virgin asbeingbathed in 'waves of light' (p. 103).
(28) Fatima in Lucia's Own Words,Fourth Memoir, p.161.
(29) Fatima in Lucia's Own Words,Third Memoir, p.107
(30) Ibid.,p. 107.
(31)William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, The MacmillanCompany,New York, 1947, p. 168.
(32) Ibid., p. 178.
(33) Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, p. 161.
ReprintedfromTheFatima Crusader,Spring 2003 Issue.
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