|


|
|
|
|
(Page 1 of 2)
The Blessed Virgin
Mary, the Mother of God, appeared six times to three shepherd children
("the Three Seers") near the town of Fatima,
Portugal between May 13th and October 13th 1917. Appearing to the children,
the Blessed Virgin told them that She had been sent by God with a message
for every man, woman and child living in our century. Coming at a time
when civilization was torn assunder by war and bloody violence, She promised
that Heaven would grant peace to all the world if Her requests for prayer,
reparation and consecration were heard and obeyed.
"If My requests are granted
... there will be peace"
Our Lady of Fatima explained to the children that war is a punishment for
sin and warned that God would further castigate the world for its disobedience
to His Will by means of war, hunger and the persecution of the Church,
the Holy Father and the Catholic Faithful. God's Mother prophesized that
Russia would be God's chosen "instrument of chastisement," spreading the
"errors" of atheism and materialism across the earth, fomenting wars, annihilating
nations and persecuting the Faithful everywhere.
"If My requests are
not granted, Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising
up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martryed,
the Holy Father will suffer much and various nations will be annihilated."
In all Her appearances
at Fatima, the Blessed Mother repeatedly emphasized the necessity of praying
the Rosary daily, of wearing the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel and of
performing acts of reparation and sacrifice. To prevent the terrible chastisement
at the hands of Russia and to convert "that poor nation", Our Lady requested
the solemn public Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart by the
Pope and all the Catholic bishops of the world. She also asked that the
Faithful practice a new devotion of reparation on the first Saturday of
five consecutive months ("the Five First Saturdays")
The heart of Our Lady's
Message to the world is contained in what has come to be called the "Secret"
which She confided to the three child seers in July 1917. The Secret actually
consists of three parts, the first two of which have been publicly revealed.
The first part of the Secret was a horrifying vision of hell"where the
souls of poor sinners go" and contained an urgent plea from Our Lady for
acts of prayer and sacrifice to save souls. The second part of the Secret
specifically prophesized the outbreak of World War II and contained the
Mother of God's solemn request for the Consecration of Russia as a condition
of world peace. It also predicted the inevitable triumph of Her Immaculate
Heart following Russia's consecration and the conversion "of that poor
nation" to the Catholic Faith.
The last part of the
Secret (often called the "Third Secret") has not yet been made public,
but was written down by Lucy Dos Santos, the last living Fatima seer, in
1944 and has been in the possession of the Holy See since 1957. Most informed
sources speculate that this portion of the Secret concerns chaos in the
Catholic Church, predicting widespread apostasy and a loss of faith beginning
in the sixth decade of the 20th century.
Continue reading
The
Story of Fatima
|
|
|