"Those that fear prophecy lack faith."
Throughout history mankind has always been fascinated or fearful of those who practiced the act of prophecy, foretelling the future. From the ancient Druids to Native Americans, Old Testament to New Testament, prophecy was practiced by seers, mystics, oracles, psychics, shamans, crystal readers, wizards, and even saints. It was prophecy that foretold Moses and his long journey to the Promised Land just as prophecy foretold of Jesus the Messiah and his death on a cross.
In more modern times there have been giants of prophets with the most notable being Nostradamus of the 16th century and Edgar Cayce of the 20th century. Kings and presidents consulted prophets, fortune tellers, seers and psychics, and the Druids of old, often in secret. Didn't we all harbor a certain curiosity about having our fortune told through a crystal ball by some Gypsy? Or our palm read?
I mentioned two of the giants of history, Nostradamus and Cayce, but there is a third proven far more accurate. First let me give you a brief refresher on the two most notable.
Incantation of the Law Against Inept Critics
Let those who read this verse consider it profoundly,
Let the profane and the ignorant herd keep away:
And far away all Astrologers, Idiots and Barbarians,
May he who does otherwise be subject to the sacred rite!
Michel Nostradamus
Prophets are foretellers of the future, receiving visions of events that would come to pass if certain conditions are or are not met. In their own way they revealed God’s will in the events of history, particularly regarding the judgment of evil and the deliverance from the judgment.
The two most famous understood the spiritual significance of the times. Many rely on the known works of Michel Nostradamus 1503-1566; and Edgar Cayce 1877-1945.
They used the style of prophecy called apocalyptic literature for their vision of the future as they were composed during politically difficult times, they were futuristic, visions were used to communicate truth, they drew a sharp contrast between good and evil, and they focused more on nations than individuals.
Each employed different techniques as Nostradamus used a brass reflecting bowl and scything mirror, while Cayce was in a self-hypnotic trance.
More mystery surrounds Nostradamus than Cayce as Cayce was from the 20th century while Nostradamus was 400 years earlier. Complicating matters was the fact that Nostradamus had to disguise and conceal many of his predictions or face death at the hands of the Inquisition. The fact he saw his visions 400 years earlier also meant many of the futuristic scenes appearing to him were of machines and buildings not in existence in the 1500's thus requiring much more difficult interpretation on his part.
Both were Christian, with Nostradamus a baptized Catholic, although Nostradamus’s family converted from Judaism to avoid persecution. Cayce took a lifelong interest in studying the Bible. Nostradamus was from Southern France during the plague while Cayce was from Kentucky.
But they are not the best of all modern prophets as I see it and you may be somewhat surprised by my top pick. I believe the Holy Mother Mary, Mother of Jesus, has been the most prolific and accurate prophet in all time because of what she has done the last 200 years. I call her apparitions and words The Marian Prophecies.
Marian Apparitions & Prophecies
La Salette, France 1846
Lourdes, France 1858
Fatima, Portugal 1917
The Fatima Secret
A Great Sign by God
Failure to Consecrate Russia
The Third Part of the Secret
Second Vatican Council 1962
Mary, the Holy Mother of Jesus, is not often viewed as a prophet like Nostradamus or Cayce. For purposes of this story however, her prophecies at La Salette, Lourdes, and during the six apparitions at Fatima, Portugal in 1917 rank among the most accurate and dramatic concerning the 20th century.
Mary, like Nostradamus and Cayce, used the style of prophecy called apocalyptic literature for her vision of the future which meant it was composed during politically difficult times, it was futuristic, visions were used to communicate truth, they drew a sharp contrast between good and evil, and they focused more on nations than individuals.
La Salette, France 1846
The Lady appeared 19 September 1846 to two peasant children, Melanie Calvat and Maxime Giraud, ages 14 and 11, at La Salette, France and delivered a prophetic warning of a terrible future.
Excerpts from Her message include:
“France, Italy, Spain and England will be at war. Blood will flow on the streets. Frenchmen will fight Frenchmen and Italian against Italian and in the end will come a war that will be terrible.”
“Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. The demons allied to the Antichrist will operate on Earth and in the sky and Humanity will become worse.”
“Fight, Sons of Light, you small number who see, because the time of times, the final end, is near.”
“The time is at hand. The abyss is opening: the king of darkness is watching, the beast is watching with his subjects, who will proclaim him ‘savior of the world,’”
“Melanie, what I am about to tell you know will not always be a secret. You may make it public in 1858. The priests, ministers of my son, the priests by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity.”
Lourdes, France 1858
Ironically, in the year 1858 at Lourdes, France the Lady made an appearance to Bernadette Soubrious, her sister Marie, and a friend Pancho. She would appear to Bernadette eighteen times over the next six months and offered a set of five prophecies during the course of the apparitions.
Bernadette was on her deathbed in 1879, the first year of the Age of Michael, and was asked to write a letter to the Pope reviewing the five prophecies earlier disclosed. Of the five, the third one stated that in the 1930’s a terrible evil would awaken in Germany, and the Lady painted a horrifying picture of a war that would envelop most of the nations of the world.
Fatima, Portugal 1917
The record of Fatima is far more complete. World events at the time of the apparitions were in turmoil. Most of the world was still caught up in World War I that had raged for three years. In Russia a revolution had just brought down the 1,000 years reign of the Tsars. The once mighty German Empire was on the brink of a devastating defeat. Socialism and Communism were behind riots and revolutions engulfing Europe and the world.
As for Fatima, there is a great deal of misunderstanding concerning the apparitions. This time three children, Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto, and her brother Francisco witnessed six apparitions of the Lady, after they were visited three times by an angel to prepare them.
By the time of the sixth appearance, news of the apparitions was so widespread over 70,000 flocked to the location to witness a miracle promised by the Lady. Believers and unbelievers alike were stunned when rains that had fallen all the previous night stopped as Lucia pointed to the sky.
The sun appeared, and for the next 10-15 minutes the sun danced, zigzagged and even fell toward the earth convincing all present it was the end of the world. When the sun returned to its normal position the shocked crowd noticed that their drenched clothes and the ground were now dry.
Like Bernadette of Lourdes, Lucia gave an account of the prophecies at the time they were made in 1917 and later made a written record of the revelations when she was gravely ill. Lucia, however, recovered fully.
During the apparition on July 13, 1917, the Lady gave a secret prophecy in three parts to the children of Fatima. Lucia, the oldest of the children, said something about the secrets to church authorities at the time. However, the details of the secrets were to be given later to all the faithful by Lucia and Church authorities.
As told to them by the Lady during the first apparitions, the two younger children would be taken to heaven at an early age. Within three years both children were dead. However, Lucia, the older peasant girl receiving the prophecies, remained alive throughout the 20th Century to continue her efforts to get people to listen to the message of the Lady.
On her deathbed in 1920 Jacinta told Mother Godinho: “There is a secret of Heaven and one of earth, and the latter is terrifying. It will seem as though it were already the end of the world. And in this cataclysm everything will be separated from the sky, which will turn white as snow.”
Because of the intense international awareness of the Fatima events Lucia became a Carmelite nun and remained secured from the public eye for the rest of her career.
The Fatima Secret
The prophetic secrets revealed in July 1917 by Our Lady to Lucia at Fatima included three parts, the vision of hell, the consecration of Russia, and the corruption of the church. All were told to church officials after the apparitions in 1917.
The second part of the prophecy was a request to consecrate Russia, while the third part was a warning of the tragic consequences if the request was not fulfilled. The request was Russia be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope, together with all the Catholic bishops of the world.
Such ceremonies of consecration were a well-established Church tradition and the sanctifying effect would be beneficial to Russia, on the verge of falling to Communism in 1917, the year of the Russian revolution. In 1917 World War I was also underway.
Did the Church recognize the threat from Communism when the Lady gave her warning? There is no question that Church officials understood the danger from the moment the Communist movement became a viable force in 1848, long before Communism actually took control of any nation.
About the same time Marx and Engels were issuing the Communist Manifesto and the worldwide call for revolution and atheism in 1848 the Holy Mother Mary began a series of miraculous apparitions revealing that Communism was linked to Satan and evil was beginning its reign of darkness on earth.
We can better understand the depth of the concern of the Vatican when we consider the following series of comments on the matter from Popes over the years.
Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) issues Qui Pluribus about the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx.
“that infamous doctrine of Communism utterly opposed to the natural law itself, the adoption of which would completely destroy all men’s rights, their property and fortune, and even human society itself.”
Pope Pius X (1903-1914) issues E Supremi, commenting on Communism.
“We felt a sort of terror considering the disastrous conditions of humanity at the present hour. Can we ignore such a profound and grave evil, which is at this moment much more than in the past is working away at its very marrow and leading it to ruin?…Truly whoever ponders these things must necessarily and firmly fear whether such a perversion of minds is not the sign of announcing, and the beginning of the last times.”
Pope Pius XI (1922-1939) commenting on Communism in Quas Primas, 1925.
“With God and Jesus Christ excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man,…the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that society is tottering to its ruin because it no longer has a secure and solid foundation.”
Msgr. Eugenio Pacellu, Secretary of State of the Vatican under Pius XI, soon would become Pope Pius XII.
“I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her Soul… I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past.
“A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, “Where have they taken Him?”
Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) after the end of World War II made the following observations in letters.
“We are overwhelmed with sadness and anguish, seeing that the wickedness of perverse men has reached a degree of impiety that is unbelievable and absolutely unknown in other times.” (Letter of February 11, 1949)
“Venerable brethren, you are well aware that almost the whole human race is today allowing itself to be drawn into two opposing camps, for Christ or against Christ. The human race is involved today in a supreme crisis, which will issue in its salvation by Christ, or in its destruction.”
(Evangeli Praecones, 1951)
If the consecration was performed as requested, the Lady promised, “a period of peace will be granted to the world.” But if it is not done, warns the message, among other things, “a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI.”
The Lady went on to explain “if not, she (Russia) 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.”
During the revelations Our Lady said she would return to Lucia later and tell her when the Lord wanted the consecration of Russia to take place, and she did return in 1929 with the request. At that time a message was sent to church officials with her request and warning if it was not acted upon.
Further delays by the Vatican in taking action on the consecration of Russia seemed to upset the supernatural forces. On 19 August 1931 Our Lord Himself appeared to Sister Lucia and expressed His displeasure at the delays saying, “make it known to My ministers that, given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying My command, they will follow him also into misfortune.”
This grave warning from the Lord makes reference to the King of France. In that case a warning was given to the King by St. Margaret Mary Alocque, telling him to consecrate his nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The king chose to ignore the warning and thus condemned his dynasty and throne to the horrors of revolution, chaos and the guillotine.
Also in 1939 the Lady again appeared to Lucia and told her all the bishops of Portugal should consecrate that nation to her. If they did, Portugal would be protected from being swept up into the Communist revolutions raging across Europe and the Spanish Civil War next door. She said a Catholic would come forward to lead a counter-revolution in Portugal and the conversion of the country, and this would protect it in World War II.
Unlike Rome, the Portugal bishops acted immediately to consecrate Portugal to the Holy Mother and a new president was elected, Antonio Salazar, committed to establishing the Catholic faith. Soon over 90 percent of the citizens of the nation were Catholic and Portugal miraculously avoided the Communist and Spanish warfare surrounding it.
On 6 February 1939 Sister Lucia wrote to the Bishop of Portugal saying the Lady told her war was imminent but that Portugal would be spared because of the consecration. Seven months later World War II erupted. Lucia also wrote to Pope Pius XII on 2 December 1940 saying Portugal was protected from World War II because it was consecrated to the Lady.
Sister Lucia was then instructed by the church to write down the message for the Pope, and she delivered her explanation of parts one and two in 1941, and part three in 1944. Regarding the third part, she said it was not to be revealed to the world before 1960.
Sister Lucia was the sole surviving witness to the visitations and she continued to have visitations throughout her life. The official transcript of her account of the three parts of the secret was written to the Holy Father in response to questions submitted to her by representatives of the Vatican.
This English translation of her response detailing the first two parts of the secret given to the children in 1917 was written 31 August 1941. The Bishop of Leiria (Fatima) kept this until 1943, when Pope Pius XII revealed them through the agency of Cardinal Schister. The letter from Lucia read:
“This will entail my speaking about the secret, and thus answering the first question.
“What is the secret? It seems to me that I can reveal it, since I already have permission from Heaven to do so. God’s representatives on earth have authorized me to do this several times and in various letters, one of which, I believe, is in your keeping. The letter is from Father Jose Bernardo Goncalves, and in it he advises me to write to the Holy Father, suggesting, among other things, that I should reveal the secret. I did say something about it. But in order not to make my letter too long, since I was told to keep it short, I confined myself to the essentials, leaving it to God to provide another more favorable opportunity.
“In my second account I have already described in detail the doubt which tormented me from 13 June to 13 July, and how it disappeared completely during the Apparition on that day.
“Well, the secret is made up of three distinct parts, two of which I am now going to reveal.
“The first part is the vision of hell.
“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.
“We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly:
“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 (World War I): 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 illumined 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.”
As noted in the text of the second secret, Our Lady said she would come to Lucia later to ask for the Consecration of Russia. True to her word, Our Lady appeared to Lucia on 13 June 1929 at Tuy, Spain when in a great and sublime vision representing the Holy Trinity, she announced that ”the moment has come for God to ask the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart. By this means, He promises to save Russia.”
In the second part of the secret she said a worse war would break out during the reign of Pope Pius XI. When the prophecy was delivered in 1917 World War I was underway. It was not until 1922 that Pius XI became Pope and he reigned until 1939, the year Hitler invaded Poland and World War II was declared.
By year-end Europe erupted in war in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Bohemia, and Moravia, while Hitler renounced a pact with England and England declared war on Germany. It was also the fateful year a non-aggression pact was concluded between Hitler and Stalin.
A Great Sign by God
Also in the second part of the secret the Lady made reference to “a night illumined 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,”
The following is an extract from Albert Speer’s book, Inside the Third Reich. Speer was personal architect and confidant to Adolf Hitler. It was an account of the day Hitler and Stalin agreed to a secret non-aggression pact, and the subsequent announcement that stunned the world
"In the course of the night we stood on the terrace of the Berghof with Hitler and marveled at the rare natural spectacle. Northern lights of unusual intensity threw red light on the legend-haunted Untersberg across the valley, while the sky above shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow. The last act of Gotterdammerung could not have been more effectively staged. The same red light bathed our face and our hands. The display produced a curiously pensive mood among us. Abruptly turning to one of his military adjutants, Hitler said: “Looks like a great deal of blood. This time we won’t bring it off without violence.”
According to a report published at the time by the German Volkischer Beobachter of August 23, “Tuesday morning [August 22], starting about 2:45 A.M., a very impressive display of northern lights could be seen in the northwestern and northern sky from Sternberg Observatory.” It was the very day a deal had been struck between the twin pillars of evil, Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.
Failure to Consecrate Russia
The third and final part of the secret was written in a separate letter to the Holy Father dated 3 January 1944. Lucia said the Lady requested that the letter not be shared with the world until 1960. All three messages were told to the Vatican, and the letters were sent to the Vatican as noted.
Once Sister Lucia asked the Lord why He would not convert Russia without the Holy Father consecrating the nation to His Mother’s Immaculate Heart. Our Lord relied “Because I want My whole Church to acknowledge that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary so that it may extend its cult later and put devotion of the Immaculate Heart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart.”
As the years moved on there was still no action by Rome as the prophecies concerning Russia and the terrible world war came true. The request by the Lady for the consecration of Russia continued to be one of the most controversial aspects of the Fatima messages. The explicit instruction that the Holy Father must be joined by all of the bishops of the world on the same day and at the same time in their respective dioceses was quite encompassing.
The ongoing visitations to Sister Lucia made it clear that the consecration must follow the precise instructions and that any consecration by the Pope must be for Russia and Russia alone, as the sole object of this public act of obedience and prayer.
Pope Pius XII held a consecration of the world in 1942, in the midst of World War II, which included substantial involvement of the bishops. It was imperfect in terms of being dedicated solely to Russia and not involving all bishops of the world, Sister Lucia was told by the Lady, but the imperfect act of obedience did hasten the end of World War II and spare the lives of millions of souls. Unfortunately, 60 million deaths were incurred in the war as a result of the inaction and imperfect response.
Writing to Father Goncalves on 4 May 1943 Sister Lucia told him of another visit from Our Lord. She said, “because of the act of consecration by His Holiness, He promises that the war will end shortly. But since it was incomplete, the conversion of Russia will be postponed.”
Pope Pius XII again attempted to satisfy the consecration requirement when he issued an Apostolic letter Sacro Vergente Anno that specifically consecrated the peoples of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. But this time there was no worldwide involvement of the bishops, yet another incomplete act.
The Lady appeared to Lucia again in 1952 with the following message for the Pope. “Make it known to the Holy Father that I am always awaiting the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. Without the Consecration, Russia will not be able to convert, nor will the world have peace.”
At the further urging of the Lady Sister Lucia wrote again on 22 May 1958 to Church authorities and the warning grew more serious. This letter was sent to Father Agostino Fuentes to be given to the Holy Father.
“Father, Our Lady is displeased because nobody took heed of Her Message of 1917. Neither the good nor the wicked took heed. The good follow their ways without worrying, and do not follow the Celestial Norms; the wicked in the wide way of perdition, do not consider at all the threatened punishments.
“Believe it, Father, God will punish the world very soon. The punishment will be material, and imagine, Father, how many souls will fall in hell, if we do not pray and do no penance. This is the cause of Our Lady’s Sadness.
“Father, tell everyone that many times Our Lady has told me: “That many nations will disappear from the face of the earth. Nations without God will be the scourge chosen by Him to punish mankind, if we will not obtain the grace of conversion through prayer and the SS Sacraments.”
“Say, Father, that the devil is starting the decisive battle against Our Lady because what afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Jesus is the fall of Religious and Priestly souls. The devil knows that the Religious ones and the Priests, neglecting their sublime Vocation, drag several souls to hell. We are just in time to keep back the punishment from the Sky. We have at our disposal two very effective means: Prayer and Sacrifice. The devil does the utmost to distract us and take away the taste of Prayer. We will either save ourselves or be damned.
“However, Father, it is necessary to tell the people: that they cannot stay on hoping in a call to Prayer and to Penance from the Supreme Pontiff, or the Bishops, or the Priests, or from the Superior Generals. It is already time that everyone, of their own initiative, do Virtuous Deeds, and reform their lives according to the calls of our SS. Lady. The devil wants to take possession of the Consecrated Souls; it works to corrupt them, to induce others to the final impenitence; he uses all subtleties, even suggesting to postpone the religious life! Thereby sterility arises in the inner life and coldness in the laity concerning the renunciation of pleasures and the entire immolation to God.
“Remember, Father, that tho events contributed in sanctifying Jacinta and Francesco: the affliction of Our Lady and the vision of hell. Our Lady is situated between two swords; on one hand she sees mankind stubborn and indifferent to the threatened punishments; on the other, she sees us as we tread over the Blessed Sacraments and despise the punishment that approaches, remaining unbelieving, sensuals, and materialists.
“Our Lady has explicitly said: “We approach the last days”, and repeated it to me three times. First she affirmed that the devil has given the decisive battle from which one of the two will come out victorious or defeated: We are either with God or we are with the devil. The second time she repeated to me that the last remedies given to the world are: The Blessed Rosary and the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
“The third time, she told me: “that, exhausted the other means despised by men, she offers us tremulously the last sheet-anchor: the SS. Virgin in person, Her numerous apparitions, Her Tears, Messages of clairvoyants scattered in all the parts of the world”, and Our Lady still said: “that, if we do not listen to Her and continue in the wrong, we will never be forgiven.”
“It is urgent, Father, that we realize this bad reality. We do not want to fill the souls with fear, but it is only an urgent call, because since the SS. Virgin has given great effectiveness to the Holy Rosary, there is no problem whether material or spiritual, national or international, that cannot be resolved with the Blessed Rosary and with our sacrifices. Said with love and devotion, it will comfort Mary, wiping many tears from her Blessed Heart.”
Clearly the revelations implied that if the church did not take actions on earth, then supernatural actions would result in order to stop the earth from being engulfed with evil under the rule of Satan. After the imperfect attempt in 1942 to meet the request, the 1944 letter from Lucia was placed in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office in Rome in 1957.
Pope John XXIII was shown the letter 17 August 1959, and after some hesitation, concluded: “We will wait. I shall pray. I shall let you know what I decide.” In fact he decided not to reveal the secret and returned it to the archives. Pope Paul VI read the letter 27 March 1965 and again returned it to the archives deciding not to publish it.
The Third Part of the Secret
Finally, 1960 came and the letter containing the third part of the secret was opened by Pope John XXIII and several Cardinals, as instructed by the Lady, but it was not revealed to the public. Though not publicly released, Pope John XXIII leaked the third part of the Fatima secret to certain Roman Catholic officials and world leaders of the USA, USSR, and Britain.
On 15 October 1963 the German Journal News Europe published the alleged text of that part of the secret which was not verified but was widely accepted as being genuine. According to the German Journal the third part of the 1917 prophecy read:
“Have no fear, little one, I am the Mother of God who speaks to you and asks you to publish the message I am going to give you to the whole world. You will find strong resistance while you do so. Listen well and pay attention to what I tell you.
“Men must be set on the right road once more. With supplicant humility, men must seek forgiveness for sins committed already and for sins, which will be committed. You wish me to give you a sign, so that everyone will accept My Words, which I am saying through you, to the human race. I have seen the Prodigy of the Sun and all believers, unbelievers, peasants, countrymen, wise men, journalists, laics and priests, all have seen it. And now I proclaim in my name: A great punishment shall fall on the entire human race, not today and not tomorrow, but in the second half of the 20th century! I have already revealed to the children Melanie and Maximine at La Salette {1846], and today I repeat it to you for the human race has sinned and has trampled down the Gift which I have made. In no part of the world is life in order, Satan rules in the highest position, laying down how things should be done. He will effectually succeed in bringing his influence right up to the top of the Church; succeed in seducing the spirits of the great scientists who invent the arms. And if humanity opposes me I shall be obliged to free the arm of My Son. Now I see that God will punish man with a severity that has not been used since the Flood.
“The time of times will come and everything will come to an end if humanity is not converted, and if things remain as they are now or get worse, the great and powerful men will perish just as will the small and weak.
“For the Church, too, the time of its greatest trial will come. Cardinals will oppose cardinals and bishops against bishops. Satan will march in there midst and there will be great changes at Rome. What is rotten will fall, never to rise again. The Church will be darkened and the world will shake with terror. The time will come when no king, emperor, cardinal or bishop will await Him who will, however, come, but in order to punish according to the designs of my Father.
“A Great War will break out in the second half of the 20th century. Fire and smoke will fall from heaven, and waters of the oceans will become vapors, the scum will arise in a confused manner, and everything will sink down. Millions and millions of men will perish while this is going on and those who survive will envy the dead. The unexpected will follow in every part of the world, anxiety, pain and misery in every country. Have I seen it? The time is getting ever nearer and the abyss is getting wider without hope. The good will perish with the bad, the great with the small, the Heads of the Church and their faithful, and the rulers with their people. There will be death everywhere as a result of the mistakes of the unfeeling and the partisans of Satan, but when those who survive all these happenings are still alive, they will proclaim God once again and His Glory, and will serve Him as in the time when the world was not so perverted.
“Go my little one and proclaim it. For that purpose I shall always be at your side to help you.”
On 12 May 1982 Sister Lucia sent the Holy Father another letter interpreting the third part of the secret of Fatima:
“The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady’s words: “If not (Russia) 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.
“The third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation, referring to this part of the Message, conditioned by whether we accept or not what the Message itself asks of us: “If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, etc.
“Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc.
“And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible.”
Various European newspapers and magazines published another version of the prophecy in 1985 saying the following:
“A great plague will befall mankind in the year 2000. Nowhere in the world will there be order, and Satan will rule the highest places, determining the way of things. Satan will even succeed in asserting himself at the top of the Church.
“He will succeed in seducing the spirits of the great scientists who invent arms, with which it will be possible to destroy a large part of mankind in a few minutes. Satan will have in his power the leaders who command the people and who will incite them to produce enormous quantities of arms.
“God will punish man more thoroughly than with the Flood. There will come the time of all times and the end of all ends. The great and the powerful will perish together with the small and weak.
“Even for the Church, it will be the time of its greatest trial. Cardinals will oppose cardinals, bishops will oppose bishops. Satan will walk in there midst and in Rome there will be great changes. The Church will be darkened and the world will be shaking with terror.
“A huge war will erupt: fire and smoke will fall from the sky. The waters of the ocean will become mist, and the foam will rise to tremendous heights and everyone will drown.
“Millions and millions of men will die from hour to hour. Whoever remains alive will envy the dead. Everywhere one turns one’s glance there will be anguish and misery, ruins in every country.
“The time draws nearer, the abyss widens without hope. The good will perish with the bad, the great with the small, the princes of the church with the faithful, the rulers with their people.
“There will be death everywhere because of the errors committed by the crazed and the followers of Satan, who will then and only then rule the world.
“At the last, those who survive will at every chance newly proclaim God and His Glory and they will serve Him as when the world was no so perverted.”
Lucia had noted in correspondence to the church that the tragic events in the third part of the secret would take place if the church failed to meet the request of the second part, the consecration. In fact, she said if the consecration had taken place when called for in 1917 World War II would not have happened either.
In 1981 during a visit to Fulda, Germany Pope John Paul II was asked about the secret message from Fatima. He answered: “Due to the seriousness of the contents of the Fatima secret, my predecessors in the Throne of Peter have preferred to postpone the publication. Furthermore, it may be enough to the Christian people to know that, if there is a message saying that the oceans will flood whole parts of the globe, and millions of people will die, from a minute to another, it is not really the case to will the publication of this secret message.”
An assassination attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II took place 13 May 1981, sixty-four years to the day from the first Fatima apparition. The gun was aimed at the Pope’s head but the Pope turned to a young girl who was wearing a picture of Our Lady of Fatima and the bullet struck him in the chest, lodging against the heart leaving the Pope on the threshold of death. It was as if the bullet was guided by the Lady saving him from certain death.
The assassination was attempted by a Bulgarian agent named Agca, with close ties to the secret police of the Soviet Communist regime. Ironically, American intelligence authorities had been warned of the assassination attempt months before it took place by former Soviet agents, a warning that was not passed on to the Vatican.
The Pope then requested the Fatima letter and immediately thought of consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He composed a prayer for this Act of Entrustment to be celebrated 7 June 1981 in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the Solemnity of Pentecost. It was the day chosen to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1550th anniversary of the Council of Ephesus.
The Pope’s Entrustment included the following words; “Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart you feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this embrace, and also those whose act of entrustment you too await in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection of the whole human family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of hope.”
While this Act of Entrustment was repeated at Fatima and other locations in 1981 and 1982, it did not include all the Bishops of the world as requested. The Pope decided to more fully address the concerns of the Lady and 25 March 1984 at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome the new message was presented. This time the Pope “convoked” beforehand all the Bishops of the world to join in spiritual union with the Holy Father in delivering this message, entrusting all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He delivered the following message:
“O Mother of all men and women, and of all peoples, you who know all their sufferings and their hopes, you have a mother’s awareness of all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which afflict the modern world, accept the cry which we, moved by the Holy Spirit, address directly to your Heart. Embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust and consecrate to you, for we are full of concern for the earthly and eternal destiny of individuals and peoples.
“In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations which particularly need to be thus entrusted and consecrated. We have recourse to your protection, holy Mother of God! Despise not our petitions in our necessities.”
[The Pope then continued more forcibly with more specific references, as if addressing the Message of Fatima and its sorrowful fulfillment.]
“Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with the whole Church, to unite ourselves with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to the Father: ‘For their sake’, he said, ‘I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth’ (John 17:19). We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for the human race, which, in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation.
“The power of this consecration lasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the heart of man and in his history.
“How deeply we feel the need for the consecration of humanity and the world – our modern world – in union with Christ himself! For the redeeming work of Christ must be shared in by the world through the Church. The present Year of the Redemption shows this: the special Jubilee of the whole Church.
“Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed the divine call! Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your Son! Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope, and love! Enlighten especially the people whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the truth of the consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world.
“In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this very consecration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart. Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future!
“From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us. From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us. From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us. From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us. From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us. From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.
“Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies. Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the ‘sin of the world’, sin in all its manifestations. Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of Hope!"
In 1985 Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen the new head of the Communist party of the Soviet Union, and later that year President Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev held their first summit to bring an end to 50 years of cold war. The Chernobyl nuclear meltdown struck the Soviet Union in April of 1986 further weakening the Communist control and alarming the world.
Gorbachev was elected Soviet President 25 May 1986, the first elected leader of Russia since 1917, and he began dismantling the Communist regime. The Soviet parliament approved a political restructuring and new national legislature in 1988.
Destruction of the Communist party accelerated in 1989. On June 4 thousands of Chinese were killed while rioting against their Communist regime, resulting in the resignation of the Chinese leader November 9. The Berlin Wall was reopened November 11, the Czech Parliament voted to end the Communist regime November 30, and a Romanian uprising overthrew their Communist regime December 15.
As 1990 commenced the Yugoslav Communist rule was brought to an end January 3, and finally, the Soviet government ended the Communist rule February 7. The self-destruction of the Communist system rapidly spread throughout the entire Soviet Union and Soviet satellite countries.
On several occasions after the 1982 and 1984 consecrations Sister Lucia was asked if they satisfied the Lady, and each time she said they were still incomplete as Russia was not mentioned by name. This was consistent with every previous statement on the consecrations.
On 13 May 2000 the long-awaited Beautification of Francisco and Jacinta, the Catholic Ceremony of Sainthood, was presided over by the Holy Father at Fatima. The Holy Father delivered a short message including the following:
“According to the divine plan, ‘a woman clothed with the sun’ (Apocalypse 12:1) came down from Heaven to the earth to visit the privileged children of the Father.
"Another portent appeared in Heaven, behold, a great red dragon (Apocalypse 12:3). These words from the first reading of the Mass make us think of the great struggle between good and evil, showing how, when man puts God aside, he cannot achieve happiness, but ends up destroying himself.
“The message of Fatima is a call to conversion, alerting humanity to have nothing to do with the ‘dragon’ whose tail swept down a third of the stars of Heaven, and cast them to the earth (Apocalypse 12:4).”
The first part of his message concerning the “woman clothed in the sun” referred to the appearance of the Lady to the children of Fatima. This was how they described her appearance as well as the fact she performed the Miracle of the Sun to 70,000 observers.
The classical interpretation in Catholic commentaries of the red dragon sweeping one third of the stars from the heavens means one third of the clergy, Cardinals, bishops, and priests fall from their consecrated state and are actually working for the devil.
At the end of the celebratory Mass Cardinal Angelo Sodano read a message on behalf of the Holy Father. This message concerned the third secret of Fatima.
“Brothers and Sisters in the Lord!
“At the conclusion of this solemn celebration, I feel bound to offer our beloved Holy Father Pope John Paul II, on behalf of all present, heartfelt good wishes for his approaching 80th birthday and to thank him for his vital pastoral ministry for the good of all God’s Holy Church; we present the heartfelt wishes of the whole Church.
“On this solemn occasion of his visit to Fatima, His Holiness has directed me to make an announcement to you. As you know, the purpose of his visit to Fatima has been to beatify the two “little shepherds”. Nevertheless he also wishes his pilgrimage to be a renewed gesture of gratitude to Our Lady for her protection during these years of his papacy. This protection seems also to be linked to the so-called third part of the secret of Fatima.
“That text contains a prophetic vision similar to those found in Sacred Scripture, which do not describe photographically the details of future events, but synthesize and compress against a single background facts which extend through time in an unspecified succession and duration. As a result, the text must be interpreted in a symbolic key.
“The vision of Fatima concerns above all the war waged by atheistic systems against the Church and Christians, and it describes the immense suffering endured by the witnesses of the faith in the last century of the second millennium. It is an interminable Way of the Cross led by the Popes of the twentieth century.
“According to the interpretation of the “little shepherds”, which was also confirmed recently by Sister Lucia, “the Bishop clothed in white” who prays for all the faithful is the Pope. As he makes his way with great difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (Bishops, priests, men and women Religious and many lay people), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of gunfire.
“After the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, it appeared evident that it was a “mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path”, enabling “the Pope in his throes” to halt “at the threshold of death”. On the occasion of a visit to Rome by the then Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, the Pope decided to give him the bullet which had remained in the jeep after the assassination attempt, so that it might be kept in the shrine. By the Bishop’s decision, the bullet was later set in the crown of the statute of Our Lady of Fatima.
“The successive events of 1989 led, both in the Soviet Union and in a number of countries of Eastern Europe, to the fall of the Communist regimes which promoted atheism. For this too His Holiness offers heartfelt thanks to the Most Holy Virgin. In other parts of the world, however, attacks against the Church and against Christians, with the burden of suffering they bring, tragically continue. Even if the events to which the third part of the secret of Fatima refers now seem part of the past, Our Lady’s call to conversion and penance, issued at the start of the twentieth century, remains timely and urgent today. The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times – the signs of our time – with special insight. The insistent invitation of Mary Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness.”
“In order that the faithful may better receive the message of Our Lady of Fatima, the Pope has charged the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with making public the third part of the secret, after the preparation of an appropriate commentary.
“Brothers and sisters, let us thank Our Lady of Fatima for her protection. To her maternal intercession let us entrust the Church of the Third Millennium. Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Santa Dei Genetrix! Intercede pro Ecclesia. Intercede pro Papa nostro Ionne Paulo II. Amen.”
After the ceremony of Beautification the following text was the official Vatican version of the third secret of Fatima as revealed to the three children in 1917 and contained in the letter from Sister Lucia of 3 January 1944.
“The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917.
“I write in obedience to you, my God, who commanded me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.
“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 splendor 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 is was the Holy Father’. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious 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, men and women Religious, 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.”
For seventy-two years since the apparitions of Fatima Sister Lucia had worked on behalf of the Lady to awaken the world. Her mission was nearly complete. So why did the Church not mention Russia by name?
No explanation has been given by the Vatican of the discrepancies between the 1963 and 1985 versions of the third secret, and how they compare to the official versions of the 1944 letter. Nor has any explanation been offered for the discrepancies regarding the actual text of the third secret.
Sister Lucia remained silent about these issues, forbidden by the Vatican from giving interviews or being in contact even with old friends, until her death in 2005. Less than two months later the Venerable Pope John Paul II, whose life and near death were so closely tied to Fatima and Lucia, also died.
Why no consecration of Russia?
Perhaps there are other explanations for this refusal by the Church to allow the consecration to Russia. From the middle of the 19th century the Roman Catholic Church was outspoken in their opposition to movements such as Communism. Freemasons were of equal concern.
As early as 25 February 1861 Cardinal Cretineau Joly issued a paper for Pope Gregory XVI called The Roman Church and Revolution disclosing plotting by Freemasons and Communists against the Church.
Over the subsequent years there were more warnings and condemnations issued by the Vatican against these movements than any other single subject in Church history.
Of course this was not done without reason as the Principles of Freemasonry of 1789 which inspired the French Revolution and the Communist Manifesto of 1848 both called for worldwide revolution.
Pope Leo XIII in 1884 issued his Humanum Genus that said Communists, socialists and Freemasons were working in common and one of their primary institutional targets was the Roman Catholic Church.
After the Bolsheviks successfully took control of the Soviet Union in 1920 Lenin announced a new Communist goal of infiltrating the Catholic Church and the Vatican. Congressional testimony before the US Congress by members of the American Communist Party confirmed that by 1930 there were 1,100 Communist priests in the Catholic Church.
Pope Pius XI warned again of the danger in his Divine Redemptions.
“This all too imminent danger, venerable brethren, as you have already surmised, is Bolshevistic and atheistic Communism which aims at upsetting the social order and undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization. In the face of such a threat the Catholic Church could not and does not remain silent. The Apostolic See above all has not refrained from raising its voice for it knows that its proper and special mission is to define truth, justice, and all those eternal values which Communism ignores or attacks.”
Yet in spite of the Church policy and the outspoken efforts of Popes earlier in the 19th and 20th centuries warning of the dangers of Communism, the Vatican was never able to perform the simple act of consecration of Russia as requested by The Holy Mother Mary.
Second Vatican Council 1962
“There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church.”
St. John Bosco 1862
Back in 1962, before the controversial Second Vatican Council, which was to revolutionize the Catholic Church, Cardinal Eugene Tisserant, negotiated the Metz Pact with Metropolitan Nikodim of the Russian Orthodox Church. The pact agreed two Orthodox observers would attend the Council and the Roman Catholic Church would refrain from any condemnation of Soviet Communism or Soviet Russia.
In the efforts to modernize the Church an agreement was reached in which the Pope could not mention Russia by name for fear it would be interpreted as condemning the Soviet system.
When the long delayed Second Vatican Council took place starting 11 October 1962 under Pope John XXIII, a Council many felt undermined the Catholic Church, there were a number of factors that impacted on the consecration of Russia.
It was now thirty years since the 1,100 Communist priests had infiltrated the Catholic Church and by now they had worked their way into the Church hierarchy.
The message of Fatima to be opened in 1960 remained sealed from the public and the Vatican had announced it was unlikely to ever be opened. No explanation for this refusal to open the third secret was given.
Cardinal Tisserant had negotiated the Metz Pact with Metropolitan Nikodim of the Russian Orthodox Church (Nikodim was later identified as a KGB operative) in which the Church would refrain from any condemnation or implied condemnation of Soviet Communism or Soviet Russia.
There are many who say the same revolutionary success Communism achieved in Russia and the world also resulted in the Church through Vatican II as progressive modernism theology that was condemned before 1902 was rehabilitated and swept into place in the new era of Christ.
Former enemies of the Church including leaders of the Freemason and Communist parties rejoiced in the radical changes in the Church that were adopted or set in motion by Vatican II.
To this day the Church has refused to consecrate Russia to the Holy Mother Mary. It has now been over a decade since the fall of Communism, an action promised by the Holy Mother even if man failed to act on the consecration, but she also said without the consecration of Russia the people of Russia could not be converted. Now into the new millennium there is still no consecration of Russia or conversion of Russia to Christianity.
The Death of Lucia
The last surviving Fatima visionary, Sister Lucia dos
In a new book a prominent expert on the apparitions in Fatima Portugal Santos Fatima
In the letter the pontiff wrote that on hearing of Sister Lucia's illness, he had prayed that she would be able to live "the moment of pain and suffering" with a "paschal spirit" -- dramatically ending his missive with a blessing.
It was a final act in what the priest, Father Robert Fox -- author of a highly revealing book, Fatima Is Forever -- says was a special bond between the seer and John Paul II, who himself died a mere seven weeks later.
"Only the Holy Father and some bishops wereinformed of the imminent possibility that Sister Lucia was nearing death," recounts Father Fox. "During those same months that Lucia's strength was failing, the same was happening to Pope John Paul II as the world became aware of his failing health."
Sister Lucia, who was 97, died on February 13, 2005. The Pope died on April 2.
"When receiving news of Sister Lucia's worsening health condition, Pope John Paul II sent her a message on Saturday, the day before she died," writes Father Fox -- who has founded an organization called the Fatima Family Apostolate. "Bishop Albino Cleto of Coimbra confirmed that Sister Lucia heard the reading of the papal message on Sunday (the day she died) and, being 'very affected' by it, asked if she could personally read the text of the fax. 'It was, perhaps, the last reaction she had in relation to the life around her,' added the bishop."
Enclosed in her cell at a Carmelite convent north of Fatima, in Coimbra
As the book describes, Sister Lucia had suffered a serious "fainting fit" the previous November -- one so bad it seemed like the end -- and was infirm from that point on, necessitating the assistance of sisters day and night in the weeks leading up to her passing. The nun took solid food for the final time on January 28 and by February 1 was on an intravenous drip, according to the fascinating account.
Although she did not speak, says Father Fox, the visionary made many affectionate gestures in her final days to a statue of the Fatima Virgin that John Paul II had sent her during December of 2003 -- in another link to the Holy Father.
Writes Father Fox: "She was alert on February 6, 2005. She would say slowly, 'Our Lady! Our Lady! Angels! Angels! Heart of Jesus! Heart of Jesus!'"
On February 6, Sister Lucia received Communion for the last time, recounts the priest. After that a Host was placed on her chest so she could make an act of Adoration. The book also reveals that the nun was offering her sufferings for the Pope, who was struggling with a Parkinson's-like affliction.
"From time to time, we spoke to her of the illness of the Holy Father," recounted the mother superior. "She would raise her hands and say: 'For the Holy Father.' Since March of the previous year, she had never let go of the rosary which the Holy Father had sent her. She had it with her until the moment when she closed her eyes on this earth."
It has been revealed that at midnight on February 12, a sister assigned to Sister Lucia's room brought to Lucia's lips the image of Fatima
It was the conclusion of what Father Fox documents as a "deep spiritual friendship" with John Paul, who was known as the "Fatima Pope" but apparently was even more powerfully attached to the apparition site than has been commonly recognized. The Pontiff was well-known as open to apparitions at a time when mysticism in general was disregarded in many dioceses.
"I once stood about thirty feet from Pope John Paul II, with perhaps a million pilgrims present, pilgrims packing every inch of the Cova and beyond," Father Fox writes. "The Pope knelt immediately before the spot of the apparitions in the Capelinha. He was wrapped in the deepest prayer. There can be no doubt that the sense of the presence of the Mother of God, especially at such times, would come to the Pope. The crowd of hundreds of thousands was totally quiet all the while."
It was John Paul, reveals Father Fox, who suggested that Sister Lucia write a document that later became her highly-acclaimed book Calls from the Message of Fatima. The nun also penned a booklet that will be made available shortly in English.
The Pope met with Sister Lucia on three visits to Fatima: in 1982, 1991, and on May 13, 2000 -- when he beautified the two other seers, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, and set in motion release of the famous third secret.
The secret indicated the intervention of Mary in saving the world from a flaming chastisement, the martyrdom of the Church, and what appeared to be a premonition of the assassination attempt on John Paul himself. That attempt was made on May 13, 1917 -- incredibly, the anniversary date of the first Fatima
The bullet extracted from the Pope was later implanted in the crown of the Virgin in the chapel of apparitions, as the pontiff credited the Blessed Virgin of Fatima with miraculously saving him.
It was with profound emotion, the Pope later wrote, that he learned of Lucia's passing.
"I remember with emotion the various meetings I had with her and the bonds of spiritual friendship that, with the passing of time, were intensified," he wrote to Bishop Cleto. "I have always felt supported by the daily gift of her prayer, especially in the harsh moments of trial and suffering. May the Lord reward her amply for the great and hidden service she has done to the Church."
The visionary occupied the same cell during all those decades, and from there "she flew to heaven," said the superior of the Carmelite community, Sister Maria Celina of Jesus Crucified.
Sister Lucia's Last Moments
Mother Superior Says Visionary Was Filled With Light
The visionary occupied the same cell during all those decades, and from there "she flew to heaven," said the superior of the Carmelite community, Sister Maria Celina of Jesus Crucified.
First impression
Recalling her first impressions of Sister Lucia, the superior said, "When I entered, it took me eight days to recognize Sister Lucia. When one of the sisters asked me: 'Mother, should I bring you a piece of bread to eat tonight?' I said to myself that this could not be Sister Lucia. And yet it was her."
Sister Maria Celina recalled how the visionary would stand at the end of the path leading to a statue of the Blessed Virgin, and scold her cousins who also witnessed the apparitions, "You went to heaven and left me here alone."
The superior said that Sister Lucia always denied any talk of a "fourth secret of
Sister Maria Celina said that the visionary was never satisfied with the image made of Our Lady.
"The image of Our Lady was not how she wanted it," the superior said. "Sometimes she seemed ugly to her because it did not correspond to her exact memories; it was not what the artist derived from her description. It is somewhat like what happened with St. Bernadette."
Joyous nun
Sister Maria Celina described Sister Lucia as a woman religious who "emanated joy."
"I lived with her for 28 years and I saw a person who, the older she got, the more she developed an evangelical childhood," she said. "She seemed again to be the child who had the apparitions in the Cova de Ira. The heavier her body became, the lighter her spirit became."
Speaking of Sister Lucia's last hours, the superior said: "When she needed assistance we placed her bed at the center of the cell and we were around her, together with the bishop of Leiria-Fatima. I was kneeling down next to her. Sister Lucia looked at everyone and then looked at me at the end. It was a long look, but in her eyes there was a deep light, which I carry in my soul.
"I pray to her always and I know she prays for us. There are things that have no need of words: A gesture or a thought is sufficient. Sister Lucia had a hearing problem. Now she doesn’t anymore. Now she understands everything without words."
