109 years ago today, this happened...

Today, May 13th, is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. On this day in 1917, three shepherd children --Lúcia dos Santos (10) and her cousins Francisco Marto (9) and Jacinta Marto (7) -- saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in Cova da Iria, near Fátima, Portugal. She appeared as a "lady brighter than the sun," holding a rosary, and entrusted the children with a message from Heaven.

The Three Seers (as the children became known) were leading their flock out from Aljustrel on the morning of the 13th of May, the feast of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. They passed Fátima, where the parish church and cemetery were located, and proceeded a kilometer or so north to the slopes of the Cova. Here they allowed their sheep to graze as they played in the pasture studded with a few oak trees.

After having had their lunch about noon they decided to pray a rosary, although in a somewhat truncated fashion, saying only the first words of each prayer. Shortly, they were startled by what they later described as "lightning in a clear sky." Thinking that a storm might be approaching they debated whether they should take the sheep and go home. Preparing to do so they were again surprised by a strange light.

"We began to go down the slope driving the sheep towards the road," Lúcia said. "When we were half-way down, near a holm oak there [still standing there today, encircled by an iron fence], we saw another flash of lightning, and after a few steps we saw on a holm oak [a small one lower on the hillside] a lady dressed in white, shining brighter than the sun, giving out rays of clear and intense light, just like a crystal goblet full of pure water when the fiery sun passes through it.

"We stopped astounded by the Apparition. We were so near that we were in the light that encircled her, or which she radiated, perhaps a meter and a half away [4-5 feet]. The lady said, 'Please don't be afraid of me, I'm not going to harm you.'"

Lúcia responded for all three, as she would throughout the apparitions, "Where are you from?" The Lady answered, "I come from heaven."

The Lady wore a pure white mantle, edged with gold and which fell to her feet. In her hands the beads of a rosary shone like stars, with its crucifix the most radiant gem of all. Still, Lúcia felt no fear. The Lady's presence produced in her only gladness and confident joy.

"And what do you want of me?", Lúcia asked. The Lady said, "I want you to return here on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months, and at the very same hour. Later I shall tell you who I am, and what it is that I most desire. And I shall return here yet a seventh time."

"And shall I go to heaven?", asked Lúcia. "Yes, you will," said the Lady. 

"And Jacinta?" "She will go too."

"And Francisco?" "Francisco, too, my dear, but he will first have many Rosaries to say." For a few moments the Lady looked at Francisco with compassion, tinged with a little sadness. 

Lúcia then remembered some friends who had died. "Is Maria Neves in heaven?" "Yes, she is."  

"And Amelia?" "She is in purgatory."

"Will you offer yourselves to God, and bear all the sufferings He sends you? In atonement for all the sins that offend Him? And for the conversion of sinners?"

"Oh, we will, we will!" 

"Then you will have a great deal to suffer, but the grace of God will be with you and will strengthen you."  

Lúcia relates that as the Lady pronounced these words, she opened her hands, and "we were bathed in a heavenly light that appeared to come directly from her hands. The light's reality cut into our hearts and our souls, and we knew somehow that this light was God, and we could see ourselves embraced in it."

By an interior impulse of grace we fell to our knees, repeating in our hearts: "Oh, Holy Trinity, we adore You. My God, my God, I love You in the Blessed Sacrament." 

The children remained kneeling in the flood of this wondrous light, until the Lady spoke again, mentioning the war in Europe, of which they had little or no knowledge. "Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war."  

After that she began to rise slowly in the direction of the east, until she disappeared in the immense distance. The light that encircles Her seemed to make a way amidst the stars. Lúcia said, "that is why we sometimes said we had seen the heavens open."

Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco were canonized as a saint by Pope Francis on 13 May 2017, the 100th anniversary of the First Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. They are the youngest non-martyr saints in the history of the Catholic Church. Lucia dos Santos (aka nSister Lúcia of Fátima) has not yet been canonized, but was declared Venerable by Pope Francis on 22 June 2023. This recognition of her "heroic virtues" is a significant step in the Church's canonization process.

VIDEO: The world needs a Marian "Blue Wave"

This past October 13th was the 102nd anniversary of the final Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima. In a two-minute video published two days earlier, Very Rev. Joseph Strickland, Bishop of Tyler TX, issued a call to participate in what he calls a "Marian blue wave". Bishop Strickland describes this as "a refocus on the beautiful gift of the Rosary, and the call to prayer that the Blessed Virgin Mary has given us so many times."

"The Rosary is a rather simple prayer," said the prelate, "repeating a basic message of devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ, seeking the will of the Father, and asking Mary to intercede for us, the people of God.... We pray for the sanctity of life, from conception to natural death, and we pray for healing in the world and the Church at this time."



Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Salvini commends Italy to the Blessed Virgin Mary - Pope displeased

On Tuesday, Walt told you about Italian Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini's speech on May 19th at a rally of populist leaders in Milan, in which he decried unchecked migration, pledging to close Europe's borders to migrants. He also attacked Islam, saying it mistreats women. He said Turkey would never be a part of Europe and rejected the label of extremists for the leaders with him.

"In this piazza, there are no extremists," said Sig. Salvini. "There are no racists. There are no fascists. If anything in Italy and in Europe, the difference is between who looks ahead, between who speaks of the future...instead of making trials of the past." The "piazza" to which he referred was the huge square in front of Milan's Duomo cathedral, in which 10s of 1000s had gathered to support the right-wing populist parties contesting the European Parliament elections, which are under way at this very moment.

In my earlier report, I concentrated on politics, but the fact is that the struggle to keep Europe European -- so to speak -- is not just political but religious, for European values, the values of civilization, are Christian values, and are under attack by both Islamists and secular humanists. Make no mistake! Europe is, at this very moment, a key battleground in the war against Christianity!

Sig. Salvini did not neglect to mention the religious struggle, and we are indebted to LifeSite News for reporting on this aspect of last Saturday's rally. In "Vatican leaders outraged as anti-immigration politician commends Italy to Mary", LS reveals that Sig. Salvini kissed a rosary as he commended his country, Italy, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the cheers of the crowd.

He also appealed to the patron saints of Europe: Sts. Benedict of Norcia, Brigid of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, Cyril and Methodius. And he said, "I entrust Italy, my life, and your lives to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who I'm sure will bring us to victory."

You would have thought that the leader of the world's billion-plus Catholics, the man who calls himself "pope" and professes his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, would applaud the Deputy Premier's action. You would be wrong. Francis (whose name was greeted with boos and catcalls) immediately sent out his henchmen to denounce Sig. Salvini's action.

Among them was the Jesuit editor Antonio Spadaro, a close confidant of Pope Bergoglio. Fr Spadaro is notorious among true Catholics for opposing an Italian law mandating that crucifixes be placed in all Italian public buildings. Further rebukes were added by the President of the European Bishops' Conference, and the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin (aka The Man Who Would Be Pope - see "'Peter the Roman' ready to take over from Pope Francis", WWW 14/1/18).

Dear Catholic readers, the teaching of the true Catholic Church is: De Maria nunquam satis (Of Mary, never enough). Those like Pope Bergoglio and his Modernist acolytes and sycophants place themselves outside the True Faith on this as on so many other teachings. It is the Pope (if such he be) himself who should be publicly calling upon the Blessed Virgin Mary to turn him and his Modernist minions away from their heresies and back to the Catholic Faith. For that, let us pray.

Two of the seers of Fatima to be canonized

We are less than two months away from the 100th anniversary of the first of the Marian Apparitions at Fatima, Portugal. On 13 May 1917 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children -- Jacinto and Francisco Marto and their cousin Lucia (Lucy) dos Santos -- the Seers of Fatima.

Our Lady of Fatima returned on the 13th of every month through October, to bring Her Message of prayer, penance and the necessity of praying and working for the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, which will bring to our troubled world a period of peace. She also warned that unless Her requests are heeded, nations will be annihilated and millions of souls lost. For more on the relevance of the Fatima Apparitions to the turmoil we face today, see "The connection between Our Lady of Fatima and Islam", WWW 9/3/17.

Devotees of Our Lady of Fatima have cause to rejoice this weekend. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved a miracle through the intercession of Blessesds Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the three children who witnessed the Apparitions. The decree, released on March 23rd, fulfills the requirements for the canonization of the two Seers. Both died in their youth, shortly after the Fatima Miracles. They were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

The March 23 decree creates the possibility that Pope Francis could preside at the canonization of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinto Marto in May, when he will visit the Fatima shrine to mark the 100th anniversary of the Apparitions.

The third of the Seers, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and lived until 2005. In 2008, a separate cause of beatification was opened for Sister Lucia. Pope Benedict XVI waived the usual five-year waiting period after a candidate's death for the opening of her cause.

SSPX says Vatican II "reforms...tainted with errors"

Non-Catholic readers may wish to skip this somewhat lengthy post, but Catholics who doubt that the modern mainstream Church is being led into error should read this carefully. What follows is the Common Statement sent to the Vatican by the General Chapter of the Society of St. Pius X, as published today by DICI. Emphasis, where added, is mine. Walt

At the conclusion of the General Chapter of the Society of St. Pius X, gathered together at the tomb of its venerated founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and united with its Superior General, the participants, bishops, superiors, and most senior members of the Society elevate to Heaven our heartfelt thanksgiving, grateful for the 42 years of marvelous Divine protection over our work, amidst a Church in crisis and a world which distances itself farther from God and His law with each passing day.

We wish to express our gratitude to each and every member of our Society: priests, brothers, sisters, third order members; to the religious communities close to us and also to our dear faithful, for their constant dedication and for their fervent prayers on the occasion of this Chapter, marked by frank exchanges of views and by a very fruitful common work. Every sacrifice and pain accepted with generosity has contributed to overcome the difficulties which the Society has encountered in recent times.

We have recovered our profound unity in its essential mission: to preserve and defend the Catholic Faith, to form good priests, and to strive towards the restoration of Christendom. We have determined and approved the necessary conditions for an eventual canonical normalization. We have decided that, in that case, an extraordinary Chapter with deliberative vote will be convened beforehand.

We must never forget that the sanctification of the souls always starts within ourselves. It is the fruit of a faith which becomes vivifying and operating by the work of charity, according to the words of St. Paul: “For we can do nothing against the truth: but for the truth” (cf. II Cor., XIII, 8), and “as Christ also loved the church and delivered himself up for it… that it should be holy and without blemish” (cf. Eph. V, 25 s.).

The Chapter believes that the paramount duty of the Society, in the service which it intends to offer to the Church, is to continue, with God’s help, to profess the Catholic Faith in all its purity and integrity, with a determination matching the intensity of the constant attacks to which this very Faith is subjected nowadays.

For this reason it seems opportune that we reaffirm our faith in the Roman Catholic Church, the unique Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, outside of which there is no salvation nor possibility to find the means leading to salvation; our faith in its monarchical constitution, desired by Our Lord himself, by which the supreme power of government over the universal Church belongs only to the Pope, Vicar of Christ on earth; our faith in the universal Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of both the natural and the supernatural orders, to Whom every man and every society must submit.

The Society continues to uphold the declarations and the teachings of the constant Magisterium of the Church in regard to all the novelties of the Second Vatican Council which remain tainted with errors, and also in regard to the reforms issued from it. We find our sure guide in this uninterrupted Magisterium which, by its teaching authority, transmits the revealed Deposit of Faith in perfect harmony with the truths that the entire Church has professed, always and everywhere.

The Society finds its guide as well in the constant Tradition of the Church, which transmits and will transmit until the end of times the teachings required to preserve the Faith and the salvation of souls, while waiting for the day when an open and serious debate will be possible which may allow the return to Tradition of the ecclesiastical authorities

We wish to unite ourselves to the others Christians persecuted in different countries of the world who are now suffering for the Catholic Faith, some even to the extent of martyrdom. Their blood, shed in union with the Victim of our altars, is the pledge for a true renewal of the Church in capite et membris, according to the old saying sanguis martyrum semen christianorum.

"Finally, we turn our eyes to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is also jealous of the privileges of Her Divine Son, jealous of His glory, of His Kingdom on earth as in Heaven. How often has She intervened for the defence, even the armed defence, of Christendom against the enemies of the Kingdom of Our Lord!

"We entreat Her to intervene today to chase the enemies out from inside the Church who are trying to destroy it more radically than its enemies from outside. May She deign to keep in the integrity of the Faith, in the love of the Church, in devotion to the Successor of Peter, all the members of the Society of St. Pius X and all the priests and faithful who labour alongside the Society, in order that She may both keep us from schism and preserve us from heresy.

"May St. Michael the Archangel inspire us with his zeal for the glory of God and with his strength to fight the devil.
"May St. Pius X share with us a part of his wisdom, of his learning, of his sanctity, to discern the true from the false and the good from the evil in these times of confusion and lies."
(Prayer of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre: Albano, 19 October 1983)

Given at Écône, on the 14th of July of the Year of the Lord 2012.

Postscript: John Vennari, editor of Catholic Family News, has posted a reasoned (and brief) commentary on the General Chapter Statement. Click here to read his take on what he calls the SSPX's "diplomatic 'no'" to the Vatican.