MARY 'c c� < •• TALKS TO US BY DON SHARKEY COVER fAINTING: "The Niccolini;.Cowper Madonnci' (detail), by Raphael, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. Mellon Collection. -' l CATECHETICAL GUILD EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY ST. PAUL 1, MINNESOTA Nihil Obstat: The Rev. Carl R. Steinbicher, S.T.D. Imprimaturs + The Most Reverend Karl J. Alter Archbishop of Cincinnati, November 1, 1952 Copyright 1953 by Catechetical Guild Educational Society. All rights .reserved throughout the world. Designed and produced by Artists and Writers Guild, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. by Western Printing and Lithographing Company. Published simultaneously in Canada by Palm Publishers, Montreal•. l I· T MAY BE within your power to prevent World War III and the dropping of the atom bomb l Yes, you, the reader of this' book. . Furthermore, you might be able to end war and bring true peace to the world. You might be able to bring about a Catholic Russia. You are, you see, a very important person. Preposterous? Not at all. Mary, the Mother of Christ, has pointed the way. We need only follow. It is small wonder if you are startled by the . thought that you might be able to bring peace to the world. Russian Communism seems to be calling all the signals these days, and the other .� nations appear to have had the initiative taken from them. We became bogged down in a war in Korea; we suffered great casualties while the Russians lost not a single man. The Commu­ nists make headway in Indo-China, Malaya, Tibet. There' are Communist riots in Japan and a small-scale revolution in the Philippines. 3 4 MARY TALKS TO us To add to these troubles, we are now wonder­ ing whether our Allies in Europe are strong enough to resist a Communist push across that continent. -.- What to do? Which way to turn? Won't someone offer us a word of 'hope? We turn to our commentators and states­ men, but they are equally confused. , "Carry the Korean war to the Chinese main- ; land," said one military authority. "No, we would be fighting the wrong war, with the wrong enemy, in the wrong place," said another authority. "Concentrateour strength in Asia," says one Senator. "No, our frontier is in Europe," another Sen­ ator states." "Bring home our troops and rely on-a strong air force,"-:a radio commentator demands. "Our main hope is in -a strong infantry,' says a' second commentator: - T-J All these, men. may be. sincere, but they can't all be' right. Moreover, 'they all 'talk in terms - of � armed might. 'The best 'they can promise is a long stalemate, 'an uneasy-armed truce. That is not what we-want, Wè want real peace! MARY TALKS TO US 5 The whole trouble lies in the facts that the Soviet government is atheist and Communist and that it is bent upon imposing its doctrine on the world. It will strike when it is reasonably sure of victory. The greatest hope for world peace is a ' Christian Russia. Our leaders cannot tell us how to bring this about. 'That is why they can . offer no real solution to our international problems. Fortunately, we are riot forced to rely solely upon human leadership. . .. The reason we live in a world of strife and misery is that we have turned away from God. This turning began in the late Middle Ages. After the Protestant Revolt, when everyone was free to invent his 'own religion, the drift �. -�- from God was intensified. Then, .in the nine- teenth century, those who called themselves liberals and. intellectuals looked at the progress man had made in science, and they said.that man no longer needed a God. These men-the most prominent of whom lived in Paris­ achieved a wide following. The nineteenth cen­ tury was a time of materialism, atheism, agnos- 6 'MARY TALKS TO, US tieism. Our own twentieth century has in­ herited all the anti-God doctrines of the nine­ teenth and has enlarged upon them. That is why we have had so many. revolu.. tions, persecutions, famines and wars in the last century and this one. We' move from one great calamity to another. This is our punishment for ignoring God and His laws. If the people turn back to God, many of our most pressing prob­ lems will be solved. Among other things, we 'can have a Christian Russia and world peace. " How do we know that there is a direct con... nection between sin and the calamities _ afflicting the world? How do we know that most of our troubles would disappear if we turned back to God? We have the word ofthe Mother of God I -In the last century and a quarter, the Blessed Mother has made many appearances in �� - world. She has warned us of calafnities to come, and she has told us how we can -avoid them. Besides being the Mother of God, Mary is also our Mother. Her heart bleeds for us, her children. She wants to help us. But she cannot help us unless we help ourselves. MARY TALKS TO US 7 In a book this size, it is not possible to tell the complete story of Mary's appearances in mod­ ern 'times. It is possible, however, to give a brief summary of the principal apparitions, with special emphasis on what Mary'has said about the troubles afHicting the world. All apparitions mentioned in this book have been investigated by the ecclesiastical authori­ ties and have been declared worthy of belief. It- is interesting to note that all Mary's mes­ sages have been given to the poor, the lowly, and the humble. It is the ordinary people who must save the I world from the evils which. threaten it. T· ins STORY begins in Paris in 183o--the same . Pads from which so many anti-God doc- trines were infecting the world. So we see that when Our Lady began her campaign to bring the modern world back to Christ, she began it in the heart of the enemy's territory. Our Lady appeared to Zoé Catherine Labouré, a postulant of the Daughters of Char­ ity. To Catherine, now St. Catherine, Mary re­ vealed the Miraculous Medal and promised great graces to those who wore it. The medal prepared the world for the pro­ mulgation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception which was to come 24 years later. �!<-/r_� I bore the words: "O Mary conceived without Q�; pray for us who have recourse to thee." .\ The medal was also one of the first modern revelations of the Immaculate Heart of Mary .. It shows the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary side by side. Catherine asked if there should be any words, but she was told that the 8 Il ' I j MARY TALKS TO US '9 close union of the hearts told its own story. The Immaculate Heart was to play a big part in God's plan to win back the modern world. The Blessed Mother did not actually tell Catherine that the troubles of the world are due to .sin, but the implication is unmistakable: "The times are evil. Terrible things are going to happen in France. The throne, will be de­ stroyed and the whole world will be convulsed by terrible calamities . . . There will be victims among the clergy of Paris. The Archbishop will die ... The Cross.will be trampled on ... I Blood will run in the streets ... The world will be plunged in sadness .. :�" A few days later a revolution broke out in Paris, and many of the things Our Lady had foretold came true. Others came true some years later, in the War of the Commune of cc c- � zIS7!. 'Mary's appearance in Paris in �830, with its emphasis on the Immaculate Heart and with its warnings of calamities to come, set the pat­ tern for later appearances, notably Fatima, III THE NEXT major appearance of Our Lady took place sixteen years later. On September 19, 1846, eleven-year-old Maximin Giraud and fifteen-year-old Melanie Mathieu were tending cows on the slope of Mt. Gorgas in southeastern France, near the village of La Salette. They found Our Lady sitting on some stones near a dried-up spring, She was weeping bitterly. She , rose and spoke to them. "If my people will not submit," Our Lady said, "I shall be forced to let go the hand of my Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that I can no longer withhold it. . "How long a time do I suffer for you! �I would not have my Son abandon you, I, am compelled to pray to aim without ceasing. And, as to you, you take no heed of it. ' "However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have taken for you." 10 lHl ; I : I MARY TALKS TO US II These words deserve close study. They form the essential part of Our Lady's message to us. The words tell us that she is praying for us constantly to save us from the results of our own ' SIns. j Our Lady continued. She named the dese­ cration of the Sabbath and the taking of her , Son's name in vain as two of the sins that made the hand of her Son s.o heavy. Then she made it plain that many of the troubles that afHict the . world are the direct result of sin: > "If the harvest is spoiled it is your fault. I gave .you warning last year in the potatoes, but you did not heed it. On the contrary, when you found the potatoes spoiled you swore, you took the name of my Son in vain. They will continue to decay so thatby Christmas there will be none left. .. . �, ., "If you have wheat, it. is no ,good to sow it; all-that you sow the insects will eat. What comes up'will fall into dust when you thresh-it.- "There will come a great famine. Before the famine comes, the children under seven years of age will be. seized with trembling and will die in the hands of those who hold them; and others will do penance by the famine, 12 MARY TALKS TO US "The walnuts will become worm-eaten; the grapes will rot." Our Lady then spoke to each of the children separately, telling each a secret. Next she made it clear that the terrible things she had prophesied would happen only if the people persisted in their sins: "If they are con­ verted, the stone and the rocks will be changed into heaps of wheat, and potatoes will be self­ sown." Then she became more personal: "Do you / say your prayers well, my children?" "Not very well, Madame." "You must say them well, morning and eve­ ning. When you cannot do better say at least an Our Father and a Hail Mary. When you have time, say more." As she left, she said, "Well, my children, you '. will make this known to all the people." / The calamities foretold by Our Lady took place. They probably would have been }ven worse except .for the fact many people around La Salette heeded Mary's message and amended their lives. Five years. later, the two children consented to write their secrets for Pope Pius IX. While J MARY TALKS TO US' 13 Melanie was writing, she asked the meaning of the word "infallibility" and the spelling of "antichrist." . When the Pope read Maximin's secret he said, "We have here all the' artlessness of a child." After he read Melanie's secret, he said, "Ca­ lamities threaten France. She is not the only guilty nation; Germany, Italy, and all Europe are guilty and deserve chastisement. r have less to fear from open impiety than from indiffer­ ence and human respect ... It is 'riot without, reason that the Church is calledmilitant, and you see. before you her leader." . Cardinal Fornari, of the papal household; interviewed those who'had brought the secrets. Then he said, "I am terrified by these prodigies; we haveeverything that is needed in our religion --�"-, ',,- tor the conversion of sinners, and when heaven. \ eni�lòys ,such m�ans the evil . must be very great." . r , -Yearslater.ithe Pope said, "Do you-wish to know the secreti'This is it: Unless youdo pen- ance, you shall perish.". .. : 'In 'the' years -that followed.' France,· Italy, Germany, and all .Europe suffered .from war, } ..J 14 MARY TALKS TO us famine, and desolation. They are still suffering. This suffering could have been avoided if more people had heeded the Message of La Salette, IV IN PARIS, in 1830, Our Lady called herself "Mary, conceived without sin." On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception. Just a little more than thteeyears later, on March :25, 1858, Our Lady said to fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, a peasant girl of Lourdes, France, '�I am the Immaculate Conception." Thus she seemed to put her seal of approval on the Pon­ tiff's action. The story of Mary's nineteen appearances at Lourdes and the remarkable cures that have taken place and that are still taking place at � _ Lourdes is known by most Catholics. This is �?t the place t.o repeat the story in detail. Be­ slQes the mention of the Immaculate Concep­ tion, two points are worth noting here: I. At each apparition Our Lady of Lourdes emphasized the importance of the Rosary by allowing the beads to slip through her fingers while Bernadette said the prayers. (Our Lady 15 16 MARY TALKS TO US ·did .. not say the Hail Marys because she could l not pray to herself.) The Rosary plays a big part in Mary's plan to help the world. This was to be brought out more forcibly at Fatima. 2. Our Lady asked for ·"Penitence! Peni­ tence l" At one time she said to Bernadette, "Bend low and kiss the ground for the sake of sinners." Again she said,' "Pray for sinners." These words emphasized the sinful state of the world and the need for prayer and penance. They were a repetition of the Message of La Salette. The" message was to be repeated once more at Fatima. " v· W HAT HAPPENS when people heed Mary's pleas and humbly turn to her Son? We see the answer. in' the story of Pontmain. At Paris and at La Salette Our Lady had warn­ ed that France would suffer if her people did not amend their lives. At Lourdes she had made a moving plea for Penitence. Her wishes went largely unheeded. As a result, France suffered from wars, revolutions, and famine. These were climaxed by the disastrous Franco-Prussian War, which began in 1870. The French armies were powerless, and Paris was surrounded on It I September 18, 1870. Beginning on December ',_ '27, its citizens lived in terror of being killed in the daily bombardment. People in other parts of the country lived in fear of being conquered by the enemy. In their hour of trial, millions of Frenchmen 'prayed fervently for help. They flocked to Lourdes and to other shrines. They crowded the 17 r l MA�Y TALKS TO US churches, In the quiet of their - homes, they prayed the Rosary fervently. Their prayers. were answered in. a most dramatic fashion. On January 17, 187I, two farm boys, Eugene and Joseph Barbadette, were working in their barn near the village of Pontmain. This is be­ tween Normandy and Burgundy. The boys walked to the door of the barn, and they saw the Blessed Virgin over the roof of a neighbor's house. Soon the entire population of the village­ about eighty persons-had gathered near the barn door.' Six children could see the vision. The others COlA: � �e nothing. iThe people re­ cited the Rosary, sang hymns, and 'said many prayers while the Blessed Virgin smiled approv- ingly. .- At length, the children saw a white band unroll beneath Our Lady's feet. On it appeared" � I the words, "Pray, my children," A villager returning from a neighboring town heard the singing and exclaimed : "You do well to pray to' the good God 1 The Prussians . are at Laval!" "If they were at the entrance of the village, we should have no fear now," the man was told. I I , MAlty TALKfS rro, US , � 19 When he learned of the apparition, he fell to his knees. . The next message on the banner was this:· "God will hear youin a little while." This was followed by, "My Son permits Himself to be � moved." The villagers were beside themselves with joy. They had been praying for an end to this. terrible war, and they took Our Lady's message to mean that their prayers had been answered. A red Crucifix appeared. Above it were the words "Jesus Christ." Soon after that a white veil slowly drew over the vision and hid it from the sight of the children. The vision had lasted about three hours. The Prussians had been at Laval, only a few miles away from Pontmain. For some unex­ plained reason their commanding officer gave � the order to turn back, and they never reached Pontmain. An armistice was signed January 27, just ten 'days after the apparition. France lost the war and had to pay a heavy indemnity, but the blood­ shed and destruction were over. The world of today can be compared with the 20 . . MARY TALKS TO US prance of I871. At that time half of France was in the hands of the Prussians, while the other half lived in deadly fear of being conquered. Today, almost half the world is in the hands of the Communists, and the'other half lives in fear. Our Lady and her Divine Son heard the prayers of the people in 1871, and France was delivered from its danger ..,If we pray fervently enough, the world will be delivered in much the same way. I 1 .-, I". r\ ' VI " / FIVE YEARS later, Our Lady was again dis­ pleased with Frante. In 1876 she appeared fifteen times to Estelle Faguette in Pellevoisin, France. Estelle was 33 years old. She had been lady's maid to a countess but had been forced to give up the work because of bad health. In one of her appearances to. Estelle, Our Lady looked very sad as she said, "And France, what have I not done for her? How many warn­ ings, and yet she refuses to listen! I can no longer restrain my Son." She appeared deeply moved as she said, "France will suffer." She put special emphasis on these words. There is a striking resemblance between the words Our Lady used at Pellevoisin and those she used at La Salette. In both apparitions" she spoke of being unable to restrain her Son. Once again she made it clear that many of the calami­ ties that befall mankind are the results of its sins, In most of the apparitions mentioned so far, 21 , .Our Lady seemed especially concerned about­ France. We do not know why this should be. Perhaps it was because the French people, who had once been so religious, had turned \ so' far from God. Perhaps it was because much' of the world looked to France for intellectual leader- ' ship. In all these appearances, however, the mes­ sage was meant for the entire world, even though France was specifically mentioned. Since Pellevoisin, Our Lady has made no direct reference to France. Perhaps this means that today the whole world is as much in-need of help as was France in the' last century. Estelle Faguette had an audience with Pope. Leo XIII in 1900. "Holy Father," Estelle said, "the Blessed Virgin said that France will have to suffer." "Yes," the Pope said sadly, "France will have to suffer." Fourteen years later, World War I broke out, and much of the fighting took place on French soil. France suffered more than she had ever suffered before. Other nations suffered, too. By 1917, almost every country in the world.Including the Unit- 'MARY .TA!.RS TC) i US ' ',23 . ed States, had become involved I in the. tragic - conflict. In March, 1917, a revolution broke out in Russia, and that country withdrew from the war. Thousands of German soldiers who had been fighting Russia were now' moved to the Western Front. The fighting became even more intense than it had been before. The lists of wounded and dead grew longer- each day. I ' i VII ON THE fifth day of May, the Month of Our Lady, 1917, when everything seemed dark­ est, Pope Benedict XV addressed a letter to his Cardinal Secretary of State. After' recounting his unsuccessful efforts to bring about peace, the ' Pope said, "Because all graces ... 'are distributed by the hands of the most holy Virgin, we wish the petitions of her most afflicted children to be directed with lively confidence, more than ever in this awful hour, to the great Mother of God. "We charge you, then, Lord Cardinal, to, communicate to all the bishops of the world our ardent desire that recourse be made to the Heart of [esus, Throne of Grace, and that this re- . course be made through Mary ... "To Mary, then, who is the Mother of Mercy, - and omnipotent by grace, let loving and devout appeal go up from every corner of the earth ... Let it bear to her the anguished cry of mothers and wives, the wailing of little ones, the sighs of every generous heart, that her most tender and 24 • � I MARY TALKS TO US 25 benign solicitude may be moved and the peace we ask be obtained for our agitated world." Eight days later the Blessed Virgin appeared to the three shepherd children at Fatima, in Portugal. One.of the first things she told them was to say the. Rosary .every day for the end of the war. Something else should be noted in regard to the timing of the apparitions at Fatima. After the Czar of Russia was overthrown, a provisional democratic government was set up. This government was, not very stable, and the Communists saw their chance to take over the country, On April 16, 1917, Nicolai Lenin and Leon Trotsky arrived in Petrograd to lay plans for their Communist Revolution. On Novem­ ber 7, the Communists took control of the government. This they regarded as merely the beginning. "First Russia; then the world" was . their .motto, Between April 16 and November 7 Our Lady made her six appearances at Fatima. In these appearances she specifically mentioned Russia as a threat to world peace. At that time the people of the world were 26 ., MARY TALKS TO US ' concerned about the war between Germany and' the Allies. Russia was a weak and defeated nation and was' having internal difficulties. , Russia did not seem to be a threat. Today the importance of Our Lady's warning is pounded home by each day's headlines . . We can see, then, that between April and November, I9I7, the forces of evil were tri­ umphing at one end of Europe. At the other end Our Blessed Mother was rallying the forces of good for a crusade of prayer - and penance. The' battle is still going on. It seems to be reaching a climax today. We know who will win. The Blessed Virgin is never defeated in f her battle with Satan. But will the victory come soon, or only after much bloodshed and suffer­ ing? The answer depends upon us. .. ; ... VIII '.,l T FATIMA, Our Lady appeared to three a shepherd children. [acinta Marta was seven years old. Her brother Francisco was nine. Their cousin, Lucia Dos Santos was ten. Lucia did all the talking with the Blessed Virgin. Jacinta could both hear and see Our Lady. Francisco could see her but 'could not hear her. Our Ladyappeared for the first time at Fati­ ma on May 13, 1917. She asked the children to return on the thirteenth of each month for five more months. On August 13 the civil adminis­ trator, an enemy of religion, had the children in jail. But that monthOur Lady appeared to them on the nineteenth. In May Our Lady said, "Do you wish to offer yourselves to, God to endure all the suffering that He may choose to send you, as an act of re­ paration for the sins by which He is offended, and to ask for the conversion of sinners?" Lucia replied that they did. , "Then you will have much to suffer, but the 21 MARY TALKS TO US grace of .God will assist you and always bear you up." . Thus the series of apparitions started with the idea of sacrifice and reparation. This was to be an important part of the Message of Fatima. Our Lady mentioned the war for the first time when she said, "Say the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the, world and the end .. of the war." In June Lucia asked that they be taken to Heaven. "I will take Jacinta and Francisco soon," Our Lady said. "But you must remain longer here below. Jesus will use .you to make me better known and more loved. He wishes to establish throughout the world devotion to my Immacu­ late Heart. I promise salvation to those who em­ brace it and their souls will be loved by God as flowers placed by myself to adorn his throne." In July Our Lady told the children to con­ tinue saying the Rosary. "Say it with the .inten... tion of obtaining the end of the war. The inter­ cession of the Blessed Virgin alone can obtain this grace for men." The Blessed· Virgin parted her hands. The light from her palms seemed to penetrate the MARY fA:LXS TO 1]S earth. The children saw a great 'sea of fire. "In this sea," says Lucia, "were immersed black and.burning demons and souls in human forms, resembling live. transparent coals. Lifted, up into the air by the Barnes, they fell back on all sides like a giant conflagration,' with neither weight nor balance, amid loud screams and cries of pain and despair which horrified us and shook us With terror. We could tell the devils by their horrible and nauseous figures of bale­ ful and unknown animals, but souls of men . . were transparent as the coals in afire." , Lucia adds that the children might have died of ·terror if they had not already been told. that they were going to Heaven. Thewordswhich Our Lady spoke after this . vision of Hell' are of the utmost importance. I They refer to world conditions. . "You have seen hell," said Our Lady, "where the souls of poor sinners go. To save sinners, Our .. Lord wishes to establish throughout the world devotion to' my Immaculate Heart. If people will do what 1 tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace in the world. The war, .(\Vorld War ,I) is coming to an end. But, if they d'O not stop offending God, another 30 MARY TALKS>; TO .trs , and worse war will begin in the reign of Pius XI. . "When you see a night illumined by an un­ known light, know. that itis the great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father. "To prevent. this, I shall come back to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will scatter her errors through­ out the world, provoking wars and persecu­ tions of the Church. The good, will be mar­ tyred; the Holy Father, will have much to suf­ fer; various nations will be annihilated. "But in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me; it will be converted, and a cer­ tain period of peace will be granted to the world.'" , . Read those words again and remember that Our Lady spoke them in 1917, while World War I was still in progress 1 M·ARy1tALKS"'tO US 31 Let Hash through' your mind some of the events 'that have taken place since then: the Spanish Civil War with its terrible persecu­ - tions, the appalling slaughter of World War II, the famines, the hordes of Displaced Persons 'unable to return to' their homes and families, the Communist sweep over half of Europe, the fall of China to the Commùnists, the closing of churches in the Iron Curtain countries, the trials of Archbishop Stepinac and Cardinal .Mindzsenty, the bloodshed in Korea. All of 'these things could have been prevented if we had heeded the Message of Fatima. In August, 1917, Our Lady said, "Pray, pray q great deal for sinners and make sacrifices for them, for many souls go to hell because they have no one to sacrifice and pray for them." In September she said, "Continue to say the Rosary to bring about the end of the war." The famous Miracle of the Sun took place on October '13. Our Lady had promised a mir­ acle so that people would believe that she' had actually appeared to the three children. About 70,000 persons, some of them as much as 20 miles away, saw the sun spin in the sky and then come hurtling toward the earth. In this I I 32 MARY TALKS TO US r dramatic fashion, Our .Lady emphasized her message to the modern world. Just before the Miracle of the Sun, Our Lady gave her farewell message to the three children. These words, according to Lucia, sum up the entire Message of Fatima: "Men, must offend Our Lord no more.and they must ask pardon . for their sins, for He is-already much offended." There is a great similarity between this and the Message of La Salette: "If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let go the hand of my Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that Lean no longer withhold it.", - IX O· UR LADY had said that she would take Jacinta and Francisco soon. Both children were stricken in the influenza epidemic of 1918. Francisco died April a, 1919, at the age of I!. ' Jacinta lingered on for -a while. She suffered greatly, but she welcomed 'her sufferings and offered them 'to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in reparation for the sins of the world. - One day Jacinta said to Lucia, "Soon I shall' go to Heaven. You are to stay here and reveal that the Lord wants to establish throughout the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When you start to reveal this, don't hesi­ tate. Tell everyone that Our Lord grants, us all graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that all must make their petitions to- her, that 'the Sacred Heart of Jesus desires that the Im­ maculate Heart of Mary be venerated at the same time. Tell them. that they should all ask for peace from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as God has placed it in her hands. Oh, if I could 33 . ,.: ; f34 ' � MAkY!TALKS' TO ·us only put into the hearts of everyone in the world . the fire that is burning in me and makes me love so much the Heart of Jesus and ·the Heart '0£ Mary!" On another occasion, Jacinta said, "Wars are only punishments for the sins of the world. Our Lady cannot stay the arm of her beloved Son ,upon the world any more. It is necessary to do penance. If the people amend themselves, Our Lord will still come to the aid of the world. If they do not amend themselves, punishment shall come." At another time she said, "If men do not amend their lives, Almighty God will send the world, beginning with Spain, a punishment such as has never before been seen." She spoke of "great worldevents" that were to take place around 1940. She cried when she thought of . the catastrophe that was coming. Her reference to Spain is obviously a prediction of the Spanish ,( Civil War, which was fought from 1936 to 1939. This was, in a way, the predecessor of WorId War II. Jacinta said that the sins that bring most souls to hell are the sins' of the flesh. "Certain fashions are going to be introduced which will ,M:ARY� T��:J<.S; TQ 'us �35 offend Our Lord very much. Those who serve . God should not follow these fashions. The Church has no fashions ... " Jacinta died on Februaryzo, 1920. The holi­ ness of Francisco and Jacinta is now being studied with a view to their beatification. Lucia entered a convent school conducted by the Sisters of St. Dorothy in 1921. When she completed the course of studies she asked to be admitted to the Order. In December, 1925, Our Lady came back, as she had said she would, to request - the Com­ munions of Reparation of the First Saturdays.' (It is frequently reported incorrectly that Our Lady requested the Communions of "Repara­ , tion and the consecration of Russia in July, 1917. Actually all she said at the time was that "I shall come back" to ask these things. The - request for the Communions of Reparation was made in 1925, the request for the consecration of Russia in 1929.) Lucia, a postulant by this time, was praying in the convent chapel when Our Lady ap­ peared. With her was the Child Jesus elevated on a cloud of light. Our Lady rested one hand 36 MARY TALKS TO US " on Lucia's shoulder. In the other she held· a Heart surrounded with sharp thorns. . . The Child Jesus spoke first: "Have pity on the.Heart ofyour Most Holy Mother. It iscov­ ered with thorns with which ungratefulmen pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation." Then Our Lady said, "My daughter, look at my Heart encircled with the thorns with which . ungrateful men pierce it, at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. DO' you at least try to console m� and announce in my name that I promiseto assist at the hour of death with the gracesnecessary to salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecu­ tive months, go to confession and.receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep me . company for a quarter of an hour while medi­ tating on the mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation." . This has become known as the Great Prom­ ise. By the devotion of the First Saturdays, we are helping bring peace to the world, but we are doing much more than that. Weare assuring ourselves of Mary's assistance at the hour of death-what greater assurance of attaining MARY TALKS TO US ' _r. ,f: i" I "37 . eternal salvation can we desire? Our Lady is most generous with her favors. "The Rosary" in the words of the promise means the small five-decade Rosary, not the , full fifteen decades. Confession may be made within 'the eight days before or after the First Saturday Communion.' The fifteen minutes' meditation may be on one or on several mys­ teries of the Rosary. The Blessed Mother appeared to Lucia again in 1929. She had come back to ask the conse- , cration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Ac­ cording to Lucia, she asked that the consecra­ tion be made by the Pope in union with all the Bishops of the world. x IN' 1932 and 1933 ·Our-·Lady appeared.about 33 times to five children at Beauraing in Bel­ gium, She exposed her Immaculate 'Heart, a heart of radiant gold. She said, "Pray, pray much." .Another time she said, "Pray always," During her last appearance she said to one of the children, "Do you love my Son?" "Yes." "Do you love me?" "Yes." "Sacrifice yourself for me." Our Lady spoke very little during her ap­ pearances at Beauraing. At Fatima she had al­ .ready given her great message to the world. At Beauraing she again asked for the three things she had requested at Fatima: prayer, sacrifice, 'devotion to the Immaculate Heart. The most recent set of apparitions to receive ecclesiastical approbation took place in Ban­ neaux, Belgium, in early 1933. Our Lady ap­ peared several times to eleven-year-old Mar.. 38 . MARY TALKS TO US 39 iette Beco. (All the approved apparitions of the twentieth century have been to children.) On this occasion she said nothing about war and peace, but she showed her compassion for the poor and the suffering. She said, "I am the Vir... gin of the Poor." She also said, "I have come to relieve suffering." This was in a district where the people were very poor.Tn their distress, many of the people had turned to the teachings of Karl "Marx and had become Socialists. There was a strong re­ newal of the Faith in the district after the ap­ pearances of Our Lady, On the night of January 25; 1938, Lucia looked out of her convent window and saw the entire sky aflame with a weird light. This phe­ nomenon was especially marked in Europe, but it was also seen in many other parts of the world, including the United States. Astron­ omers said it was an especially brilliant display of the "Northern Lights." Lucia, however, knew it to be the "unknown light" which Our Lady had mentioned on July 13, 1917: "When you see a night illumined by an un­ known light, know that it is the great sign that '40 �. MARY TAL-KS TO US God gives you' that He is' going to punish the' world for its crimes by means of war, of. hunger, and of persecution of the Church and. the Holy Father." By penance and sacrifice the people of the , world could have avoided the terrible punish­ ment that was to come. Instead of penance and sacrifice' the people had chosen self-indulgence and sin. Now "another and worse" war was to come. In the months that followed Lucia tried to propagate devotion to the Immaculate Heart, and she tried to secure the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart. In March, 1939, she wrote to her bishop, "On the practice of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, together with the consecration, depends war or peace for the world. That is why I wish so very much for this devotion to ' be propagated, and above all because it is the will of God and of our dear heavenly Mother." Lucia must have suffered terrible mental anguish in those days. She felt that she had the key to that which would prevent a world con­ flict, but she could do nothing by herself. Another letter, dated April 20, 1939, reads: , ,MARY TALKS TO US 41 "Our Lady promised to postpone- for some time this scourge of war if practice of this devotion be propagated. We see her turning aside this chastisement in proportion as efforts are made to propagate this devotion; but I fear that we will not be able to do more than we are doing, and that God, being not well pleased, may lift the arm of His mercy and let the world now be devastated by a chastisement that will be hor-­ rible as never before. It will be horrible ... hor-­ rible .... " The war started with the German blitzkrieg on Poland, and, true to Lucia's words, it was "horrible as never before." Our Lady had said that the war would begin in the reign of Pius XI, and Pius XI had been dead for six months when the invasion of Poland. took place. Lucia l ! 1i�" explains this by saying that the German an�ex­ I, arion of Austria, which occurred during the reign of Pius XI, was the beginning of the war. The Spanish Civil War, in which the Russians aided one side while the Germans and Italians aided the other, was also fought during the reign of Pius XL The Japanese-Chinese War al- so began during his reign. 42 MARY TALKS TO US After Poland had been conquered there was a quiet period