Fatima, 100 Years Later: A Call for the Whole Church

Fatima 100 Years later: a Marian Call for the whole Church

by Fr. Serafino M. Lanzetta

This year the Church is particularly blessed for the celebration of the Centenary of the Fatima apparitions. The ‘White Lady’ came to speak – from May to October 1917 on the thirteenth of each month – to three little shepherds, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. The last two were canonised last 13^th May by Pope Francis, while the process for the canonization of Lucia is progressing. Of all the private revelations approved by the Church, Fatima is one of particular significance give its theological vision of history. Our Lady not only delivered a supernatural message – a call to penance and prayer for rescuing sinners from eternal perdition in hell, but also foretold what would happen if her call were unheeded. As a celestial appeal, Fatima is not something belonging to the past, but a prophecy for the Church today.

It is extremely interesting to revisit what Pope Benedict XVI said at Fatima in his homily during the Mass on 13^th May 2010, which sounded to many like a ‘correction’ of what he had previously said as a Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith, when, in giving the official theological explication of the third part of the Secret (revealed in the year 2000), he declared that the vision of a city half in ruins with corpses of bishops, priests, religious and lay people laying on the ground was something referred to the great persecution of the Church in the 20^th century. Therefore, something already accomplished. As a pope, Benedict put forth a new scenario stating:

Event: Fatima conference at Buckfast Abbey

Not sure why, but this Fatima conference hasn't been publicized elsewhere that we can find. It looks like it will be quite hard-hitting in the prophetic interpretation of our current times:

De Mattei: Fatima 2017

Roberto de Mattei

“Il Tempo”

May 14, 2017

Five hundred people were in the square outside the Sanctuary at Fatima waiting for Pope Francis and the canonization of the two little shepherd Francesco (10) and Jacinta (9), who, along with their cousin Lucia dos Santos saw Our Lady and heard Her words between May 13th and October 13th 1917. The canonization took place and the Church has the youngest children not martyrs in Her history, written in the book of saints. The process for the beatification of their cousin Lucia who died in 2005, is also underway.

What Fatima devotees from all around the world expected from the Pope was not only the canonization of the visionaries, but also the fulfillment  of some of Our Lady’s requests, until now gone unheeded. 

Francis in Fatima: "I am the bishop dressed in white."

Well, it's quite a claim Pope Francis will make officially in his visit to Fatima, Portugal, that starts today.

Let us first recall the reference to the "Bishop in white" made in the "third part of the secret", made public on May 13, 2000:

“J.M.J.

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 command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.

A glorious wave of canonizations: Jacinta & Francisco Marto; Mexican and Brazilian Protomartyrs

Today, Pope Francis presided a Public Ordinary Consistory for the canonization of several blesseds.

Considering the year of the Fatima Centenary, the canonization of Jacinta and Francisco Marto (the Fatima seers, along with Sister Lucia, their cousin) is obviously the greatest news. The canonization will take place in Fatima on May 13.

But the consistory also approved the canonizations, and set the dates for the respective ceremonies, of two very special sets of saints: the Protomartyrs (First Martyrs) of the two nations with the largest nominally Catholic populations, Mexico and Brazil.

Fatima in Holy Week - Jacinta and the Crucified Lord

Before the events of 1917, except for the bond of kinship that united us, no other particular affection made me prefer the company of Jacinta and Francisco to that of any other child. 

On the contrary, her company was at times most unwanted, due to her delicate character. When faced with the smallest quarrel, as those that happen between children when they play, she would be saddened, and go to a corner ... . In order to have her back playing with us, the sweetest gentleness that children are capable of at such times were not enough. It was then necessary to let her pick the game and the child with whom she wanted to play it. She already had then a heart very inclined to goodness, and the good God had granted her a sweet and gentle character that made her, at the same time, lovable and attractive.

For some reason I ignore, Jacinta, along with her brother Francisco, had a special preference for me and came after me to play almost always. They did not enjoy the company of the other children and asked me to go with them near a well that was in their parents's backyard. Once we got there, Jacinta picked the games which we would play. Her favorite ones were, almost always, played on top of this well, which was covered with stones on top, under the shade of an olive tree and two plum trees ... .

Ecclesia Dei letter: Mass of Our Lady of Fatima in the Extraordinary Form

By a letter published and dated of today, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei granted to all priests of the Latin Rite (secular or religious) the possibility of celebrating on the centenary of the first main apparition (May 13, 2017) the Mass of Our Lady of Fatima -- it is a Votive Mass of the II Class, using the exact same texts and prayers of the Votive Mass of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 22nd in the Traditional Calendar).

A copy of the letter is published below:

Why we should go to Fatima in 2017

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

March 8, 2017

Those who go on pilgrimage to Lourdes do so in order to immerse themselves in the supernatural atmosphere of the place. The Grotto in which Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858 and the pools where the sick continue to be immersed in the miraculous water, are fringes of a blessed land in a now ungodly society. Those who go to Fatima, do so, on the other hand, to gain spiritual refreshment not from a place, but from a heavenly Message: the so-called “secret” Our Lady entrusted to the three little shepherds a hundred years ago, between May and October in 1917.  Lourdes chiefly heals bodies, Fatima offers spiritual direction to disorientated souls.

On May 13th 1917, at the Cova de Iria – an isolated place of rocks and olive trees, near the village of Fatima in Portugal “a lady dressed all in white, more brilliant then the sun, shedding rays of light, clear and stronger than a crystal glass filled with the most sparkling water, pierced by the burning rays of the sun"* appeared to three children who were watching over their sheep, Francesco, Jacinta and their little cousin Lucia dos Santos. This Lady revealed Herself as the Mother of God, who was entrusted with a message for mankind and who gave an appointment to the three shepherd-children for the 13^th  of every subsequent month until October. The last apparition ended with  a great atmospheric miracle, named “the dance of the sun”, seen even from 40 kilometres away, by tens of thousands of people. 

Project: CD of choral music dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima.

From a reader of Rorate:

Smooth Stone Foundation, a non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting Catholic culture, is working on a project in which your readers may be interested.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, we are commissioning a CD of choral music dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima. The music will be performed by professional choir singers conducted by Dr. Tim McDonnell, a professor of Sacred Music at Catholic University of America. The music will be traditional Catholic music drawn largely from Portugal. We hope to have the music recorded and CDs produced by May 13th, the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of the Blessed Virgin at Fatima. Here is the project page.

(We previously produced a CD of choral music for Christmas of 2015. Links to videos from that project may be found at the foundation's FB page.)

2017 - The prophetic mission of Fatima is not complete

In seven years you will return here to celebrate the centenary of the first visit made by the Lady “come from heaven”, the Teacher who introduced the little seers to a deep knowledge of the Love of the Blessed Trinity and led them to savour God himself as the most beautiful reality of human existence. This experience of grace made them fall in love with God in Jesus, so much so that Jacinta could cry out: “How much I delight in telling Jesus that I love him! When I tell him this often, I feel as if I have a fire in my breast, yet it does not burn me”. And Francisco could say: “What I liked most of all was seeing Our Lord in that light which Our Mother put into our hearts. I love God so much!” (Memoirs of Sister Lúcia, I, 42 and 126).

RORATE´s 2017 Person of the Year

Our Lady of Fatima

(The Immaculate Heart of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima)

Adveniat Regnum tuum!