BIG C CATHOLICS

EWTN has a site, accessible through its faith listings, which examines everything one could want to know about Our Lady's miraculous appearance to three young children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. 100 Years of Fatima , presents the events surrounding the apparitions, the seers, Mary's urgent message to the world and developments since showing how the apparitions changed both the course of the children's lives and the history of the 20th century. A selection from the site : In the year 1917, in a mountainous region at the center of Portugal, the Mother of God appeared six times to three young children. Elsewhere on the continent the “Great War” raged, that would cost Europe an entire generation, over 37 million lives. Besides sending her own sons to die (in France and North Africa) Portugal was in political chaos at home. There was a dizzy succession of governments following a revolution in 1910. The monarchy had been replaced by a republic, with a new liberal constitut

May 4, 2017 In 1917, Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. They were Lucia Santos, Blessed Jacinta Marto and Blessed Francisco Marto . She then instructed the children to pray the Rosary daily to end the war and bring peace to the world. She also asked that the following prayer be recited at the end of each decade of the Rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.” Our Lady entrusted the children with three secrets. The first was a vision of Hell . The second was a prophecy about the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II, and the need for Russia to convert to Christianity. The third secret concerned the Holy Father suffering greatly and the persecution of the Church. On her seventh and final appearance, Our Lady's promised miracle occurred. The sun appeared to dance in the sky; an event witnessed by thousands of people. Th

As our true mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary has lovingly gone on to prepare the way for her children. She intercedes for us in asking God never to leave us in our suffering. As we prepare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her appearance at Fatima, we recall how she urged humanity to reject sin and to pray unceasingly. Our Lady extolled the power of the daily Rosary for conversion and repentance. May she lead us to love Christ. Here is Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer in her honor: Holy Mary, Mother of God,  you have given the world its true light,  Jesus, your Son — the Son of God.  You abandoned yourself completely to God’s call  and thus became a wellspring  of the goodness which flows forth from him.  Show us Jesus. Lead us to him,  teach us to know and love him  so that we too can become  capable of true love  and be the fountains of living water  in the midst of a thirsting world.  ( Deus Caritas Est , No. 42, December 25, 2005).

Our Lady of Fatima is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1917, Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. They were Lucia Santos, Blessed Jacinta Marto and Blessed Francisco Marto. Our Lady appeared to the children seven times and performed a miracle making the sun dance in the sky, which thousands of people witnessed. She told the children to say the Rosary every day to bring peace to the world and the end of war. This is why Our Lady of Fatima is also called Our Lady of the Rosary. She also requested us to pray the following prayer at the end of each mystery or decade of the Rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.” Novena Prayer to Our Lady of Fatima O Most Holy Virgin Mary, you came to Fatima to reveal the graces that come from praying the Holy Rosary to three little shepherd children. Inspire us with a sincere love of this devotion so t

His Holiness, Pope Francis, has approved the second miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima.The canonization Mass will be celebrated on May 13th, when the pope visits Portugal in honor of the 100th anniversary of the apparitions. Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto are the youngest non-martyrs to be beatified in the Church's history. Below is an earlier post about their witness. ___________________________________________________ Between May 13, and October 13, 1917, three children, Portuguese shepherds from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was enduring political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded religious organizations soon after. At the first appearance, Mary asked the children

February 20th, dioceses in Portugal celebrate the feast of Blesseds Francisco, 11, and Jacinta, 10, the youngest non-martyrs to be beatified in the Church's history. The brother and sister, who tended their families’ sheep herds together with their cousin Lucia Santo in Fatima, Portugal, witnessed apparitions of Mary, known as Our Lady of Fatima. Our Lady urged man to pray the rosary and to return to God. Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three children, Portuguese shepherds from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was in political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded religious organizations soon after. At the first appearance, Mary asked the children to return to that spot on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months. She also asked them to learn to read and write and to pray

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned the month of August to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin's Immaculate Heart. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person and is the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion inspires a similar love and virtue to grow within us. This devotion received new emphasis from the visions given to Sister Lucia, the oldest of the visionaries of Fatima, in her convent in Pontevedra, and later, Tuy, Spain, between 1925 and 1930. In the visions Our Lady asked for the practice of the Five First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses committed against her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. On December 10, 1925, Mary appeared along with the Child Jesus to Lucia. The Holy Virgin showed Lucia Our Lady's heart surrounded by thorns. At that, the Christ Child said: "Have compassion on the

Given the rise in popularity of the occult and satanic worship, the following is intended as a cautionary illustration of the inherent danger in opening a pathway for evil to enter the world. The individuals mentioned are not responsible for the actions of the Third Reich. Kristallnacht, the Holocaust and World War II had numerous antecedents. Nonetheless, did a séance the day of Kristallnacht make Nazi atrocities even worse? In the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation we renounce Satan and all his works, and profess our faith in Christ and in the Church. Sacred Scripture speaks of God’s protection and power over Satan. The first letter of John testifies that as children of God, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, the evil one cannot touch us. But it also states that "the whole world is under the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:18-20). Chapter 12 in the Book of Revelation tells how the angel Lucifer rebelled against God. In the ensuing battle, one third of the angels in

The Blessed Virgin Mary is venerated under this title following apparitions to three shepherd children, Lúcia, Jacinta and Francisco, in Portugal in 1917. The message of Fatima includes a call to conversion of heart, repentance from sin and a dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially through her immaculate heart. This optional memorial is new to the United States' liturgical calendar and occurs on May 13. The appearance of our Lady to the children at Fatima is an event of great consequence. Our Lady's warnings are those of a mother spoken out of love for her children. In these visitations, Mary urges humanity to reject sin and to pray unceasingly. Our Lady extolled the power of the daily Rosary for conversion and repentance. She told Lúcia, Jacinta and Francisco that many people go to Hell because they have no one to pray or make sacrifices on their behalf. She then showed the children a glimpse of Hell which Sr. Lúcia describes in her book, Memoirs : [Mary] open

Via the World Apostolate of Fatima USA . The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue (IPVS) of Fatima was sculpted in 1947 by famous sculptor José Thedim. The image reflects the precise instructions of Sister Lucia (the surviving seer at Fatima). Her desire was that the pilgrim image represent Our Lady’s position when she revealed herself as the Immaculate Heart to the Shepherds in 1917. So many miracles and signal graces have been reported wherever the statue has traveled that, in 1951, Pope Pius XII remarked: " In 1946, we crowned Our Lady of Fatima as Queen of the World and the next year, through Her Pilgrim Statue, She set forth as though to claim Her dominion, and the favors She performs along the way are such that we can hardly believe what we are seeing with our eyes ." The tour begins during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The Fatima message and Our Lady’s warnings of great evils that marked the 20th Century — WWII, famine, persecution of the Church, much suffering

The two most consequential apparitions in the twentieth century were the appearance of our Lady to the children at Fatima and that of our Lord to Saint Faustina. In these visitations, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ urge humanity to reject sin and to pray unceasingly. Our Lady extolled the power of the daily Rosary for conversion and repentance. Our Lord taught Sister Faustina the Divine Mercy Chaplet to call upon God's mercy – especially for sinners and those near death. God's message to us is unmistakable: Life is tenuous. The time for mercy and forgiveness is now. When Christ comes again, at the end of history, it will be as a just judge who separates the good from the wicked. The righteous will experience the Beatific Vision in Heaven. The lost will burn forever in the unquenchable fire that is Hell. Since many today deny Hell's existence, it is worth remembering that during these apparitions, both Sister Lucy and St. Faustina witnessed Hell first hand

The Immaculate Heart of Mary, also known as the Sacred Heart of Mary, is a devotion of Roman Catholics that venerates Mary’s maternal love for her Son, Jesus Christ, and her compassion and love for all people. The Immaculate Heart has also been involved in Marian apparitions such as those to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830. On the Miraculous Medal, the Immaculate Heart is pierced by a sword. The Sacred Heart of Jesus also appears on the medal, next to the Immaculate Heart, but is crowned with thorns, rather than being pierced by a sword. The M on the medal signifies the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was being crucified. Our Lady of Fátima asked that, in reparation for sins committed against her Immaculate Heart, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months the Catholic: Go to Confession (within 8 days before or after the first Saturday) Receive Holy Communion Recite five decades of the Rosary Keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen m

We would be remiss if we did not dedicate a post in this month of Mary to discussing the events at Fátima which commenced on May 13, 1917. Our Lady of Fátima is the title given to the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto. The title Our Lady of the Rosary is also sometimes used to referr to the same apparition (although it was first used in 1208 for the reported apparition in the church of Prouille), because the children related that the apparition specifically identified herself as "the Lady of the Rosary." Lúcia described seeing the lady as "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun." According to Lúcia's account, the lady confided