Apparitions
of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima (1917)
Detailed Chronology of Key Events
As Reported by Church Authorities (1)
and... With Confirming
Historical Annotations
INTRODUCTION
[Added on January 12, 2008] We have acquired a rare publication (2)
with the
original chronicles of the very early Fátima events as well as
the photocopies of many —unpublished elsewhere— letters from
Lucía. With this historical 400+ page book we have been able to
add many details to this Chronology, which we had previously published
based on much more recent and heavily edited information.
In the year 1917
What had been the independent Diocese
of Leiria prior to the establishment of a Republican government in
Portugal was now under the administration of the Patriarchate of Lisbon.
In February 1917
Striking workers lead a revolution in
Russia to overthrow the Tsar. A provisional government rules the
country from March through October. Tsar Nicholas II abdicates in
March, and the Bolshevik party of Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky will
seize power in Petrograd in the name of the Soviets, in October 1917.
On May 13, 1917
The first apparition to the three
shepherds - by whom later identified Herself as Our Lady of the Rosary
(the Virgin Mary) - takes place the in Cova da Iria in the parish of
Fátima - Portugal.
On July 13, 1917
The Virgin Mary delivers key messages
not
to be revealed by Lucía until later on:
"To save them [souls of sinners
that are going to hell] (3), 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. ...but
if people do not cease offending God, a worse one [than World War
I] (3) will break out during the pontificate
of Pius XI". [Whole Text, in English and Portuguese, may be
seen as Item A in ATTACHMENT II (4)]
"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;..." [Whole
Text, in English and Portuguese, may be seen as Item B in ATTACHMENT II
(4)]
On October 13, 1917
A series of obviously
supernatural occurrences take place in the Cova da Iria [henceforth
referred to as Fátima]. Many of the key occurrences were
confirmed and witnessed by fifty to seventy thousand people - believers
and non believers alike. Even the secular Portuguese press covered
these events at length.
On November 3, 1917
The Governor of the Lisbon
Patriarchate, Archbishop D. João Evangelista de Lima Vidal, in
response to a request from the then Fátima parish priest, R.P.
Manuel Marques Ferreira, ordered that a thorough inquiry be conducted
about the most unusual events which culminated on the 13th of the prior
month.
The inquiry was immediately begun. It was completed and turned over to
Archbishop D. João Evangelista de Lima Vidal about a year and a
half later, on April 28, 1919. Under Church law, the Archbishop had the
right to investigate these events and rule on their authenticity.
On January 17, 1918
A little over two months later the
Diocese of Leiria was re established.
The M+G+R
Foundation Comments
Obviously the Vatican recognized the
Ecclesiastical importance and
reality of the 1917 events in
Fátima within less than a year after they began; even before the
completion of the official inquiry.
In 1918:
Lenin moves his government to Moscow.
The new Russia signs the treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March
1918, ending Russia's participation in World War I. Tsar Nicholas and
his entire family are executed by the Bolsheviks at about midnight July
16/17. [Feast of Mary, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. (4)]
During 1918-21
Russian civil war between the
Bolsheviks, known as the Reds, and the monarchists and their allies,
known as the Whites.
On August 5, 1920
The Bishop of the newly re established
Diocese of Leiria, D. José Alves Correia da Silva, assumes the
reins of the Diocese.
In October, 1921
The Bishop of the Leiria Diocese
authorizes open air masses in the location of the apparitions for the
benefit of the ever increasing stream of pilgrims visiting the area. By
this time he had already purchased over 125,000 square meters of the
Cova da Iria for the future Sanctuary complex.
The M+G+R
Foundation Comments
There could not have been a stronger
unofficial acknowledgment of the 1917 events in Cova da Iria than that
given by the positive actions of the Ecclesiastical authorities.
Also in 1921
The Russian communists (Reds) win the
civil war. Lenin crushes his opponents, inside and outside the Party.
Russian Orthodox Church property is confiscated and religion is
officially prohibited outside the home.
In 1922
The Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics is formed.
On May 3, 1922
The Diocesan Canonical Process to
formally investigate the details of the Fátima events commenced.
The M+G+R
Foundation Comments
This is done to officially acknowledge
what has already been de-facto approved - see the above listing of
Ecclesiastical approved events.
On October 13, 1922
With the approval, and under the
supervision, of the Ecclesiastic authorities, the first issue of "Voz
da Fátima" - the still current official Sanctuary news
publication - was published. 3,000 copies were printed.
The M+G+R
Foundation Comments
As the reader may see, by the year
1922 the Fátima events were no secret to the Church authorities
in Portugal nor in Rome - who had, de-facto, approved them through the
related organized and endorsed public religious events.
However, they were completely
ignorant to the heavenly requests which
were to be made known to some Church authorities by Lucía in the
years 1925 and 1930.
On December 10, 1925
The Virgin Mary clearly specified to
Lucía the terms of the devotion/reparation to Her Immaculate
Heart; to wit:
"...all those who, on the first
Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy
Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for
fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the
Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."
In 1924 and 1926
The Canonical erection of the Pious
Union
of Servites of Our Lady yielded four distinct support groups for the
budding Sanctuary:
1. Priests to provide Spiritual
Assistance
2. Physicians to assist the visiting sick
3. The Servites of Our Lady, to transport the sick and to keep order in
the Sanctuary
4. Nurses in the Servites of Our Lady, to assist the sick and oversee
the other services.
In 1926, also with the required Episcopal
approval, the first edition of 10,000 copies of the Fátima
Pilgrim's Manual saw the light of day.
The M+G+R
Foundation Comments
How can there be a any doubt that the
Vatican officials - Pope Pius XI included - had been kept abreast about
the events at Fátima?
However, they were still ignorant
about the two key requests: The acts
of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Consecration of
Russia to Her Immaculate Heart.
On February 15, 1926
Jesus appeared to Lucia to talk with
her
about the spread of the requested devotion to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary.
On June 26, 1927
The Bishop, D. José Alves
Correia da Silva, for the first time in Fátima publicly
officiated at a formal religious act of great significance: The
inauguration of the original Stations of the Cross. However, nothing
was done about the requested devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
On December 17, 1927
In an apparition Jesus told
Lucía:
"My daughter, write what they ask
of you. Write also all that the most holy Virgin revealed to you in the
Apparition, in which She spoke of this devotion [Jesus wishes to
make use of you to make Me known and loved. He wants to establish in
the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.] (4) As
for the remainder of the Secret, continue to keep silence."
On May 13, 1928
As part of the National Pilgrimage
celebrations - the largest yet - the Archbishop of Evora, D. Manuel
Mendes da Conceição Santos blessed and placed the
first stone of the new Basilica.
In 1928
Joseph Stalin comes to full power in
the
Soviet Union. An oppressive security regime is put in place, including
massive Party purges, arrests, deportations, imprisonment, and
execution of "enemies of the people" and "counter-revolutionaries".
This continues until Stalin's death in 1953 .
The M+G+R
Foundation Comments
Heaven was now ready to request the
Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary - "How could
they refuse now", God may have
reasoned, "Its necessity could
not be made any clearer".
On June 13, 1929
The Virgin Mary appeared to Lucia at
her convent in Tuy, Spain, regarding the Consecration of Russia:
"The moment has come in which God
asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops of the world, to
make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to
save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God
condemns for sins committed against me, that I have come to ask
reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray." [Original
Text, in English and Portuguese, may be seen as Item C in ATTACHMENT II
(4)]
Unfortunately, as Lucía wrote to
Rev. P. Gonçalves on October 28, 1934, that she forgot to again
remind the Bishop of Leiria about this request during her contact with
him in the second half of the year 1934. About four years after Heaven
requested it!
We have a photo copy of the original of
that letter in her own hand writing.
'Later' the Virgin Mary
(5)
complained to Lucia regarding the consecration:
"They did not wish to heed my
request. Like the King of France, (6) they
will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already
spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars, and
persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer."
[Original Text, in English and Portuguese, may be seen as Item D
in ATTACHMENT II (4)]
The definition of "later" is established through a letter from Lucia to
Rev. Gonçalves
(7) dated January 21,
1935, wherein she states: "
Three years ago Our Lord was very unhappy
because His request (about the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary) was not fulfilled. I made that known to the Bishop in a
letter."
"Three years ago" would place the date signified by "later" in the year
1931. We have not been able to find a copy of the referenced to letter
Lucia wrote to the Bishop, however, other sources have placed the exact
date at August 1931. Although we cannot vouch for the other sources,
the date that they claim such letter was written to the Bishop is
coherent with all else; therefore, we will accept it as valid.
According to Lucía's letter to Pius XII dated December 2nd,
1940, her confessor, Rev. Gonçalves
(*),
did what he was able to do that the information would reach the hands
of Pius XI yet we have no confirmation that it did and, if it reached
him, what was Pius XI reaction. What we do know was that in 1929 Pius
XI was in the proverbial honeymoon with Mussolini
(**).
(*) The first confession took place
on May 19th, 1929. It
is safe to assume that Lucía informed him sometime after the
first confession took place.
By the end of 1929
The Pastoral Letter that was published
by
Bishop D. José Alves Correia Da Silva solemnly declared that the
Apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima from May 13 to October 13,
1917, were worthy of belief. In this letter, the Bishop officially
approved the cult of Our Lady of Fátima.
The M+G+R
Foundation Comments
This Pastoral Letter was just a
technicality if one considers all the official Ecclesiastically
endorsed situations/events/publications which occurred prior to this
date. Yet, one of Heaven's central request through Jesus and
Mary - the establishment of the First Five Saturdays of Reparation to
Her Immaculate Heart - was
ignored.
On March 11, 1931
The Vatican enriched the Pious Union
erected in 1924-26 with many indulgences.
On May 13, 1932
The Apostolic Nuncio
(8)
in Lisbon presided the events associated with the National Pilgrimage
to Fátima. His opening words, as he officially described the
event on May 15th, tell us:
"I must sincerely confess that I
have never witnessed such spectacle as I did on the thirteenth of this
month in Fátima".
A description which he closed with:
"Fátima is a true blessing
for Portugal. I am convinced that Mary will always protect this
Nation.... and will save it from the great dangers which threaten the
whole of society."
The M+G+R
Foundation Comments
The rest is history. World War II
started on September 1st, 1939. By the end, the direct and indirect
death toll was one hundred million
(9) people,
whose blood is upon the relevant bureaucracy of the Roman Catholic
Church. By their negligence and disobedience, the controlling Roman
Catholic Church relevant Hierarchical Administrators became accessories
to the fact of the greatest holocaust
yet known to man - World
War
II.
It is as simple as this:
Lenin and Hitler were indeed evil and
were going to be allowed, by Heaven, to punish mankind for its many
crimes. Heaven, through the Apparitions of the Virgin Mary, provided
the antidote to neutralize the actions of these tyrants. The
controlling Roman Catholic Church relevant Hierarchical Administration
consumed in their bureaucratic confusion failed to act in a timely
manner in accordance to Heaven's request, thus, Lenin and Hitler were
turned loose upon humanity - without restraint.
Thus we ask:
Who is mostly to blame for World War
II and the spread of errors by Russia? The Virgin Mary gave us a
partial answer to that question:
"They did not wish to heed my
request. Like the King of France (6), they
will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already
spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars, and
persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer."
Who can accuse God of injustice when He razes to the ground the
physical empire of the Roman Catholic Church? He originally established
the Church to spread the Good News of Salvation to mankind, but it
became a den of thieves, and prostituted itself with the princes of the
Earth - a perfect image of the Biblical Babylon spoken about in St.
John's Book of Revelations.
In spite of that, Ratzinger a.k.a. Benedict XVI, the blasphemer, had
the audacity to ask
"Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could
you tolerate all this?" while visiting Auschwitz in Poland in May
2006.
(10)
Regarding the Church Administration's defiance and disregard of the
clear
and timely instructions that Heaven gave them through
Fátima, we have yet to see how the magnitude of the final
"invoice" presented to them by God.
May God have Mercy on them!
NOTES
(1) All quotations are taken
from "FÁTIMA in
Lucia's own words" published by the Postulation Centre in
Fátima, Portugal with its "Approval to Publish" granted at
Fátima on May 13, 1976 by the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Don
Alberto Cosme Almaral. This English translation is backed up by the
original version in Portuguese "Memórias da Irmä
Lúcia", 6th Edition. Imprimatur granted on May 13, 1990 by the
same Bishop.
(2) Nossa Senhora da
Fátima -
Aparições, Culto, Milagres, by Luis G. da Fonseca,
S.J., Professor no Pontificio Instituto Biblico (Roma), 2nd Edition,
Livraria Apostolado da Imprensa, Porto, 1947
(3) Commentaries in brackets, [
], added to clarify the text
since the entire quotation was not transcribed.
(4) Photocopies of documents
cited may be found in
http://www.mgr.org/attach2.html
Attachment
II
(5) In the original Portuguese
version it states that it was
"Nossa Senhora" (the Virgin Mary) but in the English translation it was
changed into "Our Lord".
(6) The "King of France" is an
allusion to a message given by
Christ in June of 1689 to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, calling upon
Louis XIV to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This was
not done in timely fashion - and France began its move toward the
Revolution, which began 100 years later.
(7) documentos FATIMA by
António Maria Martins,
S.J., Porto, 1976, p 415
(8) The Apostolic Nuncio is the
equivalent of the Ambassador of
the Vatican in Portugal. His name was: João Beda Cardinale
(9) 50 million directly
associated with World War II and the
remaining 50 million caused by the communist domination in Russia and
the spread of its errors worldwide.
En Español: Apariciones de
Fátima (1917) - Cronología detallada de acontecimientos clave
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