February 2018
“Devotion to the Heart of Mary Will Save the World”
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira.
Our Lady appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, and gave them messages for the world. The seers affirmed these apparitions were to be made known to the Holy Father, the Sacred Hierarchy, and to all Christendom. Thus, either the proofs are clear, certain, and conclusive, rendering the apparitions worthy of credit, or the proofs are doubtful, confusing, debatable, and the messages false. If Our Lady wanted to make her message known to the world, she would not fail to arrange the events so as to supply mankind with reasonable motives to believe the message’s authenticity— and she did.
Therefore, if the proofs are certain and the messages are authentic, we cannot fail to attach the greatest importance to what they contain. If Our Lady really spoke to us through the seers, we must attach the highest regard to her words, meditate on them, and through diligent analysis, draw the utmost from their meaning. On the other hand, if the proofs are uncertain, we had better not waste a second on the subject. Just as one cannot “somewhat believe” the messages, so also one cannot merely attribute “some importance” to their contents.
The Gravity of the World Situation According to the Fatima Message Our Lady spoke to the world. She described the situation as extremely grave, pointed out mankind’s frightening moral decadence as the cause of this situation, and threatened us with terrible earthly punishments—a new war, the spread of the errors of Communism, persecutions of the Church, and what is a thousand times worse, eternal punishment if we fail to amend, and she then prescribed the necessary means for us to avoid all these punishments. Despite some happy-go-lucky optimists who close their eyes to reality and say that our world of doubt, naturalism, moral laxity and worship of earthly pleasures is in accordance with God, we must believe the contrary—because the contrary is what Our Lady tells us. Some evolutionist sociologists delight in saying today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will necessarily be better than today. However, Our Lady affirms that reality is altogether different: To-
morrow will be better than today only if we amend our lives and do penance. Otherwise, no matter how much material progress is made in the realms of medicine, finance, entertainment and personal comfort, we are marching toward a huge universal collapse.
word about all these means of action. How to explain this mystery? And how to explain that the popes have recommended unceasingly that which Our Lady was silent about? Are the Fatima messages in contradiction with papal guidelines?
Unfortunately, many optimistic theologians also try to create a nice atmosphere by claiming that hardly anyone is ever condemned to Hell. However, Our Lady teaches the opposite, not only with words but with an invincible, concrete argument: She showed Hell to the terrified little shepherds so they can tell the world what they have seen. And we should rather believe Our Lady than a wishy-washy theologian.
The popes untiringly recommend using all natural and legitimate means to promote the social kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ. However, in countless documents the popes also show that natural means would be useless without a continuous life of piety, mortification, and sacrifice. The soldiers of Christ must constantly bear in mind that the natural means must be channels for the grace of God; and that an apostle, whether a cleric or a lay person, must himself be a reservoir of the graces that must vivify his works.
Supernatural Life Is the True Solution Our Lady points out prayer, penance and amendment of one’s life as fundamental remedies for the contemporary world. According to her, on these three spiritual measures hinge the maintenance of world peace, the preservation of the West against communist propaganda, and the very survival of civilization. This could shock many incautious Catholics who place all their hopes in human resources such as seminaries, universities, newspapers, magazines, bookstores, movie theatres, works of charity and social assistance. Through this concept, everything is reduced to the material realm. De-Christianisation, they would argue, is caused by a lack of resources and means of action to promote the Faith. The day we remedy this insufficiency we will have overcome de-Christianisation. However, Our Lady appears in Fatima and does not utter a 2
In other words, the popes have unceasingly promoted the essential theses in Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard’s book, The Soul of the Apostolate, and these are the same principles that Our Lady teaches us at Fatima. Far from discouraging us from dedicating ourselves entirely to apostolic works, the Holy Virgin nevertheless repeats the teaching of Our Lord in Bethany: One must live in close union with God, because everything emanates from this union, and without it even the best and most useful and opportune works remain sterile.
A Nation’s Guardian Angel Let us now quickly review other aspects of the Fatima messages. The apparition of the Angel of Portugal reminds us of Church doctrine, that each nation has its own guardian angel. There was a
time when nations had a special devotion to their guardian angels, invoking him in their tribulations and especially in the struggle to maintain their people within the fold of the Church. Have we thought about this? Do we honour our own country’s guardian angel?
Love and Fear of God The angel prayed in the presence of the shepherds who were bowed to the ground. It is an example we should imitate. In our prayers, we must be confiding, intimate, and filial. We should not forget that true filial piety does not exclude the most profound respect. This is another point in which the Fatima revelations contain precious teachings for modern man. By dint of talking constantly about democracy, at times we tend to introduce an egalitarian “tone” even in our relations with God.
A Devotion That Liturgists Combat A certain liturgist mindset inside the Church for years turned Catholics against certain devotions, including worshipping the Most Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass and reciting the holy rosary. Still, these two devotions are strongly recommended at Fatima. To God, nothing is impossible, and had He so pleased, the three little shepherds could have been transported to some place where the Holy Sacrifice was being celebrated so they could receive Holy Communion. Yet Providence determined that an angel give them Holy Communion. If worshipping the Blessed Sacrament “extra Missam” was in any way opposed to the true manner of understanding the Real Presence, Divine Providence would not have decided that the angel’s Eucharistic adoration and the First Communion of the little shepherds take place the way it actually did. As for recitation of the holy rosary, it could hardly have been recommended with greater insistence. “I am the Lady of the Rosary,” revealed the Blessed Virgin at the last apparition. And in nearly all apparitions she insisted on that devotion with the little shepherds. Fortunately, both devotions are returning today by popular demand.
Devotions That Liturgists Seek to Erase from People’s Hearts Fatima also teaches with great insistence, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which also has been cast aside by a certain style
of spirituality. All theologians have considered devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus one of the most precious graces comforting the Church over the last few centuries. It was destined to rekindle in men the love of God, numbed by the naturalism of the Renaissance and the errors of Protestants, Jansenists, deists and rationalists. It was through this devotion that, in the nineteenth century, the Apostolate of Prayer produced an admirable re-flourishing of religious life around the world, and since the evils from which the Sacred Heart of Jesus must preserve us grow daily, obviously the need for this incomparable devotion grows accordingly. Nevertheless, one must add that in the present aggravation of contemporary evils, Divine Providence, so to speak, wanted to outdo itself by pointing out to men the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which in a certain way refines the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and takes it to its fullness. Studies about, and devotion to, the Heart of Mary are not new. However, a simple reading of the Fatima messages shows how insistently Our Lady wants this devotion for our days. The mission she entrusted to Sister Lucia was especially to remain on earth to attract men’s hearts to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. During the visions, this devotion is often commended. At the second apparition, this Most Holy Heart appears crowned with thorns by our sins and asking for prayers of reparation on the part of mankind. It seems to us that this point, as it were,
contains in itself all the treasures of the Fatima messages. *
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Thus, on the whole, the Fatima apparitions on the one hand instruct us about the terrible gravity of the world situation and about the true causes of our evils, and on the other hand, they teach us the means by which we must avoid the earthly and eternal punishments that await us. To people in antiquity, God sent the prophets. In our days, He spoke to us through the Queen of Prophets herself. Having thus studied what Our Lady said, what can we say? The only suitable words are those of Our Lord in the Gospel: If any man has ears to hear, let him hear (Mark 4:23). The preceding article was originally published in Catolicismo, No. 30, in June, 1953. It has been translated and adapted for publication without the author’s revision. – Ed.
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Activities
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Youth Apostolate
Public Demonstrations
In August we hosted a summer camp for boys at Carne Centre, Co. Wexford. Almost twenty boys attended, some from as far away as Poland. As a follow-up to the summer camp we send out a bi-monthly Call to Chivalry Bulletin for boys. This bulletin covers topics from Our Lady, the saints, Catholic heroes, to history and Catholic doctrine. Earlier in the year, we held two Call to Chivalry one day events for young men. The events included outdoor games and lectures on Catholic heroes and history. A Catholic Ladies Day for mothers and daughters was held to help mothers instil refined manners in their children. Refinement is both a fruit of and an aid to the practice of the Catholic faith. When ladies keep social graces alive at home, at school, and at work, it helps keep the faith alive among their families and in society.
During the year, volunteers of Irish Society for Christian Civilisation have taken to the streets on various issues. For instance, from May to October on the Saturday closest to the 13th, volunteers held Public Rosary Rallies on O’Connell Street, Dublin. These rallies were regularly attended by between 100 and 200 people, leaving their mark on passersby. These Rallies have been so successful that several friends and supporters of Irish Society for Christian Civilisation have started rallies, thus attracting God’s blessing on their own home towns. In July, volunteers distributed leaflets on the Message of Fatima. In the same month, bagpipers of Irish Society for Christian Civilisation played at the Rally for Life in Dublin as well as the St. Oliver Plunkett Parade in Drogheda. In November, volunteers of Irish Society for Christian Civilisation participated in the nationwide Rosary on the Coast in various locations around the country.
in 2017 Fatima Home Visits
Conferences
A Fatima Home Visit includes an audio-visual presentation about the apparitions of Our Lady, a short lecture on Fatima, and the recitation of the Rosary. Some of our volunteers will dedicate time every month to these visits.
In 2017, volunteers attended and organised many conferences throughout the country. We had tables to promote our publications at both the Divine Mercy Conference held in Dublin in February and at the Catholic Voice Conference in Limerick in November. In November, a lecture on the Errors of Russia was given at the Catholic Central Library, Dublin, by one of our members, JosĂŠ Antonio Ureta.
International Activities
The war against the Holy Catholic Church and the family is worldwide, so volunteers of Irish Society for Christian Civilisation cooperate with like-minded organisations in Europe to defend Church and family. In May for example, volunteers attended the March for Life in Rome. In June, volunteers again flew to Europe, this time to The Netherlands, to help promote natural marriage. In July three volunteers helped with an international summer camp for boys in France. In August, several Irish students along with Irish Society for Christian Civilisation volunteers travelled to Poland to attend an annual International Student Conference. Over a hundred students from all over the world, eager to learn how to defend their Faith, participated in the conference.
Catholic Literature and Articles Distributed by Post Here are just some of the items that were useful in spreading devotion to Our Lady. Irish Society for Christian Civilisation was able to distribute over 20,000 Fatima Centenary Calendars all over Ireland. In May, over 9,600 Centenary key rings were posted. And in September 8,000 Fatima Centenary Rosaries were distributed. Numbers, of course, do not tell everything, but they do tend to indicate that devotion to Our Lady is constant if not growing in Ireland.
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Ambiences, Customs and Civilisations
Painting the Human Soul
Catolicismo, May 1951 (*)
By Professor Plinio Correa de Oliveira
One of the most frequent tendencies in the artists whose work might be considered typical of the twentieth century is the deformation of man. Fleeing from copying reality with the form habitually seen by the human eye, they represent it with alterations aimed at manifesting its deeper aspect. Theoretically there is nothing wrong with that. However, it is noteworthy that when they alter how men normally appear, many of the most typically modern artists actually deform the human form almost to the point of hideousness. Thus it is not difficult to find perfectly conical human figures in modern canvases; a tiny head, shoulders a little wider than the head, waist much broader than the shoulders, legs that appear to grow up to the ankles that are joined to literally immense feet. Other sculptures will show necks that are not merely very large but deformed, showing in one or another point of alarmingly enlarged thyroid glands. In a word, if some magician appeared to any normally sensible man and offered him a potion to transform his body into a typical figure of modern art, his offer would receive an energetic and immediate refusal. This obsession with the deformed, the ugly, or even the hideous has reached the limits of the inconceivable in certain artistic works. Look, for example, at the picture labeled “Our Image� that we publish here. It is the moral figure of the human race as a typically ultramodern artist would chose to represent it. Nobody denies that there are terrible moral and physical deformities in the universe and that it may be licit for an artist to represent them as long as that does not give rise to an offense against morals. However, it is an erroneous position to paint only horror. It is wrong to neither paint nor sculpt except to deform. Such artists act as if the universe 6
were nothing but a receptacle of ignominies. This is an indisputably false and dangerous conception not only of men but of the world. At the root of this tendency for the hideous is a desperate and blasphemous vision of the creation which is a work of God. Paintings and sculptures made under the influence of that vision deform the soul. Ambiences impregnated with this state of spirit can only degrade man. They extinguish all the movements of the intelligence and will toward a truly noble, pure and elevated ideal.
Richelieu by Phillippe de Champaigne We present here by way of contrast a picture representing a man in his maturity taken from among the immense number of artistic works of past centuries. It represents much more than the physical aspect of this man, his state of spirit or his moral make up. It is Richelieu painted from three different angles by Phillippe de Champaigne. All the qualities and defects of this grand statesman are reflected in this admirable study in which the human soul is portrayed in what is most intimate, lively and subtle. The artist does not have to resort for this end to deformations that degrade human nature itself. _________________________ (Catolicismo, September 1951 – (*) The preceding articlehas been translated and adapted for publication without the author’s revision. – Irish Society for Christian Civlisation)*** _________________________
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Our Readers Write “I received your most beautiful calendar this morning. Many thanks. I have it hanging in the hall and everyone who enters my home will see it. I hope my grandchildren will see it and like it and start asking questions about it. Again, thanks so much.” HR, Co. Limerick
“Thank you for the very interesting book on the Miracle of the Sun. If you never believed in God before, you would have to believe after reading the book on the wonderful Miracle of the Sun.” MMcG, Co Wicklow
“I was thinking of ye all during Christmas and all the kindness you showed to us last year and at least feel ye deserve to be thanked and prayed for.” RML, Co. Mayo
“I just want to thank you for your gift of the Fatima Centenary Rosary....I will use it when praying the Rosary.... The Rosary is a very powerful prayer that everyone should say with the World being a better place as a result.” LO’M, Co. Limerick
Upcoming/Ongoing Events Fatima Home Visits. For the last number of months two Ireland Needs Fatima custodians have been traveling throughout Ireland visiting homes with a Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Each visit features a presentation on the 1917 miraculous Fatima apparitions, followed by a group Rosary. Our custodians also display a wide selection of fine religious articles, such as rosaries, medals and books. If you would like this Statue of Our Lady to visit you home please contact our office on 01-8429640 or visit our website www.isfcc. ****************************************************************************************************
Call To Chivalry, Summer Camp.
2018’s Call to Chivalry, Fathers and Sons, Summer Camp will be held in County Waterford from July 2nd to July 9th. If you would like additional information or are interested in attending the Summer Camp please contact our office on 01-8429640 or visit our website www.isfcc. Booking essential.
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Ireland Needs Fatima Newsletter is published by Irish Society for Christian Civilisation Talbot Hall, P.O. Box 9701, Swords, Co. Dublin Tel/Fax: 01-842 9640 – www.isfcc.org The Ireland Needs Fatima Newsletter is free of charge, although any donations sent to help defray the cost of producing it will be welcome. Ireland Needs Fatima is a special project of Irish Society for Christian Civilisation, which is a charity registered as a company limited by guarantee. Registration Number 381474. Directors: P.Folley, M. Murphy. Secretary: R. M. O’Hanlon. Charity Number: CHY 20680. Registered Charity Number: CRA 20082277