St. George

St. George (Romanized: Georgios), a.k.a. George of Lydda, was a Christian martyr. He’s venerated as a saint. He was born in the late 3rd century (circa 270-281 AD) in Cappadocia in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), to Christian parents of noble Greek descent.

According to tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. He became a soldier in the Roman army. He became a soldier after his dad passed away. He became a Tribunus (a high-ranking officer). He eventually became a member of the Diocletian at Nicomedia.

But he was later executed, as part of the Diocletianic Persecution. In 303 AD, Diocletian issued an edict allowing the persecution of Christians. George was ordered to renounce his faith & offer sacrifices to the Roman gods. He refused. He also tore up the emperor’s edict.

He was beheaded on April 23, 303 AD. His courage was so admired (in some traditions) that it led to Empress Alxandra of Rome to be martyred also.

He’s 1 of the most venerated saints, heroes, & megalomartyrs in Christianity. He has been especially venerated as a military saint since the Crusades. He’s also prominently venerated by the Druze (& by some Muslim groups) as a martyr of monotheistic faith.

In hagiography, he was immortalized in the legend(s) of St. George & the dragon & as 1 of the most prominent military saints. In a famous tale of George rescuing a princess from a dragon in Silene (Libya) 1st appeared in Georgian texts in the 11th century.

It was popularized in the West by the Lombardic “Golden Legend” in the 13th century. In religious iconography, the dragon represents the devil or Paganism, & the princess represents the Church.

In Roman Catholicism, he is also venerated as 1 of the 14 Holy Helpers. His feast day, St. George’s Day, is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The Church of St. George in Lydda (now Lod, Israel) has a sarcophagus traditionally believed to contain George’s relics.

According to tradition, a fierce dragon was causing panic in the city of Silene in Libya when our guy George arrived there. To keep the creature from ravaging the city, the inhabitants gave it 2 sheep each day. But when the sheep were no longer enough, they were forced to sacrifice people chosen by the townesfolk themselves.

Eventually, the king’s daughter was selected, & no one was willing to take her place. Georger saved her by slaying the dragon with a lance. The king was so grateful that he offered George treasures as a reward for saving his daughter’s life.

But George refused & urged him to give to the poor instead. The townspeople were so astonished by what they saw that they all became Christians & were baptised.

George (In Arabic, Jirjis or Girgus) is included in some Muslim texts as a prophetic figure. The Islamic sources state that he loved a group of believers who were in direct contact with the last apostles of Jesus. He was described as a rich merchant who opposed Dadan, the king of Mosul, in his reaction to Apollo’s stature.

After confronting the king, George was tortured many times to 0 effect, was imprisoned, & was aided, allegedly, by angels. Eventually, he was exposed to the fact that the idols were possessed by Satan. But was martyred when the city was destroyed by God in a rain of fire. (This is giving serious Sodom & Gomorrah vibes.)

According to Muslim legends, he was martyred under the rule of Diocletian & was killed 3x. But was resurrected every time. The legend is more developed in the Persian version of al-Tabari, wherein he resurrects the dead, makes trees sprout, & pillars bear flowers.

After 1 of his deaths, the world is covered by darkness, which is lifted only when he’s resurrected. He’s able to convert the queen, but she’s put to death. Then he prays to God to allow him to die, which is granted.

Al-Tah’labi says that George was from Palestine & lived in the times of some disciples of Jesus. He was killed many times by the king of Mosul, & resurrected each time. When the king tried to starve him, he touched a piece of dry wood brought by a woman & turned it green, with varieties of fruits & veggies growing from it. After his 4th death, the city was burnt along with him.

English soldiers under Richard the Lionheart invoked St. George at the Siege of Acre. They brought his “cult” back to Britain, where he replaced Edward the Confessor as the nation’s primary patron because he represented “active” chivalry rather than “passive” monasticism.

In 1348, King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter (the oldest and highest order of chivalry in England), putting it under the patronage of St. George. The current British monarch, King Charles III, is the head of the order today.

In the General Roman Calendar, George’s feast day is on April 23. In the Tridentine calendar of 1568, it was given the rank of “Semi double.” In Pope Pius XII’s calendar, the rand was reduced to “Simple.” In Pope Paul VI’s 1969 revision, it appears as an “optional memorial.”

In some countries, like England, the rank is higher. It’s a Solemnity (Roman Catholic) or Feast (Church of England): if it falls between Palm Sunday & the Second Sunday of Easter inclusive, it’s transferred to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter.

The Russian Orthodox Church also celebrates 2 additional feasts in honor of St. George. One is on November 3, commemorating the consecration of a cathedral dedicated to him in Lydda during the reign of Constantine the Great (305-337). When the church was consecrated, George’s relics were transferred there. The other feast day is on November 26 for a church dedicated to him in Kyiv (or Kiev, Ukraine), circa 1054.

In Bulgaria, St. George’s Day is celebrated on May 6. It’s customary to slaughter & roast a lamb. George’s Day is also a public holiday.

In Serbia & Bosnia & Herzegovina, the Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates St. George on May 6. It’s a common slava (patron saint day) among ethnic Serbs.

In Egypt, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria calls St. George the “Prince of Martyrs.” They celebrate his martyrdom on the 23rd of Paremhat of the Coptic Calendar (equal to May 1). The Copts also celebrate the consecration of the 1st church dedicated to him on the 7th of the month of Hatour of the Coptic calendar (equal to November 17).

George is the patron saint of England. His cross forms the national flag of England. By the 14th century, he was declared both the patron saint & protector of the British royal family. He’s also the patron saint of Georgia (the country), Ethiopia, Iberia, Russia, & Bulgaria.

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14 Holy Helpers

In German: Vierzehn Nothelfer. In Latin: Quattuordecim auxiliatores.

These are a group of saints venerated together by Catholics because their intercession is believed to be particularly effective. Especially against various diseases.

This group of Nothelfer (“helpers in need”) started in the 14th century as the first in the Rhineland. Largely as a result of the epidemic (probably of bubonic plague) that became known as the Black Death.

Devotion to the 14 Holy Helpers began in Rhineland (now a part of Germany) in the time of the Black Death. Among the 14 were 3 virgin martyrs. There’s a German mnemonic device to remember the 3 virgins. Their names are: Margaret, Barbara, & Catherine. 13 of the 14 were accounted martyrs (Giles is the exception).

While each has a separate feast day, the 14 Holy Helpers, in some places, are celebrated as a group on August 8th. But the celebration never became part of the General Roman Calendar. When that calendar was revised in 1969, the individual celebrations of St. Barbara, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Christopher, & St. Margaret of Antioch were dropped.

The individual celebrations of all 14 are included in the General Roman Calendar in 1954, the General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII & the General Roman Calendar of 1960.

The 14 saints are:

• Agathius/Acacius – Feast day: May 7. Patron against headaches.
• Barbara – Feast day: December 4. Patron against fever & sudden death, against lightning & fire, against sudden & violent death at work, & patron of builders, artillerymen, & miners.
• Blaise/Blase/Blasius – Feast day: February 3. Patron against illnesses of the throat & for protection of domestic animals.
• Catherine of Alexandria – Feast day: November 25. Patron against sudden death & diseases of the tongue, philosophers, theologians, maidens, female students, preachers, the dying, wheelwrights, mechanics, potters, & other artisans who work with wheels, invoked by students, orators, preachers, & lawyers for wise counsel & for eloquence.
• Christopher/Christophorus – Feast day: July 25. Patron against bubonic plague & dangers while traveling.
• Cyriacus – Feast day: August 8. Patron against temptation on the death-bed, diseases of the eye, & demonic possession.
• Denis/Dionysius – Feast day: October 9. Patron against headache & against demonic possession.
• Erasmus/Elmo – Feast day: June 2. Patron against intestinal ailments, for domestic animals, & sailors.
• Eustace/Eustachius/Eustathuis – Feast day: September 20. Patron against family discord, against fire (temporal & eternal), & the patron of hunters, trappers, & anyone facing trouble.
• George/Georgius – Feast day: April 23. Patron for the health of domestic animals, against herpetic diseases, & the patron of soldiers.
• Giles/Aegidius – Feast day: September 1. Patron against plague, mental illness, & nightmares, for a good confession, & patron of the disabled, beggars, blacksmiths, & breast-feeding moms.
• Margaret of Antioch – Feast day: July 17. Patron of women in childbirth, invoked against backache, & invoked for escape from devils.
• Pantaleon/Panteleimon – Feast day: July 27. Patron of physicians & midwives, invoked for the protection of domestic animals, & invoked against cancer & tuberculosis.
• Vitus/Guy – Feast day: June 15. Patron against epilepsy, lightening, the bites of animals (especially those who were venomous or rabid), storms, & for protection of domestic animals.

Half of the saints are seen as actual historic figures (Blaise, Cyriacus, Erasmus, George, Giles, Pantaleon, & Vitus). While the others may be only legends. While the feasts of several of the 14 Holy Helpers were taken off the General Roman Calendar. None were decanonized, or denied to exist & their feasts are still on certain calendars.

One or another in the original set are sometimes substituted with: Anthony the Anchorite, Leonard of Noblac, Nicolas, Sebastian, Oswald the King, Pope Sixtus II, Apollonia, Dorothea of Caesarea, Wolfgang of Regensburg, or Roch. In France, an “extra” helper is added: the Virgin Mary.

The 14 Holy Helpers are honored in Bavaria as the vierzehn Heiligen. This literally translates to “14 Holy Helpers.”

The Basilica of the Vierzehnheiligen is dedicated to these auxiliary saints. It was built between 1743 & 1772 (29 years).

Devotion to these saints begin in this region on September 24, 1445 when Hermann Leicht, a young shepherd of a nearby Franciscan monastery, saw a crying kid in a field belonging to the nearby Cistercian monastery of Langheim.

As he bent down to pick up the kid, it suddenly vanished. A short time later, the kid reappeared at the same spot. This time, 2 candles were burning next to it.

In June 1446, Leicht saw the kid a 3rd time. This time, the kid wore a red cross on its chest & was accompanied by 13 other kids. The kid said: “We are the 14 helpers & wish to erect a chapel here, where we can rest. If you will be our servant, we will be yours!”

Shortly after, Leicht saw 2 burning candles descending to this spot. It’s alleged that miraculous healings soon began, through the intervention of the 14 saints.

The Cistercian brothers to whom the land belonged erected a chapel, which immediately attracted pilgrims. An altar was consecrated as early as 1448. Pilgrimages to the Vierzehnheiligen continue to the present day between May & October.

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The Assumption of the Virgin Mary

This is 1 of the 4 Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII gave its definition on November 1, 1950 with his apostolic constitution named Munificentissimus Deus as the Assumption of Mary, body & soul, into Heaven. It’s celebrated on August 15th.

Munificentissimus Deus mentions several Holy Fathers, theologians, & Doctor of the Church who held to the Assumption of Mary are: Adrian I, Sergius I, Leo IV, John of Damascus, Amadeus of Lausanne, Modestus of Jerusalem, Anthony of Padua, Albertus Magnus, Thomas of Aquinas, Bonaventure, Bernardino of Siena, Robert Bellarmine, Francis de Sales, Peter Canisius, Francisco Suarez, etc.

It’s debated between theologians, clergy, & laypeople whether Mary actually died or whether she was raised up to eternal life without bodily death.

In Eastern Christianity, they have an equal belief called the Dormition of the Mother of God, or the “Falling Asleep of the Mother of God.” In Lutheran churches, August 15 is celebrated as the Feast of St. Mary. Some Anglican denominations observe August 15 under a variety of names, including the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin or the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In the Passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary, this is credited to Joseph of Arimathea, 1 of the apostles (often pictured as Thomas the Apostle, of Doubting Thomas fame), wasn’t there at the time of Mary’s death. But he gets there late. This brought about a reopening of Mary’s tomb. Only Mary’s grave clothes were found in the empty tomb. Just like her son, Jesus. Subsequently, Mary drops her girdle down to the apostles, from Heaven, as proof of the event happening.

The feast was commanded for Constantinople on August 15 by Emperor Maurice in 600. About 50 years later, it was introduced in Rome & is mentioned in a papal decree of Sergius (687-701), who started a procession for the feast.

Pope Leo IV gave the feast a vigil & an octave to solemnise it above all others. An octave is the 8th day after a church festival, including the day of the festival. Pope Nicholas I placed it on a par with Christmas & Easter. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of the Virgin Mary as a dogma of faith.

In the 12th century, a German nun Elisabeth of Schonau was allegedly granted visions of Mary & Jesus. This had a far-reaching influence on the Western Church’s tradition. In her work Visio de resurrectione beaten Virginia Mariae, she tells how Mary was assumed in body & soul into Heaven.

On May 1, 1950, Gilles Bouhours, who was a Marian seer, reported to Pope Pius XII a supposed message that the Virgin Mary would have ordered him to tell the Pope on the dogma of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary.

It’s said that Pius XII asked God for a sign that could reassure him that the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was ACTUALLY wanted by God. This just happened to be during the Holy Year of 1950.

When Gilles communicated the message to Pius XII, the Pope considered this message the hoped for granted to Gilles by the Pope. Pius XII himself said the dogma of the Assumption of the body & soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.

Some Catholics believe that Mary passed away before being assumed. But they believe that she was miraculously resurrected before being assumed. This is a moralistic interpretation. Others believe she was assumed bodily into Heaven without dying first. This is an immoralistic interpretation. Either interpretation can be held legitimately by Catholics, with Eastern Catholics observing the Feast as the Dormition.

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on August 15th. The Eastern Orthodox & Eastern Catholics celebrated the Dormition of the Mother of God on this date. This is also called the Dormition of the Theotokos, the “falling asleep of the Mother of God. It’s preceded by a 14-day period of fasting.

Eastern Christians believe Mary died a natural death, that he soul was received by Christ upon death, that her body was resurrected after her death, & that she was taken up into a Heaven bodily in anticipation of the general resurrection.

Views differ within Protestantism. They are those with a theology closer to Catholicism sometimes believing in a bodily assumption. Most Protestants don’t believe this.

The Lutheran Church kept the Feast of the Assumption of Mary after the Reformation. They designated August 15th as a lesser festival named “Mary, Mother of Our Lord” or “St. Mary, Mother of our Lord.”

While in Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary is accepted by some & rejected by others. It disappeared from Anglican worship in 1549. It partially returned to Anglo-Catholic tradition during the 20th century under different names.

A Marian feast on August 15th is celebrated by the Church of England as a non-specific feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast is called by the Scottish Episcopal Church it’s a feast called “St. Mary the Virgin.” Other Anglican provinces have a feast of the Dormition. The Anglican Church of Canada’s Book of Common Prayer (1962) marks the day as the “Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

Assumption Day on August 15th is a nationwide public holiday in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chile, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, East Timor, France, Gabon, Greece, Georgia (the country), Republic of Guinea, Haiti, Italy, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of North Macedonia, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Montenegro (Albanian Catholics), Paraguay, Philippines (Maragondon, Cavite), Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, To go, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tahiti, & Vanuatu. It was also in Hungary until 1948.

It’s also a public holiday in parts of Germany (parts of Bavaria & Saarland), Switzerland (in 14 of 26 countries), & Bosnia & Herzegovina. In Guatemala, it is observed in Guatemala City & the town of Santa Maria Nebaj. Both cities claim her as their patron saint. In Costa Rica & parts of Belgium, the day is combined with Mother’s Day.

Prominent Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, & Oriental Orthodox countries in which Assumption Day is an important feast day but isn’t a public holiday recognized by the state include the Czech Republic, Ireland, Mexico, the Philippines, & Russia. In Bulgaria, the Feast of the Assumption is the biggest Eastern Orthodox celebration of the Holy Virgin. In Eastern Orthodox churches following the Julian Calendar, the feast day falls on August 28th.

In the Maronite church, the Assumption of Mary is known as the “Assumption of the Holy Mother of God.” It’s celebrated on August 15th.

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Catherine of Siena

Her birth name is: Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa. She lived from March 25, 1347 to April 29, 2380, making her 33 years old when she passed away. She was an Italian mystics & pious laywoman who took part in papal & Italian politics through sizable letter-writing & advocacy. She was canonized in 1461. She’s revered as a saint & a Doctor of the Church because of her considerable theological authorship.

She was born & raised in Siena. At an early age, she wanted to devote herself to God. Her parents were against this. Her parents wanted her to marry. She ends up cutting her hair. She resisted any attempts to conform.

Her dad relents, eventually. He gives her a room dedicated to prayer & contemplation. She developed the spiritual practice of building an inner cell in her mind. This is a place of constant prayer from which she could never flee. This would become a core tenet of her mystical teaching.

She joined the Mantellates at 18. This was/is a group of pious laywomen informally devoted to Dominican spiritually. Later on, these types of urban pious groups would be formalized as the Third Order of the Dominicans. This wasn’t until after Catherine’s passing. She lived in near solitude initially.

Shortly after joining the Mantellate, Catherine started fasting for longer periods. But she found it challenging. While tending to a woman with cancerous breast sores, she was disgusted. Intending to overcome her disgust, she gathered the sore pus into a ladle & drank it all. (Yep, yep. You read that right.)

That night, she was visited by Jesus who invited her to drink the blood gushing out of his pierced side. It was with this visitation that her stomach “no longer had need of food and no longer could digest.”

Around the age of 21, following an experience she described as a “Mystical Marriage” with Christ. She received a divine command to leave her solitary life & dedicate her life to public ministry. She started serving the sick & poor in the hospital, particularly during the Black Death. Her wedding ring wasn’t the traditional gold band that nuns wear after they become nuns. Catherine’s wedding ring was the Holy Prepuce, or Jesus’ foreskin. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Her influence with Pope Gregory XI played a role in his 1376 decision to leave Avignon for Rome. The Pope sent Catherine to negotiate peace with the Florentine Republic. After Gregory XI (March 1378) & the end of peace (July 1378), she went home to Siena. The Great Schism of the West led Catherine to go to Rome with the Pope.

She sent many letters to princes & cardinals to encourage obedience to Pope Urban VI & defend what she calls the “vessel of the Church.” She passed away on April 29, 1380 after she was weary by fastidious fasting. Urban VI celebrated her funeral & burial in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This is 1 of the major churches of the Order of Preachers in Rome.

The people of Siena wanted to have Catherine’s body after she passed away. A story is told of a miracle where they were partially successful. They knew they couldn’t smuggle her whole body out of Rome. They decided to take only her head, which they put in a bag. When they were stopped by the Roman guards, they prayed to Catherine to help them. They were confident she (Catherine) would want her body (or at least part of it) in Siena. When they opened the bag to show the guards, it appeared to not have her (Catherine’s) head but it was full of roses.

Devotion around Catherine of Siena developed rapidly after her passing. Pope Pius II canonized her in 1461. She was declared a patron saint of Rome in 1866 by Pope Pius IX. She was only the 2nd woman to be made a Doctor of the Church, on October 4, 1970 by Pope Paul VI. This was only days after Teresa of Avila. In 1939, Pope Pius XII named her joint patron saint of Italy, along with St. Francis of Assisi. In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a patron saint of Europe. Along with Teresa Benedicta of the Cross & Bridget of Sweden. She’s also the patroness of the historically Catholic American sorority, Theta Phi Alpha.

There are 3 main churches in honor of Catherine of Siena:

• Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This is where her body is kept. This church gets its name from that the 1st Christian Church structure on the site was directly over (or Italian sopra) the ruins or foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian deity Isis. This had been mistakenly thought to be the temple of Minerva. Possibly due to interpretatio romana, meaning that the ancient Greeks had a tendency to identify foreign gods with their own gods.
• Basilica of San Domenico, in Siena. This is where her incorrupt head is. This incorrupt head doesn’t look like the incorruptible bodies of other saints.
• Shrine of St. Catherine, in Siena. This is a complex of religious buildings built around Catherine’s birthplace.

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St. Rose of Lima

She was born Isabel Flores de Oliva (April 20, 1586-August 24, 1617). She was a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic in Lima, Peru, Spanish Empire. She was known for her life of severe penance & her care of the poor of the city through her own private efforts.

Rose of Lima was born to a noble family & is the patroness saint of embroidery, gardening, cultivation of blooming flowers, florists, embroiderers, sewing lace, gardeners, people ridiculed or misunderstood for their piety, the resolution of family quarrels, against vanity, & the indigenous peoples of the Americas. She was the 1st person born in the Americas to be canonized as a saint.

As a saint, Rose of Lima has been designated as a co-patroness of the Philippines, along with Pudentiana. Both saints were moved to Second-class patronage in September 1942 by Pope Pius XII. But Rose remains the main patroness of Peru & the local people of Latin America. Her image was formerly featured on the highest denomination banknote of Peru.

Her nickname “Rose” comes from a story in her infancy: a servant claimed to have seen her face change into a rose. In 1597, Isabel was confirmed by the Archbishop of Lima, Toribio de Mogrovejo, who was also declared a saint. She then formally changed her name to Rose (Rosa in Spanish) at that time.

When she was a young girl, she copied Catherine of Siena. She started praying 3x a week & performed severe penances in secret. She was admired for her beauty. She cut off her hair & rubbed peppers on her face, to distract from her beauty. She was upset that men were starting to notice her, & not for her spirituality. She turned away all of her suitors. Her family wasn’t having any of that.

Much to her parents’ chigrin, Rose spent a LOT of time thinking about the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily. This is rare, & odd, for the time. She wanted to take a vow of virginity. But her parents didn’t want that! Out of frustration, her dad gave her a room to herself at the family home.

In addition to fasting, she permanently abstained from eating meat. She helped the sick & hungry around her community. She would bring them to the room, her dad built, to take care of the sick. To help her family financially, Rose would sell fine needlework she made. She would also take flowers to the market to sell as well.

To help the poor, she would make & sell lace & embroidery. This was in addition to all the prayer & she did penance in a small grotto she’d built. She was otherwise a recluse. She only left her room to go to church.

She attracted the attention of the friars of the Dominican Order. She wanted to become a nun. But her dad wasn’t hearing any of that noise. So instead, she entered the Third Order of St. Dominic, while she was living in her parents’ home.

When she was 20, she started wearing the habit of a tertiary & took a vow of perpetual virginity. A tertiary is a lay member of a religious order’s Third Order, who lives in the secular (worldly) world while they strive for Christian perfection by following the spiritual way of life associated with that particular order. The First Order is the clergy, the Second Order is the religious women in the community (official nuns).

She allowed herself only 2 hours a night of sleep, at most, so she could have more time to devote to prayer. She also wore a heavy metal crown made of silver, that had small spikes on the inside. This was to imitate the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus.

For 11 years, she lived like this. Throughout this time, there would be periods of ecstasy. She passed away on August 24, 1617, at the age of 31. She had been battling a long illness. It’s said that she prophesied her death date.

Her funeral was held in the cathedral. It was attended by all the public authorities of Lima. August 23 is her feast day. It’s August 30th in the Traditional calendar.

Rose was beatified by Pope Clement IX on May 10, 1667. She was canonized on April 12, 1671 by Pope Clement I. She was the first Catholic in the Americas to be officially declared a saint.

Her shine is inside of the convent of St. Dominic in Lima. The Catholic Church says that many miracles happened after her death: she cured a leper; & at the time of her death, the city of Lima smelled like roses; roses started falling from the sky.

Rose’s skull, surmounted with a crown of roses, is on public display at the Basilica in Lima, Peru.

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Three Secrets of Fatima

In Portuguese: Os Tres Segredos de Fatima.

This was a series of apocalyptic visions & prophecies given to 3 young Portuguese shepherds (Lucia Santos, & her cousins, Jacinta & Francisco Marto) by a Marian apparition. It started on May 13, 1917. The 3 shepherd kids claimed to have been visited by the Virgin Mary 6 times between May & October 1917. This apparition is now popularly called: Our Lady of Fatima.

According to Lucia (who became the de facto leader of the 3 kids), around noon on July 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary entrusted the kids with 3 secrets. 2 of the secrets were revealed in 1941, in a document written by Lucia, at the request of Bishop Jose Alves Correia de Silva (Bishop of Leiria) to help with the publication of a new edition of a book on her cousin, Jacinta.

When the bishop asked, in 1943, to reveal the 3rd secret, Lucia struggled for a short period. Because she was “not yet convinced that God had clearly authorized her to act.” In October 1943, the bishop ordered her to put it in writing. Lucia then wrote down the secret & sealed it in an envelope not to be opened until 1960, when “it will appear clearer.”

The text of the 3rd secret was officially released, allegedly, by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Some claim the 3rd secret wasn’t fully revealed by Lucia. Despite the Holy See’s protests to the contrary. According to various Catholic interpretations, the 3 secrets involve Hell, WWI, WWII, & the modern-day persecutions of Christians.

NOTE: Only 12 of the hundreds of alleged Marian apparitions the Catholic Church has investigated have gotten ecclesiastical approval. 9 occurred between 1830 & 1933.

On June 17, 1921, 14 year old Lucia was accepted as a boarder at the Sisters of St. Dorothy school in Vilar. In 1925, at the age of 18, Lucia began her novitiate at the convent of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in Tui, just across the border in Spain. Novitiate is the period of training, or probation, for a beginner, or novice, usually in a religious order, during which they learn about that community’s practices & deepen their commitment to a vowed life, or to see if they want to continue their journey within the organization.

Lucia continued to report private visions intermittently throughout her life. In the mid-1930s, the Bishop of Leiria encouraged (or strong-armed, depending on the account) Lucia to write her memoirs. So that she could disclose further details of her cousins & the 1917 apparitions.

As early as July 1917, mention was made that the Lady of the apparitions had entrusted to the kids a secret, “that was good for some & bad for others.” It wasn’t until her 3rd memoir, written in 1941, that Lucia began to write more in depth about the content of the secret.

In this, she follows the French visionary, Melanie Calvat, who saw Our Lady of La Salette in 1846, who wrote down the secrets from that event almost 20 years after. Lucia wrote that the secret has 3 parts. The 1st 2 of which she revealed in 1941. The 3rd wasn’t written down until January 3, 1944.

In her 3rd memoir (1941), Lucia said that the 1st secret was a vision of Hell. This was given to the kids on July 13, 1917.

The 2nd secret refers to the devotion to the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was initially only partially revealed to the kids of July 13, 1917.

Various prophecies related to this devotion were made. Such as a statement that WWI would end. Along with a prediction of another war during the reign of Pope Pius XI, should men continue offending God & should Russia not convert. The 2nd half is a future request of the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary & the First Saturdays Devotion.

On December 10, 1925, Sister Lucia reported an apparition of the Virgin Mary, joined by the Child Jesus on a luminous cloud, while living at the Convent of St. Dorothea at Pontevedra, Spain. The Virgin Mary specified the conditions for the First Saturdays Devotion & asked her to spread the devotion. Later, on February 15, 1926, she reported a subsequent vision on the Christ Child reaffirm this request.

On June 13, 1929, she reported a vision of both Mary & the Holy Trinity, in which Mary had asked for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart by the Pope. This is in communion with all the bishops of the world.

This later vision fulfilled what was said in 1917 about how the Virgin Mary would come later to request the consecration. The message regarding the establishment of the 1st 5 Saturday Devotions is reminiscent of that reported by Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century which led to the First Friday Devotions.

The 2nd prophecy wasn’t revealed until August 1941, after WWII had already begun. Those skeptical of the prophecies have questions whether Mary, in 1917, explicitly referred to Pope Pius XI. As Ambrogio Ratti didn’t choose the regnal name until after his election in 1922.

The European portion of WWII is generally held to have begun on September 1, 1939. But by then, Pope Pius XII had succeeded Pope Pius XI. As for the Conversion of Russia, the Bolshevik Revolution didn’t happen until November 1917.

Some supporters of the Fatima prophecies argue that the secret didn’t say the war must begin in Europe, & during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI, Japan had already invaded China in 1937, which is generally seen by historians of China, & other parts of Asia, as when the WWII actually began.

Some critics argue that the Russian Civil War (1918-1921), the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), the Chinese Civil War (1927-1937), the war between Italy & Ethiopia (1935-1936), & the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) serve to illustrate that the prediction that 1 war will end & that another will start isn’t necessarily an indication of divine inspiration.

Supporters of the prophecy point out that the 2nd secret called for a war worse than WWI, not simply any armed conflict. In addition, with regards to the conversion of Russia, there was already, at the time, strong revolutionary ferment in Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution as witnessed by the earlier February Revolution in 1917 & the active Communist & anarchist movements. This would explain Mary’s reference on July 13, 1917 to the need for a conversion of Russia.

Sister Lucia chose not to disclose the 3rd secret in her memoir of August 1941. Lucia fell seriously ill with influenza & pleurisy. Pleurisy is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs & line the chest cavity (pleurae).

Bishop Silva, visiting Lucia on September 15, 1943, suggested that Lucia write the 3rd secret down to ensure that it would be recorded in the event of her death. Lucia was hesitant to do so. Because upon receiving the secret, Lucia had heard Mary say not to reveal it.

Because Carmelite obedience requires that orders from superiors be regarded as coming directly from God, she was in a dilemma as to whose orders took precedence. Finally, in mid-October, Bishop Silva sent her a letter containing a direct order to record the secret. Lucia continued to struggle, even after this direct order. According to Lucia, she overcame it after the Virgin Mary appeared to her in early January 1944.

The 3rd part of the secret was written down “by order of His Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and the Most Holy Mother” on January 3, 1944. In June 1944, the sealed envelope containing the 3rd secret was delivered to Silva. This is where it stayed until 1957, when it was finally delivered to Rome.

Canon Galamba, who was an advisor to the Bishop of Leiria, is quoted as saying that when the bishop refused to open the sealed envelope, Lucia made him promise that it would definitely be opened & released to the world at her death, or in 1960, whichever came 1st. The bishop passed away in 1957.

It was announced by Cardinal Angelo Sodano on May 13, 2000 (83 years after the first apparition of the Lady to the kids in Cova da Iria & 19 years after the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II) that the 3rd secret would be FINALLY be released.

In his announcement, Cardinal Sodano implied that the secret was about the 20th century persecution of Christians that concluded in the failed Pope John Paul II assassination attempt on May 13, 1981, which was the 64th anniversary of the 1st apparition of the Lady at Fatima. The idea of an already fulfilled secret is contested by some Catholics.

There’s speculation that the 3rd secret hasn’t either fully been or revealed at all. There’s a plethora of reasons for why & what the secret actually said/says. Such as the secret contained info about the Apocalypse, apostasy, & Satanic infiltration of the Church. Yes, like the actual devil, Satan himself. Why they don’t release it is because they don’t want to induce mass panic among the global Catholic community.

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https://www.reuters.com/world/letter-shows-pope-pius-xii-probably-knew-about-holocaust-early-2023-09-17/