   |
| | Santuário de Fátima | Vaticano | Aparições | Notícias | Imagens | Cânticos | Apresentações | |
| Fátima de Portugal Notícias arquivadas |
| FATIMA'S SISTER LUCY DIES AT 97 |
| inside vatican Fatima's Sister Lucy Dies at 97 SEER WHOSE "THREE SECRETS" predicted World War II and the rise of communism, and who was visited by Mel Gibson in 2004, dies Sunday, February 13, in Portugal ROME, February 14, 2004 -- Sister Lucy of Fatima, a shepherd girl whose mystic visions have sparked the devotion of millions of Catholics, including Mel Gibson -- and drawn scrutiny from the world's intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the KGB -- has died four weeks short of her 98th birthday in Portugal. Lucy, 97, was the eldest of three shepherd children who in 1917 -- the same year as the Russian revolution -- saw the Virgin Mary appear in Fatima, Portugal on six occasions: May 13, June 13, July 13, August 19 (because the children were imprisoned by communist authorities on August 13), September 13 and October 13. The Virgin revealed three "secrets" to the children. The secrets spoke of the great events of the 20th century, and of what God asked men to do in order to avoid terrible chastisements for sin (including, according to some accounts, enormous tsunamis which would takes hundreds of thousands of lives). The Virgin also performed an astonishing miracle before 70,000 witnesses, many of them atheists and secular journalists, on October 13, 1917, when the sun "danced", spun off multi-colored light, and moved toward the earth. Lucy died at her Carmelite convent at Coimbra in central Portugal. "She had been weak for several weeks and had not left her cell," Coimbra Bishop Albino Cleto told the Church's Radio Renascenca. Her funeral will be Tuesday, February 15. Her death saddens many who had hoped she would live still longer, in order to clarify confusions and controversies regarding the messages she received. "Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions," Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone wrote in an official Vatican statement on the visions in 2000. "The first and second parts of the 'secret' refer especially to the frightening vision of hell, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Second World War, and finally the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist totalitarianism," he said. In a May 12 letter to Pope John Paul in 1982, Sister Lucy wrote: "The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady's words: 'If not [consecrated and converted] she (Russia) will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated' (July 13, 1917)... And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible." _________________________________________________________________________ Lucia Dos Santos was born the youngest of seven children into a peasant family in Aljustrel, a village in central Portugal. The events at Fatima unfolded against a backdrop of religious persecution under anti-clerical factions that ruled Portugal after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1910. In 1916 she experienced her first vision, when an angel appeared to the children, she wrote in her memoirs. On May 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to her and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marta on an oak tree. On her last appearance before an estimated 70,000 onlookers, witnesses claim to have experienced a 15-minute spectacle of bright lights and rainbow colors. Jacinta and Francisco died in the influenza pandemic in 1919 and 1920. The two were beatified, the last step to sainthood, by Pope John Paul during his Fatima visit in 2000, confirming the Vatican's judgement that the visions are worthy of belief by Catholics. Pope John Paul II has publicly stated that he believes the Madonna of Fatima saved his life on May 13, 1981, when Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot him in St Peter's Square -- the anniversary of the first of the 1917 apparitions. In a sign of gratitude a year after the assassination attempt, the Pope visited Fatima and personally placed one of the 9mm bullets which Agca fired at him in the crown of the statue at Fatima. "One hand fired the bullet and another guided it," the Pope once said of Agca's attempt to kill him. The first two parts of the prophecies were known for decades. The first saw a vision of hell, the second predicted the outbreak of World War II. But it was the third part, the so-called third secret of Fatima, which kept the world intrigued for more than 80 years. The Vatican revealed its interpretation of the vision during the Pope's visit to Fatima on May 13, 2000, on the anniversary of the assassination attempt. In the text the Vatican published, said to have been written by Lucy in 1944, she saw "a bishop dressed in white (and) we had the impression that it was the Holy Father." As the vision continued, the bishop reached the top of a mountain where "he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him." Before the Vatican unveiled the vision, papal envoys visited Lucy in her cloistered convent to seek her opinion of the Vatican's interpretation and her permission to reveal it. "She repeated her conviction that the vision of Fatima concerns above all the struggle of atheistic communism against the Church and against Christians, and describes the terrible sufferings of the victims of the faith in 20th century," the Vatican said in 2000. The document went on to say: "When asked: 'Is the principal figure in the vision the Pope?' Sister Lucia replied at once that it was. Thus, the Vatican itself has given credit to the idea that Lucy's vision was an accurate prediction of the attempt to assassinate John Paul II in 1981. _________________________________________________________________________ One of her last visitors was actor Mel Gibson, director of the 2004 movie "The Passion of The Christ." Gibson met her at the convent in July 2004 and gave her a DVD of his movie. Fatima-based writer Richard Salbato revealed in an online report that after the nuns asked for a private showing of Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ," Gibson not only OK'd the viewing, but the actor flew to Coimbra, Portugal, to personally introduce the film to Lucia and her Sisters. During Lent of 2004, the nuns at the convent in Coimbra, where Sister Lucia lives, wanted to see the film as a devotional aid in preparation for Good Friday and Easter. Unable to leave the convent or meet face-to-face with outsiders because of the strict Carmelite rules governing cloistered sisters - and lacking the modern convenience of a DVD player - they sought to contact Mel Gibson's Icon Productions for help. According to Salbato, word was sent out from the Convent to make contact with Icon or Gibson to get a DVD for the convent. Thanks to a girl in Porto, Portugal, Luciana Regadas, who knew a volunteer worker for Icon Productions and Mel Gibson, Lourdes Gutierrez, this contact was made. Gutierrez had been involved with the movie in a volunteer capacity, helping to put together two screenings in the Miami, Fla., area. According to Salbato, "Mel Gibson had come to Fatima in September of 2003 to ask Our Lady for help in the film and later Jim Caviezel (the actor who played Christ) came to show the film to religious institutions to get their opinions of the movie. He even went to the Convent in Coimbra to show the film but was refused because he insisted on going behind the cloister which is not permitted." Lourdes Gutierrez recalled that "Ninety-two e-mails back and forth later and many phone calls, a deal was set to show the film to the nuns. This was difficult because there were no DVDs yet and only 1 inch tapes, which require special cameras and large pull down screens. "We even got approval for Mel Gibson to see Lucia in a private meeting, but because Mel Gibson might be attacked as using Lucia to promote his film, he, Mel Gibson, and not the convent, insisted that such a visit would be strictly secret. "In the end only Father Condor, the convent and the Icon Production crew knew of the date of showing the film. We knew the month but that was all. It must have cost Mel Gibson ten to twenty thousand dollars to show this film to the convent because it took a full crew of camera men. "Mel Gibson later came into Portugal to promote the Portuguese version of the film and then sneaked over to the Convent without anyone knowing and met with Sister Lucia. We were told not to print this or let anyone know unless the Convent or Mel Gibson gave permission for it. This did not come until after the film ran its course in the theaters and the DVD ran its campaign in the stores." Mel Gibson visited Lucia of Fatima at the Carmel convent last July. He was accompanied by his wife, Robyn Moore, and Fr. Luis Condor. According to the convent's Mother Superior Celina, the actor and his wife are wonderful and very humble people. "He is very outspoken and a person easily to be liked, and he answered all of our questions about the movie. Some questions were asked by Sr. Lucy, who attended the meeting which lasted for about an hour, was always very alert following the conversation," she told Salbato. According to Salbato, what the nuns or Lucia said about the movie is unknown and may never be known because statements by Lucia or, for that matter, any Carmelite nun anywhere in the world are always sent through the bishop or the Holy Father first. _________________________________________________________________________ During the apparitions, the Virgin Mary made some prophecies, telling the children that if man did not stop offending God, a second great war would begin during the reign of Pope Pius XI. Twenty-two years later, World War II broke out in Europe. The Virgin Mary also warned that Russia, unless converted, would wreak havoc upon the world. This was before the rise of the Soviet Union. Mary also confided to the children the so-called Third Secret. The Secret was to be read by the pope in office in 1960 and then publicized. As it turned out, Pope John XXIII was the pope at that time who read the secret and decided to not reveal its contents. The contents of the Third Secret were shared with John XXIII's successors. In June 2000, Pope John Paul II released the Third Secret. Asked in 1980 why the Secret had yet to be released, Pope John Paul II told a German audience: "Because of the seriousness of its contents, in order not to encourage the worldwide power of Communism to carry out certain coups, my Predecessors in the Chair of Peter have diplomatically preferred to withhold its publication. "On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this much: if there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish ... there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this secret message. "Many want to know merely out of curiosity, or because of their taste for sensationalism, but they forget that 'to know' implies for them a responsibility. It is dangerous to want to satisfy one's curiosity only, if one is convinced that we can do nothing against a catastrophe that has been predicted." At this point, the Holy Father took hold of his Rosary and said: "Here is the remedy against the evil! Pray, pray and ask for nothing else. Put everything in the hands of the Mother of God!" John Paul II continued: "We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. "Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because it is only in this way that the Church can be effectively renewed. How many times, indeed, has the renewal of the Church been effected in blood? This time, again, it will not be otherwise. "We must be strong, we must prepare ourselves, we must entrust ourselves to Christ and to His holy Mother, and we must be attentive, very attentive, to the prayer of the Rosary." __________________________________________________________________________ Sister Lucy often said, "My mission is not to indicate to the world the material punishments which will certainly happen if the world does not pray and do penance beforehand. No! My mission is to indicate to everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain obstinate in sin." In Her July 13, 1917 apparition to the three children, after showing them a vision of hell, Our Lady of Fatima explained: "You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, 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." According to a leading Fatima expert, the controversial Father Nicholas Gruner of Canada, "Through the triumph of Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, which will accompany the Consecration of Russia, countless souls will be saved. Through this act will come the dramatic delivery of the world from the errors of Russia, and the great era of peace. The world will recognize this as the work of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Then, confronted with the boundless love and motherly care thus demonstrated, poor sinners will turn to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for help in their lives, and by their prayers and devotion to Her will obtain the necessary graces to convert themselves and their neighbors, and thus save many souls from hell... The peace that will occur during Our Lady's Triumph will be manifested in friendships, the family, the community, state, nation and the world; in government, finance, economics, trade, business and educational institutions (which will recognize and be conducted in accordance with the Social Kingship of Christ); in technology (which will be used to promote truth and justice, kindness and peace) and in the arts and entertainment (which will reflect the beauty and truth of God). Truth and justice will prevail throughout the world. Each person's entire life will revolve around Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and will be expressed in their believing and living the Catholic Faith, and in their Catholic public and private prayers. Thus, in the midst of these fruits of Our Lady's promised Triumph, souls will be better able to live a truly Catholic life. Then, as Our Lady told us, "many souls will be saved and there will be peace." _________________________________________________________________________ We close this newsflash with a brief prayer for Sister Lucy: "Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace, Amen." __________________________________________________________________________ |