Fatima and the Two Standards
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
“Two loves have made two cities: the love of self to the point of despising God, the earthy city; and the love of God to the point of despising self, the heavenly city,” such is the teaching of the great St Augustine at the beginning of the 5th century. Indeed, these two cities have clashed since the creation of the angels and will continue to do so until the end of time. So it is not surprising that Our Lady intervenes in history, that She joins the battle, with the goal of winning over souls to the cause of Her Son. In order to do this not only does She show us the path to follow (praying the Rosary, making sacrifices, practicing virtue), but She also does not hesitate to clearly identify the enemy who seeks our eternal perdition.
At Fatima She speaks of communist Russia which “will spread its errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, several nations will be annihilated” (13th July, 1917). If She asks with insistence for the consecration of Russia (for which we are still waiting), it is because there is a divine plan behind this. It is interesting to compare this consecration with the consecration at Holy Mass. Our Lord, Who has an infinite desire to come and spill His Blood for souls, to come into us by Holy Communion, can only effect this miracle by transubstantiation if His minister pronounces the words of consecration belonging to the form of the sacrament. “Oh, how great is the priest,” exclaimed the Saint Cure d `Ars! “What a prodigy! The priest speaks, God listens, the priest commands, God obeys him!” It is the same principle for Fatima; the Pope needs to say these few words and the miracle of the conversion of a country will happen.
But it is not only at Fatima that we find this maternal desire for the salvation of souls. It is each each time that Our Lady intervenes in history.
I had the great happiness these last weeks of visiting two great Marian sanctuaries where one finds this thirst to pluck souls from the slope which leads to eternal damnation.
First to Our Lady of Guadalupe where, in 1531, with some winter roses She imprinted Her image on the garment or ‘tilma’ of one Juan-Diego, and thus practically put an end to the Aztec Empire and its bloody cult by converting more than eight million natives in less than twelve years. This gives us a good over-view of the Queen of Heaven`s power and of what She will do for Russia once the famous consecration will have taken place.
Then it was to Quito, in Ecuador, and to Our Lady of Buen Suceso (of Good Success). A dozen SSPX priests and some seventy pilgrims, mostly SSPX Third Order members from the USA, came together for the novena in preparation for the feast day which falls on 2nd February. It is Archbishop Lefebvre who made Our Lady of Buen Suceso known to the West in the course of of his sermon for the consecration of bishops in 1988.
In keeping with the theme of this letter, I would like to draw your attention to one aspect of this apparition which was approved by the Church in 1611. At the occasion of the third apparition on 16th January 1599, the Blessed Virgin Mary announced the coming of a president, “truly Catholic, a man of character to whom God, Our Lord, will grant the palm of martyrdom in the public place close by to the convent. He will consecrate the Republic to the Sacred Heart of My Most Holy Son, and this consecration will strengthen the Catholic Church in the years to follow, years of affliction for the Church.” It is truly moving to be able to kneel in Garcia Moreno`s very place of martyrdom, killed for the cause of Christ the King.
If at Fatima, Our Lady denounced communism when it had only just begun (in 1917), in Quito She spoke of Freemasonry over a century in advance; “In those years-during which the impious sect of Freemasonry will take control of the government - there will be a cruel persecution of all the religious communities” (1599). A few years later, on the 2nd of February 1634, Our Lady returned to the role of the Masonic sect, especially that regarding the corruption of the youth in the 19th and 20th centuries. During our pilgrimage, in the course of our conversations with the present Mother Abbess this latter recounted the history of the conversion of an eminent Freemason by Our Lady of Buen Suceso and how She protected him from then on.
When one studies attentively all these accounts, one is impressed to see how Our Heavenly Mother enters overtly into this combat of the Two Standards and how She prepared us for the same in so many ways.
God-willing, we would like to return to Quito next year towards the end of January but this time accompanied by a group of pilgrims from Canada. Anyone interested to join us can already contact the district office.
To conclude these few considerations on the apostolic zeal of the Most Holy Virgin over the last centuries in diverse countries I would like to recall that 2017 is also the centenary of the foundation of the Militia Immaculatae (“M.I.”), founded by St Maximilian Kolbe in Rome itself. Two events in particular urged him to launch this movement. In the first place the spectacular conversion of a Jew, Alphonse Ratisbonne, through the wearing of the Miraculous Medal, on the 20th January 1842, 175 years ago this year. Then in the second place, the Masonic demonstrations in the streets of Rome, even in front of the Vatican. For the duration of the parade the Freemasons carried banners of Lucifer standing over St Michael, with posters proclaiming: “Satan will sign over the Vatican and the pope will be his slave!” St Maximilian, outraged by such audacity, wanted to repair the honor of the Immaculate, “stronger than an army in arrayed for battle,” “She who has vanquished all heresies in the whole world.” Thus was the M.I. born on 16th October 1917.
It seems to me that this is an endeavour which quite simply goes hand in hand with this Fatima year; indeed Bishop Fellay, when launching the Rosary Crusade, also spoke of wearing the Miraculous Medal. The first degree of the M.I. consists quite simply in wearing the Miraculous Medal around the neck whilst reciting each day, if possible, the invocation “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee and for those who do not have recourse to Thee, especially the Freemasons." We have begun to promote the M.I. in Canada since the end of December and we are confident that the Immaculate will bear fruits in abundance throughout our great territory as She has done elsewhere thanks to this good organization.
News from the District:
Vocations: Dominique Beauregard from Winnipeg received the cassock at the seminary in Dillwyn, USA, on 2nd February last, along with 37 other seminarians.
Rosary Crusade: please submit your totals up to the end of December 2016 to your priests.
Yours truly in the Immaculate,
Fr. Daniel Couture
District Superior