Refuge of Sinners
Refugium Peccatorum
Refugium Peccatorum means Refuge of Sinners and is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the usage of which dates back to St. Germanus in the 8th century. As Eve is responsible for the sufferings of the human race since the fall and expulsion from paradise, the Virgin Mary is the reversal and source of healing. St. Irenaeus wrote very eloquently of this in 180 A.D.:
“The knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.”
Mary is the “New Eve,” the advocate of the human race who played a crucial role in reversing the actions of Eve and bringing us back into relationship with God. A priest one described it to me this way: When Eve disobeyed God, she pulled the fruit down from the tree, the human race fell into sin, and the result was death (physically and spiritually.) In contrast, when Mary was obedient to God, she took the fruit (of her womb) and lifted it up onto the Cross (tree). This allowed for the salvation of the human race and for eternal life.
“Mary, the New Eve” from Missal of Bernhard von Rohr, Archbishop of Salzburg ca. 1481
“Refuge of Sinners” is one of four titles that the Church teaches us to use to invoke Mary in the Litany of Loreto. The other three are: Healer of the Sick, Consoler of the Sad, and Help of Christians.
In his book, The Glories of Mary, St. Alphonsus Liguori (b. 1696- d. 1787) expands beautifully on the manner in which Our Lady is a refuge for sinners:
“In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis we read that God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night (Gen. 1, 16). Cardinal Hugo says that “Christ is the greater light to rule the just, and Mary the lesser to rule the sinners”; meaning that the sun is a figure of Jesus Christ, whose light is enjoyed by the just who live in the clear day of divine grace; and that the moon is a figure of Mary, by whose means those who are in the night of sin are enlightened. Since Mary is this auspicious luminary, and is so for the benefit of poor sinners, should any one have been so unfortunate as to fall into the night of sin, what is he to do? Innocent III replies, “Whoever is in the night of sin, let him cast his eyes on the moon, let him implore Mary” (In Assumpt. s. 2)”
“In Judea in ancient times there were cities of refuge, in which criminals who fled there for protection were exempt from the punishments which they had deserved. Nowadays these cities are not so numerous; there is but one, and that is Mary, of whom the Psalmist says Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God (Ps. lxxxvi. 3). But this city differs from the ancient ones in this respect—that in the latter all kinds of criminals did not find refuge, nor was the protection extended to every class of crime; but under the mantle of Mary all sinners, without exception, find refuge for every sin that they may have committed, provided only that they go there to seek for this protection.”
“This mother of mercy has so great a desire to save the most abandoned sinners, that she herself goes in search of them, in order to help them; and if they have recourse to her, she knows how to find the means to render them acceptable to God.”
Our Lady of Fatima
“Our Lady of Fatima” refers to the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria, in Fatima, Portugal. The three children were Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto.
Fatima is a small village and these children were completely ordinary. There is nothing remarkable about the place nor the persons involved in this historic event. And yet, evidence makes manifestly clear that there occurred in Fatima in 1916-1917 a series of supernatural events of significant importance.
My source for quotes comes from “The True Story of Fatima” written by Fr. John de Marchi, I.M.C in 1952. It can be read here.
My intention here is not to cover the story in its entirety — my purpose is to expose the words of Our Lady. I highly recommend reading the whole story, with all of the details surrounding the events. Here, I only want to focus on the requests and warnings of Our Lady.
The Angel of Peace
Beginning in the spring of 1916, the three shepherd children reported three apparitions of an Angel in Valinhos. Lucia recalls:
“…a strong wind began to shake the trees and we looked up to see what was happening, since it was such a calm day. And then we began to see, in the distance, above the trees that stretched to the east, a light whiter than snow in the form of a young man, quite transparent, and as brilliant as crystal in the rays of the sun.”
This was the Angel of Peace’s first visit. The angel instructed the children to pray with him:
“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask forgiveness for those who do not believe, nor adore, nor hope, nor love You."
In the second visit, the angel told the children:
“You must pray! Pray! The hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs for you. You must offer your prayers and sacrifices to God, the Most High."
“In every way you can offer sacrifice to God in reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for sinners. In this way you will bring peace to our country, for I am its guardian angel, the angel of Portugal. Above all, bear and accept with patience the sufferings God will send you."
At the third appearance of the angel, he said:
“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended. And by the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners."
Then he gave them Holy Communion and said:
"Take and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Repair their crimes and console your God."
May - Mary’s First Appearance
When Our Lady appeared to children for the first time on May 13th, 1917, this was the message she spoke to them:
"I want you to return here on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months, and at the very same hour. Later I shall tell you who I am, and what it is that I most desire. And I shall return here yet a seventh time."
“Will you offer yourselves to God, and bear all the sufferings He sends you? In atonement for all the sins that offend Him? And for the conversion of sinners?"
Lucia replied in the affirmative.
"Then you will have a great deal to suffer, but the grace of God will be with you and will strengthen you."
“Say the Rosary every day to bring peace to the world and an end to the war."
June - Mary’s Second Appearance
In Mary’s second appearance, on June 13th, she said to them:
"I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. And after each one of the mysteries, my children, I want you to pray in this way: O my Jesus, forgive us and deliver us from the fire of hell. Take all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.”
To Lucia: “Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart."
Lucia said of this apparition: “Our Lady's right hand rested near a heart encircled with piercing thorns. And we understood clearly that this was the Immaculate Heart of Mary that called far reparation from men for all the sins that have sorrowed our Saviour and His Mother.”
July - Mary’s 3rd Appearance
"Continue to say the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, to obtain the peace of the world and the end of the war, because only she can obtain it."
"You must come here every month and in October I will tell you who I am and what I want. I will then perform a miracle so that all may believe."
"Make sacrifices for sinners and say often, especially while making a sacrifice: O Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."
Here, Our Lady gave the three children a terrifying vision of hell. Then she told them:
"You have seen hell, where the souls of sinners go. It is to save them that God wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. This war will end, but if men do not refrain from offending God, another and more terrible war will begin.16 And when you see a night that is lit by a strange and unknown light, you will know it is the sign God gives you that He is about to punish the world with war and with hunger, and by the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to the world to ask that Russia be consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, and I-shall ask that on the First Saturday of every month Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins-of the world.
“If my wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, then Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, bringing new wars and persecution of the Church; the good will be martyred and the Holy Father will have much to suffer; certain nations will be annihilated. But in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and the world will enjoy a period of peace. In Portugal the faith will always be preserved.”
The vision of hell had a particularly emotional effect on Jacinta. She said to her cousin and brother, “Lucia! Francisco! We mustn't stop our prayers to save poor souls! So many go to hell!"
Jacinta made a request of her cousin: “Please, if our Lady permits you to, tell everyone of the horrors of hell. Make them stop their sins, Lucia."
Then she asked Lucia, “Do you remember how our Lady's heart, when she showed it to us, was being pierced by thorns?”
Lucia explained, “It simply means that her heart is wounded by the sins of people, and she is asking them to be sorry, and to make up for their sins, so that God will not have to punish them too much. She can't make people be good. They must themselves want to be good."
Jacinta later revealed that, according to Our Lady, “The sins which cause most souls to go to hell are the sins of the flesh.”
August - Mary’s 4th Appearance
The Children were prevented from going to the Cova because they were kidnapped and imprisoned.
It is worth noting here that the vision of hell that they had seen in July impressed them so greatly that they began to pray incessantly and seek new sacrifices. For hours at a time they would recite the prayer that the Angel of Peace had taught them — until, being prostrated on the ground too long, the pain exceeded their endurance. Then they would rise and recite the Rosary, adding the prayer at the end of each decade that our Lady had instructed them to. In secrecy, they practiced some of the most austere mortifications. Their desire was to save souls from hell.
September - Mary’s 5th Appearance
When Mary appeared again on September 13th, she told the children:
"Continue the Rosary, my children. Say it every day that the war may end."
“God is pleased with your sacrifices, but He does not want you to wear the cords to bed. Keep them on only in the day."
“In October, I will perform a miracle that will permit everyone to believe."
October - Mary’s 6th Appearance
"I want a chapel built here in my honor. I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. The war will end soon, and the soldiers will return to their homes.”
"I am the Lady of the Rosary."
Then, the promised miracle took place: the Miracle of the Sun.
The estimated number of people present at the miracle ranges from 40,000 to 100,000. Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, the sun trembled and made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws. The sun "danced," according to the typical expression of the people.
Warnings & Requests
The Angel of Peace exhorted the children to pray and to offer sacrifices in reparation for the sins that offend God, and in supplication for sinners.
Ask for forgiveness of people who do not believe in, adore, hope in, or love God.
You must pray.
You must offer your prayers and sacrifices to God
In every way you can offer sacrifice to God in reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for sinners.
offer God the most precious body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended.
Take and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Repair their crimes and console your God.
Mary asked the children to:
Suffer to atone for sins that offend God, and to suffer for the conversion of sinners.
Say the Rosary every day
Make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
She said God wants to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart to save sinners from going to hell.
God will punish the world with war, hunger, and persecution of the Church and the Holy Father. But if Russia is consecrated to the Immaculate Heart, this punishment will be prevented.
She requested that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.
If her wishes are not heeded, then Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, bringing new wars and persecution of the Church; the good will be martyred and the Holy Father will have much to suffer; certain nations will be annihilated.
In the end, her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
The message of Fatima is about two things: penance and the Rosary.
Our Lady of Good Success
Fatima was by no means the first or last time that our Lady appeared with such grave warnings. Between 1594 and 1634, a Conceptionist sister named Mariana de Jesús Torres, received Marian apparitions from Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador. The messages of the apparition were a prophecy that said a spiritual catastrophe would engulf the Church shortly after the middle of the twentieth century. It would include:
Widespread moral corruption
The Sacrament of Matrimony will be attacked and deeply profaned
Depraved priests who will scandalize the faithful and cause suffering for good priests
Unbridled lust which will ensnare many souls ("Impurity like "a filthy ocean" will run with an "astonishing liberty.”)
Loss of innocence among children and loss of modesty among women
Lack of priestly and religious vocations (this crisis in the priesthood will be assisted by the growth of Masonic sects and the effects of secular education)
In her message, our Lady said:
“The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the precious light of Faith will gradually be extinguished until there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs. Added to this will be the effects of secular education, which will be one reason for the death of priestly and religious vocations.”
“The Devil will try to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way; he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation and will corrupt many of them.”
“Further, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which will ensnare the rest into sin and conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.”
The good news is that our Lady said a period of restoration would follow the period of catastrophe.
There’s a lot to unpack in the messages of Our Lady of Good Success. For our purposes here, I want only to emphasize her predictions for our own age. Suffice it to say, we have surely seen a spiritual catastrophe in the 20th century, with all of the symptoms she predicted.
Saturated in Sin
Today, our culture and society has completely normalized sin and has made grave offences toward God commonplace. One hundred years ago, the Angel said that Jesus Christ is “horribly outraged by ungrateful men” and exhorts the children to “repair their crimes and console your God.” How much more is Jesus Christ outraged by our sins now, which have worsened over time? One of the worst parts is that nations are legalizing sin, as though to legitimize it. Our world is authorizing and allowing immoral crimes that God has explicitly condemned and forbidden.
Today, sin is rampant in our culture, and most Christians do very little about it. In fact, most Christians participate in this widespread sin throughout our society.
Blasphemy — the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things — is common place in our culture. Even Christians regularly use the Lord’s name in vain or engage in profane talk, despite God’s explicit command not to.
Divorce: Almost 50 percent of all marriages in the United States end in divorce.
Birth Control usage is prevalent. Almost 70% of American women ages 15–49 are using contraception, the most common method being female sterilization.
Abortion: Murder of unborn children is considered a “common health intervention” and enjoys legal sanction. 61% of all unintended pregnancies end in Abortion. 73 million abortions take place worldwide every year. A majority of Catholic voters in the U.S. think that abortion should be legal.
Homosexual unions are legitimized — that is, validated and permissible according to the law.
Porn: 40 million Americans regularly visit porn sites, with about 200,000 Americans classified as “porn addicts.” 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
Sex Trafficking: The victims of human/sex trafficking increases every year.
Sex Abuse Scandals: The Church has been devastated by sexual abuse from clergy, damaging the faith of many Catholics
Not Observing the Sabbath: the Sabbath, a day of rest, has been entirely abandoned by the secular culture. Resting on the Sunday — both a direct command from God and a precept of the Church — is rarely observed even by Christians.
Belief in the Real Presence: 70% of Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence
Obligation to attend Mass: Nearly 3/4 of young U.S. Catholics say they can be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday
Freemasons have violently murdered Catholics and suppressed the Church wherever they have come into governmental power, forcing secularism on the people and prohibiting religious worship.
Communism: Russia’s error, namely communism, spread alarmingly across the world, bringing violence, bloody conflicts, and death wherever it went. It’s dangerous ideology, which claims that human nature is infinitely malleable and can be rearranged into perfect equality, has infected the minds of many men who use it to push for a godless society. Communism results in atheism an irreligion, because in Communism, nothing has value except the material and there is no place for the spiritual. The natural consequence of irreligion is a loss of morality.
During the time of Marx, in 1846, Pope Pius IX pronounced a condemnation of the Communism, saying it is “absolutely contrary to the natural law itself,” and if adopted it would “utterly destroy the rights, property, and possessions of all men, and even society itself.”
In 1878, Pope Leo XII defined Communism as “the fatal plague which insinuates itself into the very marrow of human society to bring about its ruin.”
And Pope Pius XI denounced Communism and its resulting atheism in various encyclicals. He declared Communism to be “intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever.”
Atheism: More people than ever before are identifying as atheist, agnostic, or otherwise nonreligious.
Relativism is widespread. It is the belief that there are no absolute truths -- truth is determined by what a particular individual or culture happens to believe. Those who embrace relativism think morality depends on personal judgement. There is no higher authority that determines what is right and wrong, but each individual chooses for themselves what is "true" for them.
Feminism: one of the strongest tools in breaking up the nuclear family. In its pursuit of “equal rights,” it destroys femininity and creates a mask for a communist agenda (the Bolshevik’s believed women’s liberation was completely tied to the success of communism). The erroneous promises of the Russian revolution gave rise to the sexual revolution and feminism directly encourages fornication, birth control, divorce, abortion, etc., as it claims that human nature can change and she can become he.
“New Age” and occult practices (e.g., tarot cards, astrology, yoga, meditation techniques, mediumship) have grown in popularity. 3 to 5 million Americans identify themselves as New Agers or as accepting the beliefs and practices of the New Age movement, such as karma, universalism, reincarnation, and pantheism. 2/5 of Americans believe in psychics.
Satanic Temples regularly attempt to infiltrate our country’s government so that the practice of Satanism, with all its abhorrent sins, can be on the same footing and have equal rights as all other religions.
Transgenderism: An increasing amount of people are rejecting their God-given gender to make up their own. Young children are encouraged to choose their own gender and cross-dress.
Little boys are sexualized by being dressed in drag (clothing and makeup to imitate and exaggerate the female gender.) These boys, dressed as little ‘drag queens’ are put on a stages in nightclubs to perform in front of an audience of predominantly gay men.
Drag Queens, which are associated with the sexual gay culture, are brought to public libraries to read stories to babies, toddlers, and young children. “Drag Queen Story Hours,” as they are called, are intended to desensitize and normalize the homosexual, transgender, and cross-dressing culture to young children.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse: 14.8 million Americans have an alcohol-use disorder, and 31.9 million use illegal drugs. 47% of young people use an illegal drug by the time they graduate from high school. Drug overdose deaths are increasing.
IVF: While 73 million babies are aborted every year, 4 million births per year in the U.S are a result of infertile couples resorting to Invitro Fertilization. Not only is this unnatural method of conception condemned by the Church, but it has created a moral crisis in our society. Most couples have additional embryos frozen. These are fertilized eggs, human beings — and the parents have the choice to continue preserving them, discard them, or donate. Official statistics show that almost half of embryos (1.7 M) used to help women conceive through in vitro fertilisation are thrown away during or after the process. Thousands are set aside for scientific research.
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Statistics are showing a growing opinion in favor of both euthanasia (a doctor is allowed by law to end a person’s life by a painless means, as long as the patient and their family agree) and assisted suicide (doctor assists a patient to commit suicide if they request it). In 2017, a Gallup poll indicated that 73 percent of respondents were in favor of euthanasia in the U.S., and 67 percent were in favor of doctor-assisted suicide.
Fornication and Cohabitation: More U.S. adults are delaying or foregoing marriage than ever before. According to a Pew Research Center survey, most Americans find cohabitation acceptable, even for couples who don’t plan to get married. The number of US adults married has declined while the number of US adults living with a romantic partner has increased.
Entertainment Industry: both the Music and Movie/TV industries are disgustingly saturated with immoral content, and both produce grossly degenerative forms of art and entertainment. Movies and music are known to manipulate minds, especially impressionable youth. An alarming number of musical artists have commented publicly and even composed songs about literally ‘selling their souls’ to the devil. Popular musicians are often reported as admitting to the practice of Satanism. Meanwhile, Hollywood produces movies that portray everything that is directly contrary to God and His laws — they glorify sin on screen.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but I took the time to compile it because I wanted to demonstrate how very much our Lord and our Lady must be offended and grieved by all of this unrestrained sin, and hopefully to illustrate the reality of how important it must be for us to offer up sacrifices in reparation for all the sorrow that inflicts the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of His mother.
Our Lady of La Salette
Before Fatima, in 1846, the Blessed Virgin manifested herself upon the mountain at La Salette to two little shepherd children, charging them to warn mankind of the necessity of doing penance in order to avert the impending evils. She did not cease weeping all the time that she spoke to them. The boy who saw the appearance said “she was like a mama whom her own children had beaten and who had escaped to the mountain to weep.”
Her message for the children was of how she has suffered to hold back the arm of her Son, how she has prayed ceaselessly for us, but how humanity persists in its sin, namely that of not keeping holy the Sabbath and of blaspheming:
If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let fall the arm of my Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that I can no longer withhold it.
For how long a time do I suffer for you! If I would not have my Son abandon you, I am compelled to pray to him without ceasing; and as to you, you take not heed of it.
However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have taken for you.
Those who drive the carts cannot swear without introducing the name of my Son. These are the two things which make the arm of my Son so heavy.
There are none who go to Mass except a few aged women. The rest work on Sunday all summer; then in the winter, when they know not what to do, they go to Mass only to mock at religion. During Lent, they go to the meat-market like dogs.
Our Lady of Laus
Even before Our Lady of La Salette, between the years 1664 and 1718, the Blessed Virgin appeared to 17-year-old Benoite Rencurel, a poor shepherd girl in southeastern France. Our Lady is known in this apparition as “Our Lady of Laus” but also as “Refuge of Sinners” because Mary revealed herself at Laus as the reconciler and refuge of sinners. Again, we hear her communicating the need for reconciliation, with an emphasis on repentance, the Sacrament of Penance, and reparation for sins.
Benoite went up to Laus frequently, each time receiving a vision of the Blessed Mother, who told her to “pray continuously for sinners.”
Mary asked for a chapel to be built. She told Benoite:
“I have asked my Son for this place for the conversion of sinners and He granted it to me.”
"It is my desire that a new chapel be built here in honour of my beloved Son. It will become a place of conversion for numerous sinners and I shall appear here very often."
Mary’s requests included that a chapel be built for Eucharistic adoration, so that Jesus could convert sinners, and also a house for priests to be built so the priests could hear the confessions of the pilgrims.
At the heart of the message given to Benoite is that of conversion of souls and reconciliation with God. Mary called on Benoite to pray for sinners and work for their conversion. Mary also asked Benoite to admonish women and girls about living lives of scandal (especially those who commit abortion), the unjust wealthy, and the perverse.
Benoite later became a Third Order Dominican and received visions of Jesus in His passion. During these visions, Jesus told her, “My daughter, I show myself in this state so that you can participate in My passion.” Benoite mystically participated in the sufferings of Christ for 15 years, enduring great pain.
Our Lady of Akita
In 1973, Our Lady of Akita appeared to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote outskirts of Akita, Japan. Here, our Lady repeats the urgent appeal to pray in reparation for the sins of men. She tells again of how the sins of this world afflict our Lord, and of the need for souls to console Him and soften His anger. This time, she speaks of a coming chastisement on all mankind. She speaks yet again of how she has prevented coming calamities, but that there is a need for men to repent or a punishment will be inflicted on humanity. If this seems unreasonable, then I encourage you to read again the above list and try to grasp the great depth of our sins and how deeply our sins offend God.
Again, Mary comes with an appeal to pray the Rosary every day and encourages us to have great confidence in her:
“Pray in reparation for the sins of men.”
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates.”
In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father's anger. I desire this also from your community...that it love poverty, that it sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men.
As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests."
The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.
The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.
"Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved."
Our Lady of Kibeho
In the 1980’s, our Lady appeared in Kibeho Rwanda, Africa. She came with another urgent appeal to repentance and conversion.
“Repent, repent, repent!"
"Convert while there is still time."
She also gave an assessment of the moral state of the world:
"The world conducts itself very badly."
"The world hastens to its ruin, it will fall into the abyss … it is plunged into innumerable and unrelenting disasters."
"The world is rebellious against God, it commits too many sins, it has neither love nor peace."
"If you do not repent and do not convert your hearts, you will fall into the abyss."
We see in this Marian apparition similar warnings and requests as previous ones:
The visionaries said that the Mother of God was very saddened because of people’s unbelief and lack of repentance. They said that she complained of our bad way of life, which is characterized by the slackness of customs, the likeness of evil, and continuous disobedience to God’s commandments.
The visionaries were urged to accept suffering, to mortify themselves and deny themselves pleasures for the conversion of the world.
Mary begs the visionaries to pray in abundance for the whole world, to teach others to pray, and to pray for those who do not pray themselves.
She once again encourages the regular praying of the rosary.
The Miraculous Medal
Throughout the widespread moral decay of humanity, Mary, our Holy Queen and most gracious Advocate, has never stopped turning her eyes of mercy upon us in this vale of tears. When Christ was dying on the Cross, He looked down upon his sorrowful Mother and His disciple John, and He made John a child of Mary with these memorable words: “Behold thy Mother, behold thy son." Such is the origin of the children of Mary. By Christ’s own command, she became the Mother of us all, and she is ever ready to be a source of consolation and remedy for her children.
When our Lady first appeared to St. Catherine Laboure in France in 1830, she came as an afflicted Mother weeping over the evils menacing her children. In this manifestation to St. Catherine, the Immaculate Virgin announced the disasters which threatened France: grief was depicted upon her countenance, tears stifled her voice, she earnestly recommended prayer to appease the wrath of God. Tears flowed from her eyes as she told St. Catherine:
"'My child, the times are very disastrous, great trials are about to come upon France, the throne will be overturned, the entire world will be in confusion by reason of miseries of every kind."
"My child, the cross will be despised, it will be trampled under foot, our Lord's side will be opened anew, the streets will flow with blood, the entire world will be in tribulation."
But then she spoke words of consolation to St. Catherine:
"But come to the foot of this altar, here graces will be shed upon all—upon all who ask for them with confidence and fervor."
"At a certain time the danger will be great indeed, it will seem as if all were lost, but do not fear, I shall be with you..."
"Have confidence, do not be discouraged, you are in my especial keeping."
"I will be with you myself, I will always keep my eye upon you, and I will enrich you with many graces."
The second time Mary appeared to St. Catherine is when she revealed to her her imporant mission: the propagation of the Miraculous Medal. The Blessed Virgin appeared as if in an oval picture; she was standing on a globe and was clothed in a white robe with a mantle of shining blue. Her hands seemed to be covered with diamonds which emanated luminous rays falling upon the earth, but more abundantly upon one part of it. A voice seemed to say to St. Catherine: 'These rays are symbolic of the graces Mary obtains for men, and the point upon which they fall most abundantly is France.' Around the picture were these words written in gold letters: 'O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!' This prayer, traced in a semi-circle, began at the Blessed Virgin's right hand, and, passing over her head, terminated at her left hand. Then St. Catherine seemed to hear these words:
'A medal must be struck upon this model; those who wear it indulgenced, and repeat this prayer with devotion, will be, in an especial manner, under the protection of the Mother of God.'
St. Catherine said that Our Lady’s hands were raised about as high as her waist and she held in them another globe (a figure of the universe). Her eyes were lifted up to Heaven, and her countenance was radiant as she offered the globe to Our Lord.
In her own words, St. Catherine describes the rays of light emanating from the rings on Our Lady’s hands:
"Suddenly, her fingers were filled with rings and most beautiful precious stones; the rays gleaming forth and reflected on all sides, enveloped her in such dazzling light that I could see neither her feet nor her robe. The stones were of different sizes, and the rays emanating from them were more or less brilliant in proportion to the size.”
“And the Blessed Virgin added: 'Behold the symbol of the graces I shed upon those who ask me for them,' thus making me understand how generous she is to all who implore her intercession. … How many favors she grants to those who ask.”
The luminous rays escaping from the rings on her fingers are symbolic of the graces that the Blessed Virgin obtains for those who ask for them.
“Wear this medal,” said the Queen of Heaven, “and thou wilt enjoy my very especial protection.”
As soon as the Miraculous Medal was struck, it was freely circulated and worn with great confidence. There was an increasing eagerness of the faithful of all ages, sexes and conditions to procure the Miraculous Medal, and the demand for it grew in France and beyond. Many extraordinary graces have been obtained through the instrumentality of the Miraculous Medal.
The Age of Mary
St. Louis de Montfort, in his Treatise on true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, wrote these lines in the year 1712:
"It is by the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ came into the world; it is also by her, that he is to reign in the world. If then, as is certain, the reign of Jesus Christ will come, so likewise is it certain that this reign will be a necessary consequence of the knowledge and reign of the Blessed Virgin. Mary, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, produced that most stupendous of all creations, a Man-God, and she will produce by the power of this same Holy Spirit, the greatest prodigies in these latter times. It is through Mary the salvation of the world began, it is through Mary the salvation of the world is to be consummated. Mary will display still greater mercy, power and grace in these days. Mercy, to bring back poor sinners; power, against the enemies of God; grace, to sustain and animate the valiant soldiers and faithful servants of Jesus Christ, combating for His interests. Ah! when will arrive the day that establishes Mary mistress and sovereign of hearts, to subject them to the empire of Jesus? … Then will great and wonderful things be accomplished. … When will this joyful epoch come, this Age of Mary, in which souls absorbed in the abyss of the interior of Mary, will become living copies of the sublime, original, loving and glorifying Jesus Christ?"
Jean Marie Aladel, St. Catherine Laboure's confessor, added these words in 1880:
“Is not this the Age of Mary? Was there ever in the Church, a period in which Mary was, if we may thus express it, so lavish of favors as in these, our days? Was there ever a period in which she has appeared so frequently and familiarly, in which she has given to the world, admonitions so grave and maternal; in which she has worked so many miracles; and poured out graces so abundantly? The reader of this volume will answer unhesitatingly, that no period of history offers anything comparable to what we have witnessed in our own days. It is true, that the day of triumph announced by the venerated Montfort, appears far distant; one might say that the kingdom of God on earth is more compromised than ever. The wicked make unexampled efforts to demolish the social edifice; they are numerous, powerful, and possessed of incalculable resources. But for the Church, when all seems lost, then is her triumph at hand. God sometimes permits the malice of men to exceed all bounds, that His power may be the more manifest when the moment of their defeat arrives. All the united efforts of the Church's enemies in the course of ages, all their errors, hatred and violence directed against her, the Spouse of Christ, are now concentrated in what is termed the Revolution—that is, anti-Christianity reduced to a system and propagated throughout the world, it is Satan usurping the place of Jesus Christ. But He who has conquered the world, and put to flight the prince of the world, will not permit Himself to be dethroned. He will reign, and even now, before our eyes, is His kingdom being prepared, by the mediation of the Immaculate Mary, of whom the promise was made that she should crush the serpent's head, and to whom alone belongs the privilege of destroying all heresies arising upon earth.”
We are living in the “Age of Mary,” a time when devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary will usher in the reign of Christ the King. Our world, so saturated in sin, seems lost — but we know and can say with assurance that in the end Mary’s Immaculate Heart will triumph, and when it does Christ will reign in His rightful place.
Devotion to Mary
Devotion to Mary and to her Immaculate Heart (which is closely associated with the apparitions at Fatima) should yield a twofold fruit from us: penance for sin and recitation of the Rosary. We can heed the words of Mary by:
Praying the Rosary. Our Lady has never ceased entreating men to amend their lives and pray the Rosary.
Making sacrifices for the conversion of sinners.
Suffer to atone for sins that offend God
Observe the First Saturdays requested by our Lady to make expiation to our offended Mother, that God may pardon sinners and blasphemers.
Place ourselves under the loving protection of our Lady by consecrating ourselves to her Immaculate Heart, wearing the Miraculous Medal, and wearing the Brown Scapular.
Our Refuge and Our Hope
Let us always remember that the Blessed Virgin Mary is our loving Mother and the Refuge of Sinners.
St. Bonaventure remarks:
“Before Mary there was no one who could thus dare to restrain the arm of God. But now, if God is angry with a sinner, and Mary takes him under her protection, she withholds the avenging arm of her Son, and saves him. And so, no one can be found more fit for this office than Mary, who seizes the sword of divine justice with her own hands to prevent it from falling upon and punishing the sinner”
And François-Louis Blosius tells us:
“There is not in the world any sinner, however revolting and wicked, who is despised or rejected by Mary; she can, she wills, and she knows how to reconcile him to her most beloved Son, if only he will seek her assistance.’
Basil of Seleucia encourages us to remember:
“O sinner, be not discouraged, but have recourse to Mary in all thy necessities; call her to thine assistance, for thou wilt always find her ready to help thee; for such is the divine will that she should help all in every kind of necessity”
So in our dark times, when things feel so perilous, let us confidently pray with St. Bernard of Clairvaux his famous Memorare prayer:
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.
