Friday 29th March 2024

Home » Featured Today » Currently Reading:

Guadalupe, Fatima, And Catholic Culture

November 22, 2016 Featured Today No Comments

By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe falls on December 12, and reminds us of the important series of apparitions to Juan Diego in Mexico, in 1531. The Blessed Virgin asked him to go to the local bishop, Bishop Zumárraga, with a request that a ‘little house’ be built for her.
After trying unsuccessfully to see the bishop, Juan Diego eventually returned to him with his cactus fiber outer garment, or tilma, filled with out-of-season flowers, which the beautiful lady had pointed out to him. When he came into the presence of the bishop, Juan Diego opened the tilma and let the flowers fall to the floor.
But what captivated the bishop and his entourage was the miraculous Image of Guadalupe on the Tilma, which has been preserved now in Mexico for nearly five centuries, although such fiber garments usually disintegrate within twenty years.
The consequences of the apparitions at Guadalupe were truly astounding. One of the early Franciscan Fathers, Toribio de Benavente, known as Motolinia or the “poor little one,” claimed as early as 1537, only six years after Guadalupe, that nine million Aztecs had been baptized.
The magnitude of this achievement becomes clear when it is realized that the evangelization of other Spanish and Portuguese possessions took centuries. It is all the more amazing since there had been a real threat of an uprising by the Aztecs against their Spanish conquerors just prior to our Lady appearing to Juan Diego. Spanish explorers had begun to colonize the Caribbean area after the discovery of the Americas in 1492, but it was not until 1519 that the Aztec empire, in what is now Mexico, was conquered by Cortés.
His small force managed to defeat the much larger Aztec forces under their emperor Montezuma, and put a stop to the endless flow of blood demanded by the dire religion of human sacrifice practiced by the Aztecs. Obviously, this dramatic intervention in history by our Lady points to her incredible intercessory power before the throne of God.
And Guadalupe, and succeeding Marian apparitions, such as those at Rue du Bac, La Salette, and Lourdes in France in the 19th century, and particularly Fatima in Portugal in the early 20th century, all show that the Blessed Virgin’s role in both the Church and world history is of paramount importance.
But we can learn another crucial lesson from what followed Guadalupe and these other apparitions. The mass conversions of Aztecs established Catholicism as the religion of Mexico, and after the French Revolution, in 1789, our Lady’s appearances in France certainly rejuvenated the Church there after the depredations of the Revolution.
The miracles performed at Lourdes made a particular impact on people’s minds, although there were also great 19th-century French saints such as St. John Vianney, St. Bernadette, and St. Therese of Lisieux at work, and also many new religious orders were founded. All of this contributed to the great revival of the French Church which took place at this time.
And likewise, following Fatima, and particularly the Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917, Portuguese society was slowly but surely transformed from a situation of coups, violence, and persecution of the Church, to one where, by 1942, Christian principles were once more widely accepted, and Cardinal Cerejeira, the patriarch of Lisbon, could say that what had happened in the country was a miracle.
What these historical episodes show is that genuine Marian devotion and practice are capable of changing history, and that our Lady’s interventions have not just been to promote pious practices such as the rosary. That is, such devotion has shown itself capable of changing the culture of particular societies, often in quite a dramatic way.
Coming back to Guadalupe, what happened there is very instructive if we are to change the culture of American and European society, and indeed Western society generally, so that it gets back to its Christian roots.
The Conquistadors were victorious against the Aztecs in 1519, and stopped the sacrificial killing of victims of the diabolical religion then current, but they were not able to change the culture of Aztec society to any great degree. There were conversions to the Church, such as in the case of Juan Diego, but they were slow in coming, and as indicated above, there was a danger of a rebellion of the Aztecs against the their new Spanish masters shortly before our Lady appeared in 1531.
It was those apparitions and their consequences which gradually changed the culture in Mexico, and that change clearly would not have happened without the Blessed Virgin’s intervention — God does not multiply miracles unnecessarily and if Mexico could have been converted without such an intervention then He would have undoubtedly been content to let events unfold in the normal way. And the same is true of the interventions in France and Fatima.

Promote The Rosary

So what does mean for our own “culture war”? Well, it would clearly seem to indicate that if we don’t include our Lady in our evangelizing efforts then they are not going to be sufficient to overcome the present culture of death. If she was required to overcome dangerous situations in previous centuries, how much more now when the world has grown so much more sophisticated in its evildoing?
But looking around, it is sadly the case that quite often Catholics, and even good Catholics, are content to pay lip service to the role of our Lady, while actually putting their confidence in programs of evangelization and so forth, or other factors, which without her, as recent history demonstrates, have been largely without effect.
This is not to say that these things are bad, just that they are obviously not sufficient to overcome the deadly forces now controlling Western society. It is, above all, a spiritual battle we are engaged in, and we must take up spiritual weapons if we are to succeed. And this even applies to the pro-life movement — as good and as necessary as it is, of itself, it will not change our present corrupt culture.
Organizations such as 40 Days for Life are increasingly showing the crucial role of prayer and particularly the rosary, in preventing abortion, but even if it were outlawed in the West tomorrow, that would not change the secular mentality which underpins the anti-life position.
Just as the fact that Cortés and his followers, in halting the terrible bloodshed of the Aztec religion of human sacrifice did not change Aztec culture at its most basic level, so something more is needed if our anti-God culture is to be converted back to Christ.
It can be argued that that “something more” is a wholehearted adoption of the Message of Our Lady of Fatima as given in 1917, and particularity the promotion of the rosary and the adoption of the Five First Saturdays devotion on as wide a scale as possible among Catholics.
The Miracle of the Sun was the greatest miracle since the Resurrection and points to the crucial importance of the message given by our Lady, and the urgent need to take it much more seriously, as the centenary of the apparitions approaches.
We have to change the culture, just as the Church changed the culture of the Roman Empire after it collapsed, in a process which led to the growth and flourishing of Christendom, the medieval Catholic religious society which became dominant in Europe, and also in the way that Mexican society was transformed in the 16th century.
One thing is certain — without an active reliance on our Lady, the Church will continue to struggle, whereas with her, we have the assurance that in the end her Immaculate Heart will triumph and a period of peace will be given to the world.

+ + +

(Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian Apparitions, and maintains a related website at www.theotokos.org.uk. He has also a written a time-travel/adventure book for young people — details can be found at: http://glaston-chronicles.co.uk.)

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)