“Is That Clearly Understood, Theologians?”

In my book, A Scientist Researches Mary, Mother and Co-Redemptrix, I wrote: “But how little the empirical sciences have to offer on the subject of love! And so, there appears to be too much love of science and too little science of love.”

Love and sacrifice go hand-in-hand, and there can be no great love without sacrifice, without suffering. The cynic may therefore say that it is foolish to love. In fact, St. Francis of Assisi, who had a great love for God, was once called “God’s fool.”

The most suggested date of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God is Friday, April 3, 33 A.D., according to the Julian Calendar. It was the greatest expression of love the world has ever known. It was a love that chose to die through suffering and sacrifice. It was the “April Fool” on the Cross.

In fact, the crucifixion of Jesus took place near the spot where God had ordered Abraham to immolate his son Isaac, on Mt. Moriah. Abraham was spared the agony at the last moment, and his wife Sarah was also spared the anguish. But God did not spare the sorrowful agony of Jesus and Mary. No angel held back his hand, as was the case with Isaac. Indeed, on that Friday called “Good,” there was one solitary woman, suffering with God the Son; they, in turn, were suffering for all mankind and from them. It was the Redeemer and the Coredemptrix on a hill called Calvary.

Now, more than ever, it is important to acknowledge this loving sacrifice of Our Lady, together with her Son, for our salvation. And, evidently, this is the message heaven is giving us for these troubled times of ours as well. In this presentation, therefore, I wish to link the messages of some of the approved contemporary apparitions of Our Lady, which explain the importance of the consecration of the world to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary with Our Lord’s requested definition of the fifth and final Marian dogma, Mary, Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate.

The Mother of Sorrows in La Salette

In 1846, Our Lady appeared on the mountaintop of La Salette, France, to two children: Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud.1 A large, brightly-lit Cross bearing the crucified Christ hung from a chain around her neck. She was full of sorrows and was weeping ever so copiously. Not surprisingly, it was a Saturday! It was late in the evening of September 19, the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows. That feast dates back to the 12th century. In 1846, it was celebrated on September 19; in 1913, Pope Pius X fixed the date on September 15. The object of the feast is to remind us of the spiritual martyrdom of the Mother of God and her compassion with the sufferings of her Divine Son. In other words, it is supposed to remind us of the sorrows of the Redeemer united with those of the Coredemptrix.

Mélanie reported that Our Lady decried the lack of reverence of the few who who attended Sunday Mass and of the immorality of the priests. She also proceeded to scold and warn France—indeed, all of Europe—of impending famine and other disasters if people continued in the path of godlessness. Mélanie became a nun at the age of 20 and appropriately chose the name of Sister Mary of the Cross. Needless to say, the message of La Salette regarding the clergy did not endear Mélanie to them, and for years she lived a life of persecution by the Church authorities. She was forced to move from place to place, even to England, as a controversial figure.

Mélanie died on December 15, 1904, at the age of seventy three. Fourteen years after her death, on December 19, 1918, her body was found to be incorrupt and was placed in a magnificent tomb in the middle of the church, which was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception! It was an appropriate choice for the messenger of the Mother of Sorrows.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Twelve years later, on February 11, 1858, the Blessed Virgin chose the humble cave and grotto of Massabielle, a garbage dump in the village of Lourdes, to appear to a 14-year-old uneducated peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous. It was a fitting venue to express her profound humility for the privilege granted to her, namely, the Immaculate Conception. It was to be the first of 18 apparitions. On March 25, 1858, the feast of the Annunciation, when Bernadette asked the Lady her name, she then raised her eyes to heaven in an expression of profound gratitude and humility, and said: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” As W. R. Ainsworth (1878-1932) once said: “To those who have difficulty with this form of expression, it may well be said that it runs in the family as it was her Son who once said: ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ (Jn 11:25).”2

Berthe Petit

Even to this day, Berthe Petit is relatively unknown, but in February, 1910, this saintly mystic and stigmatist of Belgium, a Third Order Carmelite, heard these words from Our Lord: “The world must be consecrated to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother as it is to Mine.”3 This was to be Berthe’s mission. Indeed, in 1899, Pope Leo XIII had previously consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

It was on September 8, 1912, the feast of the birthday of Our Lady, that Our Lord said to Berthe: “The heart of My Mother has the right to be called Sorrowful, and I wish this title be placed before that of her Immaculate Conception because she has won it herself… She has earned it by her identification with my sorrows, by her sufferings, sacrifices and her immolation on Calvary endured in perfect correspondence with my grace for the salvation of humanity.” Then at a Holy Hour devotion during the night of March 24-25, 1912, the feast of the Annunciation, Our Lady said to Berthe: “With you, I call myself the Mother of the Sorrowful Heart.” In short, she linked her Immaculate Conception with her Sorrowful Heart, and added: “This title that my Son wants is the dearest to me of all my titles.”

Cardinal Desirée Mercier of Belgium was a great devotee of Berthe Petit and was her spiritual director. As previously predicted by Our Lord to Berthe, World War I started on August 4, 1914, when the Germans violated Belgium’s neutrality and invaded the birthplace of Berte Petit. Britain then declared war on Germany. It was during the reign of Pope Pius X (1903-1914), and Our Lord described it as “the first of those events, which will precede the chastisement.” Cardinal Mercier, spiritual director of Berthe Petit, pleaded to the Pope for the consecration of the world to Mary’s Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. However, the Pope did not consider the moment opportune; he died on August 20, 1914, just three days after the onset of the war.

On May 31, 1915, Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), who succeeded Pope Pius X, wrote to all the bishops of the world requesting them to appeal with confidence to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, that by her powerful intercession (as Mediatrix), she may obtain from her Divine Son the speedy end of the war and the return of peace and tranquility. Benedict XV, however, still did not consider, any more than his predecessor, the time opportune for a worldwide consecration. But it was certainly never condemned on doctrinal grounds. Why, then, has it not been done to this day? What role do the principalities and powers play?

Meanwhile, in England, Cardinal Francis Bourne, Primate of England and Archbishop of Westminster, continued to rally the faithful towards this devotion. In a pastoral letter of September 3, 1916, he wrote: “Nowhere in Christendom should honour be paid more readily to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary than here in England. In the days of united faith (that is, before the Reformation), England was, in very truth, Our Lady’s dowry.” He then requested that Friday, September 15, the feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Blessed Lady, the Stabat Mater be sung in churches, and the invocation, Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, be recited so that England may be solemnly consecrated and dedicated to Our Blessed Lady under that special title.

On May 5, 1917, in a letter to his Secretary of State, Pope Benedict XV wrote: “Since all graces are dispensed through the hands of the Most Holy Virgin (note his reference to Mary as the Mediatrix of all graces), we wish that the petition of her most afflicted children, more than ever, in this terrible hour, may turn with lively confidence to the august Mother of God.” Was he not also asking her to be our Advocate?

Eight days later, on Sunday, May 13, 1917, the “Mother of the Sorrowful Heart” and the Mediatrix of all graces responded to his plea and appeared in Fatima, Portugal, to three young children. Significantly, on August 15, the feast of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, Jesus referred to the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15) as “that great feast of her Heart as Coredemptrix.” Is this not His obvious link between the devotion and consecration of the world to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary with the Father’s requested dogma of Mary Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate?

After ten million people had died and many more maimed and displaced, the greatest global war in known history at that time ended abruptly and gloriously in favour of the British. It was on November 11, 1918. Cardinal Bourne again consecrated his country to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, this time in thanksgiving to her for Britain’s great victory.

Fatima and Russia

When the Blessed Virgin first appeared in Fatima on May 13, 1917, Russia was still a very Christian country, mainly of the Orthodox faith. Indeed, Russia at one time was called “Holy Russia,” and she also had a great devotion to the Theotokos.

Of course, Our Lady was well aware before she appeared in Fatima that Vladimir Lenin had arrived in St. Petersburg on April 3. His arrival in Russia was the start of the era of atheistic communism in the Soviet Union, which then spread at first to Eastern Europe. The Communist Party of China was then established in 1921 under Chairman Mao.

It was during her last apparition at Fatima on October 13, 1917, that Our Lady revealed herself as Our Lady of the Rosary. On that occasion, a crowd of 70,000 witnessed the miracle of the sun. But while the solar miracle took place, the children saw tableaus in the sky of Jesus blessing the crowd. St. Joseph also appeared with the Child Jesus, also blessing the crowd. Our Lady also appeared as Our Lady of Sorrows and, finally, as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

World War II

As warned by Our Lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917, men did not stop offending God, and the second “of those events, which will precede the chastisement,” as predicted by Our Lord to Berthe Petit in 1912, started on September 1, 1939, during the reign of Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), when Germany invaded Poland.

In 1940, the enemy seemed to be getting the upper hand, and the German Air Force and Navy were given the mission of crippling England before the land invasion. It was called Operation Sea Lion. There were several air assaults on London, but Sunday, September 15, 1940 was the last and most decisive battle of World War II. It was a battle which determined the fate of England and turned the tide of the war. The German Luftwaffe vastly outnumbered the Royal Air Force but that great battle, called the “Battle of Britain,” was valiantly won by the British. September 15 was therefore the turning point—“the crux,” as Churchill later judged it—of the “Battle of Britain.” It was on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows! Do we really need any further proof of the importance of the consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary?

After about fifty million people had died, the British and their Allies accepted Germany’s surrender, and the war in Europe ended in Mary’s month of May: May 8, 1945.

Berthe Petit had died two years previously on March 26, 1943, but some months before she passed away, as the consecration was still not made by the popes, one day she complained to Jesus: “Lord, how is it that, while confiding this work to me, you permit it to be thwarted at every moment?” Our Lord replied: “Do you forget that My own acts were constantly thwarted? Give time for the light to make its appearance… My apostle (of this consecration) would arrive at the predestined hour when the appalling cataclysm which approaches will have upset all the present calculations of mankind and their deplorable policies.”

Tuy, Spain, 1929

Let us now recall that the apparitions in Fatima really began in the spring of 1916 when the Angel of Peace, said to be St. Michael himself, taught the children to pray thus: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope… I beg pardon for all those who do not believe, do not adore…” In another apparition in the autumn of 1916, the children saw the angel holding in his left hand a Chalice over which was suspended a Host and from which some drops of blood fell into the Chalice. Leaving the Chalice and the Host suspended in the air, he prostrated himself down to earth in a posture of deep reverence and repeated three times the prayer: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 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.”

Those first apparitions in 1916 were very relevant to Our Lady’s last apparition to Sr. Lucia on June 13, 1929, in the Convent in Tuy, Spain, where she was a postulant. That night she went to the chapel to recite the prayers of the Angel of Peace and was lying prostrate on the ground as the angel did in 1916. Suddenly the whole chapel lit up with a supernatural light, and on the altar with the tabernacle a Cross of light appeared. Above the Cross could be seen the face of a Man with His body to the waist (the Father) and on His chest was a Dove (the Holy Spirit). Nailed to the Cross was the body of another Man. It was Christ, the Man of Sorrows, on the Cross. Suspended in the air were a Chalice and a large Host onto which fell drops of Blood, which flowed from the wound in His side.

Our Lady was under the right arm of the Cross. She held her Heart, encircled by a crown of thorns and flames—her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart—in her left hand. Under the left arm of the Cross were the words in large letters like crystal clear water, Grace and Mercy. Lucia understood that the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity was shown to her. Mary then said: “The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart…”

In my attempt to give a Marian interpretation to this vision, I concluded that it depicted that Mary is intimately linked with the Holy Trinity in that she is not only the Daughter of the Father and the Mother of the Son, but she is also the Spouse of the Holy Spirit—a trinity of gifts. As for “Grace,” all graces flow from the Holy Trinity and so, as spouse of the Holy Spirit, she participated in an intimate and unique way in the distribution of the graces of Redemption. As St. Maximilian Kolbe once wrote: “Mary and the Holy Spirit are united. The Holy Spirit is the divine sanctifier through which all graces flow. Therefore, Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces from the Spirit into the world.”4

As for “Mercy,” the Virgin Mary once said to St. Mary Faustina Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, “I am not only the Queen of Heaven, but also the Mother of Mercy and your Mother” (Diary of St. Faustina, 330). Indeed, in the ancient and popular 12th century antiphon, the Salve Regina, we pray to Mary: “Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy…Turn, then, your eyes of mercy towards us.” It is significant that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared that the coming liturgical year (2016) will be the Year of Mercy! As he said: “We entrust this Holy Year to the Mother of Mercy, that she might turn her gaze upon us and watch over our journey.”

It may well be asked: why did Our Lady wait until 1929 to request the collegial consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart? I believe it was because in April of that year, Josef Stalin started a major anti-religious campaign. Icons of Mary and many churches were destroyed and changed into factories. Stalin had become the leader of the Soviet Union from about 1927. He also set in motion events designed to cause a famine in the Ukraine to destroy the people there, who were seeking independence. He was responsible for the deaths of at least 20 million people and was considered to be one of the most evil people in human history. Through him, atheistic communism was beginning to spread all over the world.

The consecration of Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, as requested by Our Lady, was not done by seven popes in a collegial manner for one reason or another; neither was Russia mentioned by name. Then, 31 years later, after many graces were lost and after Russia had already begun to spread the errors of atheism in the world, the consecration of Pope John Paul II on March 25, 1984, did not mention Russia by name for ecclesiastical and political reasons. However, it was, according to Sr. Lucia, finally accepted by heaven. Communism in Russia then fell on August 22, 1991, the feast of the Queenship of Mary, and the communist flag was taken down for the last time over the Kremlin on December 25, 1991, the feast which celebrates the birthday of Our Lord!

The Lady of All Nations

Twenty-eight years after World War I ended, once more on the feast of the Annunciation—March 25, 1945—Our Lady chose to appear to a humble Dutch woman, Ida Peerdeman, in Amsterdam, Holland. It was the first of fifty-six apparitions, which took place between 1954 and 1959.5 Ida saw her standing in front of the Cross of her Son, which was implanted on top of the world. These apparitions are considered by many to be the most unique and important in the saga of Marian apparitions. Surprisingly and disappointingly, they are still unknown to many Catholics, both lay and clergy!

As never before in Marian history, Our Lady made numerous predictions which came to pass years later, including the various wars of the 20th century—for example, the Korean War and the Balkan War. She then referred to “a new, yet strange war in the distant future, which will cause terrible havoc.” The Lady also said: “I predict another great cataclysm for the world,” and on another occasion, she predicted that “there will be a time of great and alarming inventions” and that “disasters will come, catastrophes of nature, economic and financial catastrophes.” She also warned: “There are meteors. Watch out for them.”

A meteor, also known as a “fireball,” is composed of iron or rock from outer space, and plummets to Earth at tremendous speeds, sometimes as much as about 10 miles per second. Depending upon its size it can cause an apocalyptic-type of event. Previously said to be caused by a comet, it is now believed by most scientists that the extinction of the dinosaurs in the Mesozoic Era about 65 million years ago was caused by a massive meteor, and that in its wake tremendous amounts of smoke and dust clouded the sun, which obstructed sunlight for a period long enough to cause mass destruction of animal and plant life.

The Explanation of the Dogma

Our Lady also gave an explanation of and justification for the new dogma. She said: “I am standing on the globe in front of the Cross of the Redeemer in my capacity as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate. By the will of the Father, the Redeemer came into the world. For that, the Father used the Lady. From the Lady, and from her alone, the Redeemer took flesh and blood, that is to say, His body. In this way Our Lady became the Coredemptrix by the will of the Father. From the beginning the handmaid of the Lord was chosen to be Coredemptrix.

“It was necessary to begin with the dogma of the Assumption, then the last and greatest dogma would follow. Mankind has been entrusted to the Mother. That was when my Son said: ‘Woman, behold your Son,’ and to John ‘Behold your mother.’ Tell that to your theologians. I did not come to bring any new doctrine. The doctrine already exists. Never has Mary been officially called Coredemptrix. Never has she officially been called Mediatrix. Never has she officially been called Advocate. These three functions form one whole. It would constitute the keystone of Marian doctrines. When the dogma has been proclaimed, the Mother of all Nations will bring peace, true peace to the world, and more than ever before, all generations will call me blessed.”

She emphasized the prefix “Co.” Interestingly, St. Maximillian Kolbe was the first to stress that “Co” comes from the Latin word “cum,” meaning “accompanying,” and that by referring to Mary as Coredemptrix, it is not intended to mean “equal to,” but “cooperating with” or “companion of” the Redeemer in a supportive role, completely subordinate to Him. This, of course, is very unlike the second verse in the well-known Medieval hymn, the Tantum Ergo, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274): “Glory be God the Father. Praise to his co-equal Son.” She was the companion of the Redeemer, just as the first Eve was the “companion” of the first Adam. In fact, in my own personal Marian mnemonic, the M in Mary stands for Mediatrix, the A for Advocate, the R for (Co)Redemptrix and the Y stands for the Yes, which she gave to Gabriel when she became all three!

But the Lady of All Nations also predicted that there will be much controversy over the dogma. Indeed, this was also the case with the first Marian dogma, Mother of God. In 431 A.D., Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, taught that Mary was the Mother of Christ and not the Mother of God. Today the criticism is that the Mother of God is not the Coredemptrix!

She also lamented that the world was in a state of “degeneration, disaster and war,” and said: “This is why the Lady of all Nations has been compelled to come now in these present times for she is the Immaculate Conception and, as a consequence of this, the Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate. These three are but one. Is that clearly understood, theologians?” This from the Mother of God herself!

On another occasion, the Lady of all Nations referred to Pope Pius XII and Pope Paul VI as “the fighters.” Because of my curiosity as to why she identified these Popes as such, I researched some highlights of their Papacy. Pius XII, called the Pope of Fatima, was the Pope of the dogma of the Assumption, which he defined in 1950. He was also the Pope of the Holy Year in 1950-1951. In fact, he once composed a consecration to Mary in which he mentioned the words Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart three times, but it was never said as a public consecration!

As for Paul VI, one of the central battles in Vatican II was the attempt to downplay Mary’s role. Many expressed concerns that the statement on Mary would affect ecumenism. There were also those who were particularly disturbed by the title of Mary as “Mediatrix of all Graces.” Those who opposed the title thought that anything representing a problem to Protestants must be omitted. On the other hand, they were less opposed to the more restrictive “Mediatrix.” They also rejected the title “Mother of the Church”—a title, nevertheless, that Paul VI solemnly proclaimed at the end of the Council. However, what the Theological Commission denied Mary—her title Mother of the Church—Paul granted by decree. As he said: “I am neither liberal nor conservative. I am the Pope.” And so, as I see it, he was Paul, but he was also Peter!6 Was it not the same Pope Paul VI who once remarked: “The smoke of Satan was seeping into the Church of God through cracks in the wall”?

Finally, I first visited Ida in her home on July 17, 1990, where I spent an hour with this holy lady. After she died, I also visited her beautiful tomb at the head of which was a stone statue of Our Lady of All Nations.

Our Lady of Akita

A statue of the Virgin Mary began to weep in the convent of the Handmaids of the Eucharist in Akita, Japan, on January 4, 1975. A nun, Sr. Agnes Sasagawa (whom I had the privilege of meeting in person on October 13, 1991), became the privileged one to receive messages from Our Lady who spoke to her through—strange to say—a statue of the Lady of All Nations. It was carved by a Japanese sculptor from a small picture from Amsterdam in thanksgiving for a miracle which was experienced by a nun in the convent, and which seemed to come alive on those occasions.7

The phenomenon of tears issuing from the statue, which were scientifically proven to be human tears, was observed on 101 separate occasions over a period of six years. On one occasion, Sr. Agnes suddenly felt the presence of an angel at her side during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It was on the eve of the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. She did not actually see the angel in person, but a bible suddenly appeared open before her eyes, and she was invited to read Genesis 3:15: “I will bring enmity between you and the woman; and between your seed and her seed. She will crush your head…” The angel then explained to her that this passage in Scripture was relevant to the tears of Mary. He said: “There is a meaning of the figure 101. This signifies that sin came into the world by a woman and it is also by a woman that salvation came to the world. The zero between the two [ones] signifies the Eternal God who is from all eternity until eternity. The first one represents Eve, and the last, the Virgin Mary.”

On October 13, 1973—the anniversary date of the miracle of the sun in Fatima in 1917—Our Lady of Akita made this apocalyptic warning and prophecy: “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 (chastisement) greater than the Flood, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity. The survivors will find themselves so desperate that they will envy the dead. 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… The Church will be full of those who accept compromise, and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. Only I can prevent the disaster. Whoever entrusts themselves to me will be saved.”

In 1917, scientists knew very little about nuclear fission and fusion. However, we now know that the sun, composed mainly of hydrogen gas, is a gigantic ball of fire about one million miles in diameter which releases a tremendous amount of energy from the conversion of hydrogen into helium in its core. Significantly, that Akita warning was given on the anniversary date of the miracle of the sun in Fatima when, on October 13, 1917, to their astonishment, 70,000 witnesses saw the sun come plummeting down to Earth, and they thought that it was the end of the world. To their great relief, the sun was seen to retreat to its celestial abode at a signal from the hand of the Queen of the Universe. Our Lady, as it were, saved the world from a cataclysmic annihilation, which was experienced in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Genesis 6:11 reads: “The world was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence” before the Flood came. However, we now live in a world of unspeakable violence, with degeneration, disasters and wars, love of money, corruption and immorality, probably as never before in world history. Indeed, the signs of the apocalyptic times are clear to those who have eyes to see.

I end by quoting the first paragraph of the consecration once composed by the Venerable Pope Pius XII:8 “Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to you all the people of our country and all the world.”

Finally, we should also send an S.O.S. to the Vicar of Christ to define the requested fifth and final Marian dogma, Mary Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate, before it is too late. Of course, we do not know the hour or the day, neither the month nor the year, but as Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said in a letter on August 14, 1993 (the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who was once called “the fool of the Immaculate”): “The papal definition of Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate will bring great graces to the Church.”9

Mary, Queen of the Universe, protect us.