The Day the Freemasons Promoted Fatima
 

On August 13th, 1917, the Freemasons of Portugal gave the Apparitions of Fatima a huge boost.

The six apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary at Fatima all occurred on the 13th of each month, except for the one in August. This was because the Administrator of the district of Ourem was a Mason. Not just any Mason, the crude and brutal Arturo Oliveira Santos was the founder-president of the Masonic Lodge of Vila Nova de Ourem and the publisher of the local newspaper. As such, he wielded a tyrannical power in his district and, concerned about the rising fervor of the area’s Catholics in response to the apparitions, he determined to nip the phenomena in the bud.

First, the Administrator, Arturo Oliveira Santos, summoned the children and their fathers to an interrogation at the Town Hall of Vila Nova de Ourem on August 10th. Ti Marto refused to allow Francisco and Jacinta to be interrogated, and decided to answer for them, stating that, if necessary, he would be imprisoned for them. But Lúcia's father, Antonio dos Santos, complied and brought her to be questioned. He stated, “If she’s lying, it’s a good thing that she should be punished for it.”

Once before the authorities, Lúcia was brutally bullied and threatened, while her father did nothing to intervene. This lack of support caused Lúcia much suffering. Her words in this regard speak volumes for her sanctity:

“I have the happiness of suffering more! What made me suffer most, was the indifference shown me by my parents. This was all the more obvious, since I could see how affectionately my aunt and uncle treated their children. I remember thinking to myself as we went along: ‘How different my parents are from my uncle and aunt. They risk themselves to defend their children, while my parents hand me over with  the greatest indifference, and let them do what they like with me! But I must be patient’, I reminded myself in my inmost heart, ‘since this  means I have the happiness of suffering more for the love of You, O my God, and for the conversion of sinners.’ This reflection never failed  to bring me consolation.”

When Lúcia returned home after the grueling ordeal, she raced to the old well to see Francisco and Jacinta, who had agreed to pray for her. She found them crying bitterly, and they explained to her that Lucia’s sister had come by earlier to tell them that she had heard that Lúcia had been killed by the authorities.

Although he had so far been unable to succeed in suppressing the little shepherds, the Administrator determined to kidnap them rather than allow another “hoax” appearance. And so, on the 13th of August, the Administrator tricked the children and brought them to Ourem.

The details of the kidnapping and Oliveira Santos’ actions make a laughable melodrama now, but at the time, they were terrifying to the children. More details can be found in the book: The True Story of Fatima, by Fr. John di Marchi; but for here we simply state that the children, although frightened by finding themselves locked in jail with rough prisoners and threatened with death by being boiled in oil, seized the opportunity to obey the Angel’s request and make reparation. When Jacinta began to cry, Francisco encouraged her, “Don’t cry, we can offer this to Jesus for sinners”, Then he prayed out loud, “O my Jesus, this is for love of You, and for the conversion of sinners.” Jacinta then added: “And also for the Holy Father, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

“Never! I’d rather die!”

The prisoners who were in the cell with them tried to comfort them, “But all you have to do, they said, is tell the Administrator the secret! What does it matter whether the Lady wants you to or not!”

Jacinta’s reply is an inspiration for us, she stated firmly: “Never! I’d rather die!”  The children then knelt and prayed the Rosary. Lúcia tells us in her Memoir that the prisoners all knelt and prayed with them and even those who did not know how at least knelt down reverently. After their Rosary, one of the prisoners took out his concertina and began to play a lively tune. before long they were all dancing, as Lúcia tells us. “Jacinta’s partner was a poor thief who, finding her so tiny, picked her up and went on dancing with her in his arms!”

In the midst of this happy interlude, a guard appeared, who in a fearsome voice called out to Jacinta: “The oil is boiling now: tell the secret, if you don’t want to be burned!” In a small voice, Jacinta replied, “I can’t.” “So you can’t, eh? Then I’ll make you able to! Come!”

During Jacinta’s interrogation, Francisco confided to Lúcia with boundless joy and peace: “If they kill us as they say, we’ll soon be in Heaven! How wonderful! Nothing else matters!” After a thoughtful pause, Francisco continued, “May God grant that Jacinta not be afraid. I will say an Ave Maria for her!” Then he took off his cap and prayed. The guard, seeing him in this attitude of prayer, asked him: “What are you saying?” “I’m reciting an Ave Maria so Jacinta won’t be afraid.” The guard made a disdainful gesture and let him go on.

After Jacinta, the same terrifying farce was repeated with Francisco, then with Lúcia, and each one thought the previous ones already dead. At last, the bully Santos had to admit that the little children had gotten the best of him. They had not budged an inch. The next morning, after one last interrogation, he returned the children to Fatima, on the Feast of the Assumption, dropping them off on the veranda of the presbytery.

Even though the little shepherds were unable to keep their assignation with Our Lady on August 13th, between three and five thousand people did come. Here is a brief account:

First, there was a thunderclap, “then came the flash of lightning, and then we began to see a little cloud, very delicate, very white, which stopped for a few moments over the tree and then rose in the air and disappeared. As we looked around us, we noticed the strange thing which we had seen before and were to see in the following months; our faces were reflecting all the colours of the rainbow, pink, red, blue… The trees seemed to be made not of leaves but of flowers; they seemed to be laden with flowers, each leaf seemed to be a flower. The ground came out in colours and so did our clothes. The lanterns fixed to the arch looked like gold.” - Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol 1

Despite all his best efforts, even Satan himself must yield to the will of God, and so it is really no surprise that the results of the efforts of Freemasons ended by serving the Woman, she to whom it is given to crush his head.  The result of the brutal abduction of the three shepherd children was to turn public opinion in their favor. By far, the best result was that the parish priest,  Father Ferreira became indignant over the abductions and fearing that the faithful would think him a willing partner to Santos, he wrote a letter, which was published widely in the area’s Catholic press.

“As a Catholic priest”, he wrote, “I must refute with all my power the unjust and insidious calumny that has been laid against me, and declare before the whole world that I took no part at all, whether directly or indirectly, in the odious and sacrilegious act which was committed by the sudden kidnapping of the three children in my parish who assert that they have seen Our Lady.” Fr. Ferreira went on in his letter to portray an objective narrative of the facts of the apparitions up until that date. It was this letter that gave the apparition credibility in the eyes of a wide swath of Catholic faithful throughout Portugal and Spain. 

Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité remarks on the Administrator’s abduction and Our Lady’s response to it:

“By this public act, acting in the name of the authority he held over a tiny part of the nation, he had affronted and outraged the Mother of God. Thus he contributed to drawing down upon his country a just divine punishment. Without this odious act, shamelessly committed by the competent public authority, would the great miracle of October 13th have been seen in all of Portugal? It is quite possible. What a lesson! What terrible responsibility for the unworthy authorities who deprive their people of the choice graces with which God wishes to fill them!”

It may perhaps be profitable to apply Frère Michel’s line of reasoning to those who lead the Church today, who continue to outrage God and insult His Blessed Mother. What do we think God will do? 

Let us continue to offer prayers and sacrifices in a spirit of reparation. Pray the daily Rosary with confidence! 

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!

- Edited from: Return To Fatima