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ROSARY MIRACLES
Important Rosary Miracles over the last 100 years
Miracles are happening all the time—most of them are miracles of grace, unreported and unknown to the world at large. They usually occur on a private level and are not meant to be known by the public. Sometimes these miracles are also physical or material miracles, while still remaining in the private sphere. Other miracles are performed in the full view, awareness and cognizance of the public.
We will be looking at both the private and public ones, but we will begin with the public miracles, and especially those that have occurred in our time, which have a great bearing and relevance to our present circumstances and plight. We are currently looking at the Miracle of Lepanto, but we will also take a look at the four miracles listed below. Below, you will find a general description of these miracles, for the time being; once we have finished the story of Lepanto, we will embark upon these four other miracles in their chronological order.
Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, 1917
The most well-known miracle, which is associated with the Rosary, is the miracle related to the appearances of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Here, three children claimed that a lady appeared to them on multiple occasions, referring to herself as the "Lady of the Rosary", asking that they "pray the Rosary every day" and also asking the three children to give other messages to the people of the world. Since people would most likely not believe the children regarding these appearances, the "Lady of the Rosary" promised to perform a public miracle as proof. At her final appearance to the children, on October 13th, 1917, over 70,000 people had gathered at the site of the appearances, in expectation of the miracle that the children mentioned she would perform. That afternoon, an inexplicable miracle of the sun was experienced, by over 70,000 people. This was printed in Fatima newspapers the following day, which gave credence to the message the Virgin Mary had communicated to the three children. These appearances are very well documented, in case anyone should like to read the incredible interviews with the people who were there. Newspaper articles and accounts, from some of the people there the day of the miracle (including skeptics!), also testified to the miracle.
Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima, Japan -- August 6th, 1945
When the Americans dropped two Atom-Bombs on Japan in 1945, in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was a house, the parish rectory, eight blocks (about half-a-mile) from where the A-Bomb went off in Hiroshima, Japan. This rectory was few houses away from the parish church, which was completely destroyed, but the house survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries, who prayed the Rosary in that house faithfully every day.
Rosary Miracle in Austria, 1955 — Russians Pullout of Austria
After World War ll. the Allies turned over Catholic Austria to communist Russia. For three years the Austrian people endured this tyranny. Then, a Franciscan priest, Father Petrus, remembered how the Christians, although greatly outnumbered, had defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto by means of the Holy Rosary; and so he launched a Rosary crusade. Through it, 700,000 people, one tenth of the Austrian population, pledged to say the Rosary daily, so that the Soviets would leave their country. Austria was valuable to the Russians, because of its strategic location, rich mineral deposits and oil reserves. Yet on May 13th, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians signed the agreement to leave Austria, and they did so without one person being killed and without one shot being fired. It is the only time that the militant atheistic forces of Marxism have ever peacefully left a country in which they held power. Military strategists and historians are baffled as to why the Russians pulled out. But we are not -- it was the power of the Rosary. This is just one of countless stories about the power of the Rosary!
Rosary Miracle in Brazil, 1962
In 1962, there was a looming threat of communist takeover in Brazil. A woman there, named Dona Amelia Bastos, was known to have formed a Rosary rally, among the Brazilian women there, to do their part in opposing this looming threat. Their goal was simply to pray the Rosary in large groups, asking the Virgin Mary for help in opposing the Communist takeover, which the President of Brazil was leaning toward at the time. In Belo Horizonte 20,000 women, reciting the Rosary aloud, broke-up a Communist rally. In Sao Paulo, 600,000 women, praying the Rosary, in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, caused the President of Brazil to flee the country and not a single death was encountered, while sparing the country from the Communist takeover.
The Rosary truly is the weapon, as St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina used to say—he himself prayed the Rosary anywhere from 30 to 50 times a day, that is to say 150 to 250 decades of the Rosary daily; but a weapon is only as good as the soldier using it. It can be used well and correctly, or it can be used wrongly and badly. You can use a rifle to shoot at the enemy, or you can shoot yourself in the foot. Let us make proper use of our Rosary! Ave Maria!
Miracles are happening all the time—most of them are miracles of grace, unreported and unknown to the world at large. They usually occur on a private level and are not meant to be known by the public. Sometimes these miracles are also physical or material miracles, while still remaining in the private sphere. Other miracles are performed in the full view, awareness and cognizance of the public.
We will be looking at both the private and public ones, but we will begin with the public miracles, and especially those that have occurred in our time, which have a great bearing and relevance to our present circumstances and plight. We are currently looking at the Miracle of Lepanto, but we will also take a look at the four miracles listed below. Below, you will find a general description of these miracles, for the time being; once we have finished the story of Lepanto, we will embark upon these four other miracles in their chronological order.
Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, 1917
The most well-known miracle, which is associated with the Rosary, is the miracle related to the appearances of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Here, three children claimed that a lady appeared to them on multiple occasions, referring to herself as the "Lady of the Rosary", asking that they "pray the Rosary every day" and also asking the three children to give other messages to the people of the world. Since people would most likely not believe the children regarding these appearances, the "Lady of the Rosary" promised to perform a public miracle as proof. At her final appearance to the children, on October 13th, 1917, over 70,000 people had gathered at the site of the appearances, in expectation of the miracle that the children mentioned she would perform. That afternoon, an inexplicable miracle of the sun was experienced, by over 70,000 people. This was printed in Fatima newspapers the following day, which gave credence to the message the Virgin Mary had communicated to the three children. These appearances are very well documented, in case anyone should like to read the incredible interviews with the people who were there. Newspaper articles and accounts, from some of the people there the day of the miracle (including skeptics!), also testified to the miracle.
Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima, Japan -- August 6th, 1945
When the Americans dropped two Atom-Bombs on Japan in 1945, in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was a house, the parish rectory, eight blocks (about half-a-mile) from where the A-Bomb went off in Hiroshima, Japan. This rectory was few houses away from the parish church, which was completely destroyed, but the house survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries, who prayed the Rosary in that house faithfully every day.
Rosary Miracle in Austria, 1955 — Russians Pullout of Austria
After World War ll. the Allies turned over Catholic Austria to communist Russia. For three years the Austrian people endured this tyranny. Then, a Franciscan priest, Father Petrus, remembered how the Christians, although greatly outnumbered, had defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto by means of the Holy Rosary; and so he launched a Rosary crusade. Through it, 700,000 people, one tenth of the Austrian population, pledged to say the Rosary daily, so that the Soviets would leave their country. Austria was valuable to the Russians, because of its strategic location, rich mineral deposits and oil reserves. Yet on May 13th, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians signed the agreement to leave Austria, and they did so without one person being killed and without one shot being fired. It is the only time that the militant atheistic forces of Marxism have ever peacefully left a country in which they held power. Military strategists and historians are baffled as to why the Russians pulled out. But we are not -- it was the power of the Rosary. This is just one of countless stories about the power of the Rosary!
Rosary Miracle in Brazil, 1962
In 1962, there was a looming threat of communist takeover in Brazil. A woman there, named Dona Amelia Bastos, was known to have formed a Rosary rally, among the Brazilian women there, to do their part in opposing this looming threat. Their goal was simply to pray the Rosary in large groups, asking the Virgin Mary for help in opposing the Communist takeover, which the President of Brazil was leaning toward at the time. In Belo Horizonte 20,000 women, reciting the Rosary aloud, broke-up a Communist rally. In Sao Paulo, 600,000 women, praying the Rosary, in one of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian history, caused the President of Brazil to flee the country and not a single death was encountered, while sparing the country from the Communist takeover.
The Rosary truly is the weapon, as St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina used to say—he himself prayed the Rosary anywhere from 30 to 50 times a day, that is to say 150 to 250 decades of the Rosary daily; but a weapon is only as good as the soldier using it. It can be used well and correctly, or it can be used wrongly and badly. You can use a rifle to shoot at the enemy, or you can shoot yourself in the foot. Let us make proper use of our Rosary! Ave Maria!