OUR LADY OF FÁTIMA By WILLIAM THOMAS WALSH INTRODUCTION BI 1 Monsignoh William C. McGrath DIRECTOR, OUR LADY OF FÁTIMA PILCRIM VIRGIN TOUR PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY a división of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036 Image, Doubleday, and the portrayal of a deer drinking from a stream are trademarks of Doubleday, a división of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. First Image edition published in 1954 by special arrangement with The Macmillan Company. This Image edition published May 1990. NIHIL OBSTAT: John M. Fearns, S.T.D. Censor Librorum IMPRIMATUR: ♦ Francis Cardinal Spellman Archbishop of New York April2, 1947 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Walsh, William Thomas, 1891-1949. Our Lady of Fátima / by William Thomas Walsh ; introduction by William C. McGrath. p. cm. ALL RIGHTS RHSERVED PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 45 44 43 42 2 FOREWORD At Fátima, Portugal, on October i3th, 1917, seventy thou- sand people witnessed one of the greatest miracles of all time. The sun suddenly tumed palé, emitted brilliant rays of multi- colored light, spun three times on its axis and then, to the horror of the assembled multitude, “power-dived” dizzily to- wards earth. A terrified cry rose from the crowd as thousands fell to their knees thinking the end of the world was at hand. Among those present was a correspondent for one of the major News Services in this country. Next day, from Lisbon, he cabled a long and impressive story about the Miracle of the Sun. But it was never published. Chicago and New York were in the middle of the World Series and the long dispatch became a one-inch item relegated to page 24, literally snowed under with details of singles, errors, batting averages and home runs. This incident has been advanced as one of the explanations for the great “conspiracy of silence” conceming one of the most momentous happenings of our generation. Explain it as you will, the fact is that almost a quarter of a century went by before whisperings of the Fátima story began to malee themselves heard around the United States. In the early forties it was featured in a few pamphlets and occasional articles in religious magazines, read and duly noted by a comparatively small and devoted clientéle. Then—suddenly—the picture changed. Almost ovemight Fátima became a subject of universal interest. People were speaking of war as a punishment from God for sin; of a "peace plan from Heaven", brought to earth by the Mother of God, in person; of the grim necessity—in the face of the gravest crisis ever to confront humanity—of making sacri- fices, of doing penance and of praying, especially of praying the Rosary, for peace and the conversión of Russia. A new book had just been published, entitled OUR LADY OP FÁTIMA, and it had jolted us out o£ the complacency of our Fool’s Paradise. As its author, William Thomas Walsh, pointed out the second World War could have 3 been prevented had men listened to the wamings of the Mothet of God. The spread of world Communism, the annihilation of nations behind an ever widening iron curtain, the persecution and martyrdom of innocent people—all this had been shown the world at Fátima in a disturbing preview of things to come unless men ceased ofFending the Son of God, "already too grievously offended.” Belatedly—but, thank God, at last—people were beginning to see in its frightening perspective the real nature of the struggle convulsing the world. We were in mortal combat, to the finish, not merely against flesh and blood but against Prindpalities and the Powers of Darkness. While there was no doubt as to the final outcome, the world was already pay- ing a ghasdy price for its frustration of the saving efforts of the Mother of God through sinful revolt against her Divine Son. It was only to be expected, people said, that pious writers should tell the story to the comparatívely few readers of re- ligious magazines. It was quite another thing—and America sat up and listened—when one of the most illustdous of con- temporary historians lent the prestige of his ñame to an ex- haustive study and documented story of apparitions that, in one way or in the other, would change the course of history. Certainly a perú sal of OUH LADY OF FÁTIMA jolted me out of my own benighted complacency in this regard; "jolted” me, I might add, into accepting an assignment of lee tures and sermons on the message of Fátima that has now carried me into 44 states over an uninterrupted period of more than sixyears. At the time Dr. Walsh became interested in the story of Fátima, he was recognized as a most distinguished author and scholar. Bom in Waterbury, Connecticut, he was educated in his own State and graduated from Yale with an A B. in 1913. His early career was devoted to teaching in his native State of Connecticut but it was not until he became a professor of English at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart that he tumed his attention to writing. While at Manhattanville he began to write the magnificent biographies, Isabella of Spaitt, Philip the Second and The Life of St. Theresa of Ahíla, which established him as one 4 of the outstanding biographers of his era. In rapid succession novéis, plays and poetry sprang from his gifted pen. He received the Laetare Medal in 1941. In 1944 the Spanish Government awaided him the Cross of Commander of the Order of Alfonso the Wise; in the same year he received the Catholic Literary Award from the Gallery of Living Catholic Authors. Later, at Madrid, the Spanish Government again honored him with the Cross of Isabella the Catholic. His books had been published in many foreign languages and he is known throughout the en tire world. This was the man who, hearing the story of Fátima, set asíde all of his other works to go to Portugal to collect the material for a book which would tell the story of what had occurred in those momentous months in 1917. This book was otra LADY OF FÁTIMA which more than any other single factor has been instrumental in bringing the mi ráele of Fátima to the attention of millions of Americans. This sense of Dr. Walsh’s tremendous achievement was uppermost in my mind the day we brought the Pilgrim Virgin statue to the room in St. Agnes Hospital, White Plains, N. Y., where the great Apostle of Fátima lay dying. We spoke of the reception accorded his book and its important bearing upon the very survival of America. Knowing him as we did, we spared him the embarrassment of referring to something that for him was now of even greater import, the exemplary man- ner in which he himself had lived the message of Fátima. As he spoke to us, quietly and cheerfully, his gaze steadily fixed upon the incomparably beautiful Pilgrim Virgin that had come to him this day from the shrine of Fátima itself, we were impressed as rarely in our lives before with the radiant peacefulness of his expression, a peace that was truly not of this world. After all, we told ourselves, it was not hard to understand. It brought suddenly and arrestíngly to our minds the promise of Mary at Fátima to those who would be faithful to her requests that she would assist them at the hour of death “with all the graces necessary for salvation.” Dr. Walsh has left us, but his clarión cali stdll resounds throughout America and the menace to which he awakened us grows more serious with the passing hours. Experts 5 the world over vie with one another in lurid and terrifying details of the possible fate awaiting mankind. Oft repeated appraisal of the effects of a sneak atomic attack by Russia, without the amenity of any declaration of war, leave» no illusion as to what "may happen" unless something decisive and final be done to avert the ever-present danger of atomic madness. Frantically today the world is seeking reassurance and in the politícal and diplomatic sphere the world is seeking it in vain. For those who will take Mary at her word, that reassurance is to be found. "lf tny requests are heard“ she tells us, “Russia will be converted and there will be jpeace Let us face it. From Russia alone comes the danger of nuclear war that could be the end of this thing we calí civi- Uzatíon. However overpowering may be America’s ascend- ancy in atomic weapons, the world well knows that America will never initiate a “preventive” atomic war. Were Russia tomorrow to feel assured of final victory in an all-out atomic struggle we should all too soon be shocked into a realization of the pathetic futility of our contemporary gestures of ap- peasement and compromise, of our refusal to take a strong and uncompromising stand in the face of an enemy that re- spects and understands nothing else. A converted Russia! Therein lies our hope. That it will finally come about we are assured. We have the promise of the Mother of God during the last apparitíon at Fátima, a promise made on the occasion of the tremendous Miracle of the Sun. "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Hóly Father will consécrate Russia to me, which will be converted and some time of peace vñll be granted to kumanity.” In the end? Some tíme of peace? Before—or after —the Wholesale slaughter of humanity in atomic war? That is for you and me to help decide.