by
Damien F. Mackey
Today is the 13th of June (2018), and I am always well aware of the 13th day of the month, from May to October, as being the key dates of the 1917 Fatima (Portugal) apparitions of our Lady of the Rosary.
This morning at Mass the Old Testament reading, from 1st Kings, was, most appropriately, the fiery account of the prophet Elijah’s contest with the priests of Ba’al on mount Carmel. Though this text has often been likened to the Fatima Miracle of the Sun which occurred on the 13th of October 1917, the Mass being celebrated today was actually in honour of the (albeit Portuguese born) very popular St. Anthony of Padua. I was listening intently to the gripping reading, so full of biting irony against the Ba’alists - and not connecting it to Fatima - until, at its dramatic conclusion of fire coming down from heaven to consume the offerings, and licking the water in the troughs, my mind reverted to the Fatima miracle of a downwards spiralling sun and the water from the incessant rain suddenly drying.
Firstly, let us recall what happened on the 13th day of June 1917, as I wrote about it in my book:
The Five First Saturdays Of Our Lady of Fatima
The Second Apparition: 13th of June
On the 13th of June, the feast of St. Anthony, Our Lady again asked the children to recite the Rosary:
“I want you to say the Rosary every day”.
During this apparition, the central massage of which was the need for reparative devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, there was no lack of symbolism of a biblical nature, nor lack even of miraculous phenomena. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared as usual over the little holm-oak tree, with Her feet resting on a small cloud; but this time, as Lucia recalled, there was a star with points of intense brightness at Her feet. On statues of Our Lady of Fatima today, this star is always represented on Our Lady’s dress just above Her feet. We might recall that at Lourdes the Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared with golden roses on Her feet. “But why on Her feet?”, asks Fr. Smolenski. The answer that he gives to his own question, as follows, may also explain why Our Lady of Fatima had a star at Her feet: “Then I came across this passage in Isaiah: “how beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation, and tells Sion ‘Your God is king!’” (Isaiah 52:7). So it seems that Mary chose scriptural imagery – like a window in a church – to explain Her purpose and identity”. (Immaculata magazine, May 1982, p. 10).
As for the star itself, even Lucia said that she did not know what it was meant to signify. But Francis Johnston (In Fatima: the Great Sign) has made the intriguing suggestion that this star may be meant to remind us of Queen Esther, whose name is thought to derive from the Persian word for “star”. Even more precisely, it is the morning star. And it is most appropriate therefore that the Lady of Light always came to the Cova da Iria, like the morning star from the east; and afterwards She disappeared in the light of the sun towards the east. She had come to signal the dispersion of darkness, and to herald light and peace”.
“Continue, my children, reciting the Rosary every day, to obtain peace for the world. (13th of May, 1917).
Given what we have already leaned about Fatima, there is a good likelihood that one may be on the right track in looking to discover the significance of the star by its having some symbolic connection with the Book of Esther. The legitimacy of such an approach may, in this case, receive some further support from the fact that, during the 13th of June apparition, even nature itself seemed under constraint to testify that a royal Person had come on that day to the Cova da Iria. For thus we read in More About Fatima (p. 20):
“The day was bright and hot as it usually is in Portugal in the month of June. Now, during the entire period of the apparition the light of the sun was dimmed in an exceptional manner, without any apparent cause. At the same time, the topmost branches of the tree were bent in the form of a parasol, and remained thus as if an invisible weight had come to rest upon them…”.
Then, during the departure of this royal Visitor from Heaven, this ‘New Queen Esther’, we read that:
“… the onlookers saw rise from the tree a beautiful white cloud which they could follow with their eyes for quite a while as it moved in the direction of the East. Further, at the Lady’s departure, the upper branches of the tree, without losing the curved shape of a parasol, leaned towards the East, as if in going away the Lady’s dress had trailed over them. And this double pressure which had bent the branches, first into a curve and then towards the East, was so great that the branches remained like this for long hours, and only slowly resumed their normal position”.
Even the bright day-star itself must remain dim in the presence of the Queen of Heaven, who is “more resplendent than the sun”. And the branches of the holm-oak must bow in Her honour as She passes by, on Her way towards the presence of the King. It is an image already evoked in Psalm 44, in the glorification of the royal princess:
“All the glory of the king’s daughter is within, clothed with gold-woven robes; in many-coloured robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions, her escort, in her train”. (vv. 13-14).
Almighty God chose to make the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary itself the very focal point of the 13th of June apparition. Lucia, later recalling the extraordinary grace that Heaven had deigned to bestow upon her and her little companions that day, said that the Lady, after speaking to them at some length about Her Immaculate Heart, then stretched forth Her hands, throwing on the children rays of immense light in which they saw themselves as if immersed in God.
“The Blessed Virgin held in Her right hand a Heart surrounded by thorns, which pierced it from all sides”.
The seers understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, afflicted by all the sins of the world, which demanded penance and reparation. Said Lucia:
“It seems to me, that on that day, the purpose of the light was to pour into us a special knowledge and love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as on other occasions it infused into us the knowledge and love of God, and the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. From that day, indeed, we experienced a more ardent love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary”. (“More About Fatima”, p. 88).
On this occasion Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, who had been called by Our Lady to the sublime vocation of making known to the world the devotion of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, were even granted the privilege of gazing momentarily in vision upon Her most pure Heart – the very embodiment of the devotion. Jacinta and Francisco’s time though for spreading this devotion on earth, before being taken up into Heaven, would be short. But not so for Lucia; for, as Our Lady told her,
“You must remain longer on earth. Jesus wishes to use you in making Me known and loved. He wishes to spread in the world the devotion to My Immaculate Heart. I promise salvation to those who embrace this devotion. Their souls will be loved by God with a love of predilection, like flowers placed by Me before His throne”. (Ibid., p. 86).
An when Lucia appeared sad at the thought of having to remain alone on earth after the death of her two companions, Our Lady consoled Her by saying:
“No, my child, I shall never abandon you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God”. (Ibid.) ….
For a better appreciation of the irony and sarcasm hurled against the priests of Ba’al by the prophet Elijah, one could do no better than to read Leah Bronner’s The stories of Elijah and Elisha as polemics against baal worship (Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1968).
Many suggested comparisons between Elijah’s fire from heaven and the Fatima miracle can be found on the Internet. Here are a few interesting ones taken from:
It seems that Heaven has confirmed Our Lady at Fatima in the same mission of the prophet Elijah. Our Lady at Fatima appearing in her Carmelite habit with a similar fire from Heaven during the miracle of the sun. The stupendous Fatima Miracle is the Greatest Supernatural Event of the 20th Century and does not belong to faith or science it is an Historical Event!
The Miracle of the Sun authenticated Fatima as supernatural in origin and also is a prefigurement or warning of a future catastrophe if the simple requests made at Fatima by our Lady are not heeded. ….
And:
Lourdes and Fatima belong to a long line of Approved Marian Apparitions leading back to the founding of the Carmelite Order on Mt Carmel by the Prophet Elijah. Here Elijah battled 450 priests of Baal in a public spiritual contest which led to their defeat and ruin. He challenged the people to stop hobbling first on one foot and then on the other but to choose who is God in Israel Yahweh or Baal. According to the story, which can be found in the First Book of Kings, chapter 18, Elijah’s sacrifice was consumed by fire from heaven and proved to the people that Yahweh was the true God. Is it possible God is sending his Mother the Queen of prophets to help us defeat the prophets of Baal resurrected in our own time. ….
And, perhaps in connection with: “The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared as usual over the little holm-oak tree, with Her feet resting on a small cloud …”:
Elijah ascended Mount Carmel to pray to God for the salvation of the Israel which was suffering a terrible drought at that time. Elijah "Casting himself down upon the earth he put his face between his knees." 1 Kings 18:42. He sent his servant seven times higher up the mountaintop to look for rain. Elijah, never wavered in his confidence, and received the good news on the seventh try. ….
….
Soon thereafter, torrential rains fell upon the parched land and the people of Israel were saved. Later an austere community of hermits followed Elijah and prayed in expectation of the advent of a Virgin-Mother who would bring salvation to mankind. They also saw the cloud as a symbol of the Virgin who would become the mother of the Messiah and made it their spiritual mission to pray for the advent of the Virgin.
….
The identification with the Mystery of Mt. Carmel is even more apparent. Mary came transported upon a cloud from the east similar to the … cloud rising from the ocean that Elijah saw that eventually inundated the earth with life giving rain ending a severe draught. Could this, along with other mysteries still hidden within the drama of Fatima, Signify a Second Advent with Mary? Fatima seems to announce the Second Advent Mary as seen in the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation: The woman clothed with the sun the moon under her feet, and who with the help of God, prepares the church to meet Christ in his second advent his glorious second coming.
In relation to this, though, see my article:
Beyond the "Second Coming"
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