Our Lady of Fátima [antikvár]

FOREWORD At Fdtima, Portugal, on October 13th, 1917, seventy thousand people vwtnessed one of the greatest miracles of all time. The sun suddenly turned pale, emitted brilliant rays of multicolored light, spun three times on its axis and then, to the horror of the assembled multitude, "power-dived" dizzily towards 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" concerning 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 Fitima story began to make 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 clientele. Then—suddenly—the picture changed. Almost overnight Fatima 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 sacrifices, of doing penance and of praying, especially of praying the Rosary, for peace and the conversion of Russia. A new book had just been published, endtled ouh lady of fatima,