A Fatima Bullet in Mary’s Crown?
Why St. John Paul the Great placed an assassin’s bullet in Our Lady’s Crown in Fatima, Portugal
Mary, did you know? The trained assassin was certain his four shots were perfectly aimed and fired. Two struck the saint, then known as Pope John Paul II, in his abdomen and hand.
A third bullet wounded 60-year-old American Ann Odre, and the fourth hit the arm of 21-year-old Jamaican Rose Hill. St. John Paul the Great kept praying:
“Totus tuus,’’ meaning “Totally Yours.’’ He kept repeating theses words over and over. “Totus tuus. Totus tuus.’’
It was May 13, 1981:
- Precisely 64 years to the day and hour (5:19 p.m.) since Our Lady of Fatima made her first appearance to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal.
- Starting on May 13, 1917, and monthly through October 13, they saw the Virgin Mary, “brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun.” She spoke to them.
- She warned them of the perils to come, including their ascent into Heaven. Two of the three children, Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto, would die as small children in the great Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918–20. Saints for our own time, they would be canonized in 2017.
- The third shepherd child, Sister Lucia, would live the longest by far, from 1907 until February 13, 2005. She carried many important visions, including one of St. John Paul being shot as well as warnings about World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the family.
- May 13, 1981, the day of the shooting, was five days until JPII’s May 18 birthday when the young pope would turn 61. His wounds were so severe he would spend the next three months in the hospital. But he was convinced Mary’s hand moved the bullet to spare his life, and one year to the day later, he went to Fatima, Portugal, to plant the deadliest bullet in Our Lady’s crown where it still rests to this day.
- Mehmet Ali Ağca, the young man, hired to kill the pope, was so moved by the experience, certain that the pope should be dead, that he would himself convert to Catholicism and met with the pope, who forgave him. They shared the January 1984 Time Magazine cover headlined “Why Forgive?”
- 2020 is the 100th anniversary of St. John Paul’s birth and 39 years since his shooting arranged by the Soviet Union that would itself die in 1991. During this year of the global pandemic, the Church itself was forced to stop celebrating public Masses in March, a global Lent. Will a new Pentecost follow?
- Orchard Lake, Michigan, home of the Polish Seminary that organized John Paul’s first North American visits in 1969 and 1976, on May 17, will hold the first public Mass since the lockdowns began. This outdoor Mass at the Shrine of St. John Paul bearing his blood and name, honors his 100th birthday.
- Orchard Lake Chancellor Mirosław Król, who suffered from the coronavirus himself, will preside at this renewal Mass. Across the state and in Rome itself, limited daily Masses start returning on John Paul’s actual Monday, May 18 birthday.
- On May 28, a lockdown that began in March is set to end in the state with the third-highest death toll. Three days later, the third day, May 31, is Pentecost. As John Paul said, “The Church of Christ is always, so to speak, in a situation of Pentecost: she is always gathered in the Upper Room in prayer, and at the same time, driven by the powerful wind of the Spirit, she is always on the streets preaching.”
“God, exercising His Providence over the world, designs the whole plan down to the minutest detail,’’ — Venerable Stefan Wyszyński.
We all stand on the shoulders of the giants who inspired us. St. John Paul learned much from Stefan Wyszyński, his friend, mentor, and role model, who was 19 years older. Wyszyński became a priest when the future St. John Paul was just 4-years-old.
When John Paul became pope, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński famously and humbly fell to his knees to kiss John Paul’s ring. John Paul lifted his mentor in a massive hug. When St. John Paul was shot on May 13, 1981, Wyszyński was dying but struggled to hang on until he was sure his friend would survive.
In their final phone conversation, Wyszyński told John Paul, “We’re united in suffering,” He died soon after being told John Paul was out of danger, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz recalled. Wyszyński died on May 28, 1981.
Wyszyński was to be beatified this June, but the ceremonies were delayed due to the pandemic. In spring 2018, months after Wyszyński was declared “Venerable,’’ on the road to sainthood, EWTN released Wyszyński’s 1946 book on the Catholic meaning of work to an American audience, explaining how our actions fit into God’s Plan:
“It is God who creates the conditions for our work. Our work would not have any starting point or basis if God did not prepare gifts from which we draw the material for new work…
“God, exercising His Providence over the world, designs the whole plan down to the minutest detail… Yet He entrusts the details of His design to man, to a rational being who, with the help of prudence, must play his part in bringing all creation to the fulfillment of the whole plan intended by God.’’
On May 13, 1981, the day he would be shot, and the 64th anniversary of the first Fatima apparition, the German publication, Stimme des Glaubens published a previously conducted interview with John Paul that included this prediction:
“We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it…
“How many times has the renewal of the Church been brought about in blood! This time again, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong, we must prepare ourselves, we must entrust ourselves to Christ and to His Holy Mother.’’
Father Seraphim Michalenko tells a compelling story of meeting a Japanese ambassador who specifically asked why Catholics, who were given the great Fatima devotion by the Mother of God, aren’t following her message. Why aren’t they accepting her miraculous gift? Most practicing Catholics know little or nothing about her Fatima promises.
The Ambassador told Father Michalenko, “I’ve read about this. The Lady came to you at Fatima, right? That’s what you believe? She told you what to do to secure peace in the world. Well, there’s no peace in the world, so obviously you Catholics haven’t done it.”
Mary offered Fatima children a Catholic Way Home
The Mother of Jesus gave the Shepherd Children of Fatima a Catholic Way Home, some simple requests that she said would bring peace to the world:
- Pray the Rosary daily, praying for peace in the world and in families.
- Repent. Most Americans hear the word “Repent’’ but aren’t exactly sure what it means. A 2016 survey of 3,000 Americans for LifeWay Research found Americans know little about theology with numbers even worse among Evangelicals with mega-churches offering such “watered down’’ teachings that many seemed mostly “Bible-less.’’
- Consecrate ourselves and specifically Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. St. John Paul consecrated Russia (and the world) in June 1984, and the Soviet Union collapsed literally between 1985 and 1991.
- Observe the “Five First Saturdays of Reparation” by attending Mass and receiving Communion on the first Saturday of the month, receiving the Sacrament of Confession on or close to the First Saturday of the month, pray the Rosary and meditate with Mary over its mysteries for 15 minutes.
The Divine Mercy in the Fatima messages
The list of Fatima messages adds up to one unified message from Our Lady: That we will suffer a great deal in life. Still, the grace of God will always be there to share our suffering and be our comfort, said Sr. Ângela de Fátima Coelho, MD, the postulator for the cause of canonization of Sts. Jacinta and Francisco Marto, as well as an expert on Sr. Lucia dos Santos.
“Loneliness can be the greatest of suffering and Our Lady tells Lucia, ‘I will never leave you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge. I will be with you in your sufferings’…. God is not here to take away our sufferings: God is here to SHARE our crosses. That is the message of Mercy.’’
Five-year-old Lucas Yurie was playing with younger sister Eduarda. Then Lucas fell out of the window, dropping more than 20 feet. The fall sent him into a deep coma. Brain tissue was lost. Emergency surgery was performed. His heart stopped twice.
Lucas’ parents, João Batista and his wife, Lucila Yurie, began praying to Our Lady of Fatima. The next day, they called the nearby convent in Campo Mouro, Brazil, calling for the sisters to pray for their son. But the community was in a period of silence.
Lucas’ condition got worse with each passing day. By March 6, 2013 — three days after the accident — doctors were saying Lucas was unlikely to survive. Or perhaps he’d suffer severe cognitive disabilities’’ or remain in a vegetative state.
On March 7, four days after the accident, they called the convent to ask for prayers. One of the sisters saw the relics of the two Fatima Shepherd children who died as young children, Francisco and Jacinta, and drew upon their common bond: “Shepherds, save this child, who is a child like you.’’
She convinced the other sisters and others to follow suit. Two days later, on March 9, 2013, Lucas woke up precisely six days after the accident. He was soon speaking, asking about his little sister. A couple of days later, he left Intensive Care and then went home.
He was fine — no noticeable changes from the accident. The healing was later reviewed and certified as the final miracle needed for the May 13, 2017 canonization of Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto, which occurred three years ago, on the 100th anniversary of the first Fatima apparition. Since both died before turning 12, they were the youngest non-martyrs to be canonized.
Shortly before she died 15 years ago, Sister Lucia, who had advised popes, including St. John Paul, made a final production, writing:
“The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family.’’
Quoting John Paul, she added, “Don’t be afraid.’’
She explained that anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be opposed. She also reminded us the devil loses because, “nevertheless, Our Lady has already crushed his head’.”