Consecrating Russia
March 27, 2022
Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~
We all want the war in Ukraine to end but what can we do? Prayer of course, Jesus says it can move mountains (Mt 21:22 & Mk 11:24). This past Friday, Pope Francis and a great number of the world’s bishops and pastors (including yours truly and hundreds of our faith filled parishioners) consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the apparition of July 13, 1917, in Fatima Portugal, Our Lady had asked for the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, stating that if this request were not granted, Russia would spread “its errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecution of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be destroyed.”
On June 13, 1929, Our Lady returned again as Sr. Lucia was at prayer in the convent chapel at Tuy, Spain. This time she appeared alongside a representation of the Holy Trinity. Mary spoke to her saying: “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia, promising to save it by this means…”
So the conditions for the consecration of Russia were; 1) for Russia to be consecrated to Mary’s Immaculate Heart; 2) for a pope to do it; 3) in union with a “moral totality” of the world’s bishops. Since then, no less than four popes have attempted some sort of consecration of Russia or the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; yet it wasn’t until Pope Francis’ consecration last Friday of Russia by name, with the world’s bishops, that we can say it finally happened as Our Lady requested over a century ago. Here’s a list . . .
Consecrations of Russia or the World to Mary
After the Fatima apparitions there were various acts of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
October 31, 1942: without the bishops of the world, Pope Pius XII, consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
July 7, 1952: without the bishops of the world, Pope Pius XII, consecrated the peoples of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Apostolic Letter Sacro Vergente Anno.
November 21, 1964: without the bishops of the world, Pope Paul VI renewed the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart in the presence of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.
June 7, 1981: Pope St. John Paul II composed a prayer for what he called an ‘Act of Entrustment’ of Russia to be celebrated in the Basilica of St Mary Major the Solemnity of Pentecost.
March 25, 1984: with the bishops of the world, Pope St. John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but did not mention Russia.
March 25, 2022: with the bishops of the world, Pope Francis consecrated Russia (by name) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If there was any doubt about the full efficaciousness of previous consecrations, this one should have erased all doubt.
Here is a reminder about the Fatima apparition where The Blessed Virgin Mary asked for Russia’s consecration and the consequences of failing to do so.
July 13, 1917
On July 13 the three children [of Fatima] assembled at the Cova and again saw the indescribably beautiful Lady over the Holm oak tree. Lucia asked what she wanted, and Mary replied: “I want you to come here on the 13th of next month and to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you.”
Lucia then asked her who she was and for a miracle so everyone would believe: “Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle for all to see and believe.”
Lucia made some requests for sick people, to which Mary replied that she would cure some but not others, and that all must say the rosary to obtain such graces. And she continued: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
The vision of hell
As she spoke these words, Mary opened her hands and rays of light from them seemed to penetrate the earth revealing to the children a terrifying vision of hell full of demons and lost souls amid indescribable horrors. This vision of hell was the first part of the three part secret of Fatima which was unknown until the writing of Sister Lucia’s Third Memoir dated August 31, 1941.
The second secret follows: The children looked up to the sad face of the Blessed Virgin, who spoke to them kindly: “You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.
“To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” [Not knowing what Russia was, the children assumed it was a woman because Mary referred to it as “she”.]
First Saturday Devotions
On December 10, 1925, while at the Dorothean Convent in Pontevedra, Spain, Lucia had another apparition of the Blessed Mother, this time with the Child Jesus. She had returned to ask for the Communions of Reparation we now call First Saturday Devotion, as she said she would during her July 13 apparition at Fatima. Mary told Lucia to announce that she promised to provide, at the hour of death, the graces necessary for salvation to those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, confessed, received Holy Communion, recited five decades of the rosary, and kept her company while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary for fifteen minutes, all with the intention of making reparation to her.
I am not aware of a pope having promoted First Saturday Devotions as Our Lady requested at Fatima and then again in 1925. Until this happens, I’m afraid that Our Lady’s two requests at Fatima are still yet to be fully heeded. Until that day, let us practice the First Saturday Devotions and pray for the day when they are promulgated by a pope for all the world’s Catholics to embrace. You can find them here.
In Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart,
Fr. Thomas Nathe
