Being Saved by the Rosary Runs in the Family

On August 3rd, 2010, the Telegraph reported that "Guardsman Glenn Hockton, 19, asked for a rosary to take with him before being deployed to Afghanistan on a seven-month tour of duty with the Coldstream Guards in Helmand Province."  Little did he know it would save his life.  He dropped the rosary, reached down to retrieve it only to find himself atop a ;and mine.It's enough to drive a man to prayer, I tell you.  He had to stand, very still mind you, for three quarters of an hour while his mates got him out of that rather sensitive situation.

This could become a family tradition.  Hockton's great-grandfather, Joseph Sunny Truman, served in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers during World War II. Having been captured, he and other prisoners of war were being marched ahead of the Allied advance.  As Hockton's mother tells it, "He was walking across a field with half a dozen of his platoon....He bent down to pick something up and was the only one to survive a sudden bomb blast. He had picked up a rosary."

This year, 2017, being the hundredth anniversary of Our Lady's appearance at Fatima, is a great time to brush off those beads.  We are in a special time.  May 13th, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, was the anniversary of Mary's first appearance in 1917. This October 13th will be the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun during her last of seven appearances. John Paul the Great was convinced that Our Lady played a role in preventing his death from Mehmet Ali Agca's assassination attempt. Agrca shot him on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima in 1981. Agrca, an agent of the Bulgarian KGB, shot the pope four times.  Usually when the Russians send one of their client country's agents, these professionals know where to shoot.

 

Third Secret of Fatima

From Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Vatican

Text of The Third Secret of Fatima

COMPLETE TRANSLATION OF ORIGINAL TEXT:

VATICAN CITY, JUN 26, 2000 (VIS) - Given below is the complete translation of the original Portuguese text of the third part of the secret of Fatima, revealed to the three shepherd children at Cova da Iria-Fatima on July 13, 1917, and committed to paper by Sr. Lucia on January 3, 1944:

"I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.

"After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: 'Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: 'something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White 'we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God."

The complete message of Fatima and documents and commentary can be found on the Vatican Website.