Sister Lucia's Beatification Process to Begin ( Pope Waves 5-Year Waiting Period)

ZNA ^ | February 13,2008

[NYer]

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI announced he will dispense with the five-year waiting period established by Canon Law to open the cause of beatification of Sister Lucia, one of the three Fatima visionaries.

The news was announced today in the cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal, by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, on the third anniversary of the Carmelite's death.

The Holy Father dispensed with the established waiting period once before for the cause of Pope John Paul II. Benedict XVI made the announcement on May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, some 42 days after the Pontiff's death in 2005.

John Paul II waived the waiting period in the case of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. The blessed died Sept. 5, 1997, and was beatified by John Paul II on Oct. 19, 2003.

A communiqué of the Vatican press office states: "Benedict XVI, taking into account the petition presented by Bishop Albino Mamede Cleto of Coimbra, and supported by numerous bishops and faithful from all parts of the world, has revoked the five-year waiting period established by the canonical norms (cf. Article 9 of the 'Normae Servandae'), and he has allowed for the diocesan phase of the Carmelite's cause of beatification to begin three years after her death."

Apparitions

Lucia de Jesus dos Santos was 10 years old when she said she saw for the first time, on May 13, 1917, a lady whom she later identified as the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Cova de Iria.

She saw the vision with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who were beatified by John Paul II in Fatima, in 2000.

In a pastoral letter dated Oct. 13, 1930, the bishop of Leiria-Fatima, José Alves Correia da Silva, declared the apparitions of Fatima worthy of faith and allowed public devotion. Since then, the shrine has become a center of spirituality and pilgrimage of international scope.

Born in Aljustrel in 1907, Lucia moved to Oporto in 1921, and at 14 was admitted as a boarder in the School of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in Vilar, on the city's outskirts.

On Oct. 24, 1925, she entered the Institute of the Sisters of St. Dorothy and at the same time was admitted as a postulant in the congregation's convent in Tuy, Spain, near the Portuguese border. She made her first vows on Oct. 3, 1928, and her perpetual vows on Oct. 3, 1934, receiving the name Sister Mary of the Sorrowful Mother.

She returned to Portugal in 1946 and two years later entered the Carmelite convent of St. Teresa in Coimbra, where she made her profession as a Discalced Carmelite on May 31, 1949, taking the name Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart.

She wrote two volumes, one entitled "Memories" and the other "Appeals of the Fatima Message." In her writings, she recounts how the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus appeared to her on other occasions, years after the initial apparitions.

The mortal remains of the Carmelite were moved in 2006 to the Shrine of Fatima. The body of the nun, who died at age 97, is buried next to Jacinta. Francisco is buried in the same basilica.

[NYer]

No surprise here.

[Manfred the Wonder Dawg]

Indeed - no surprise, sadly enough.

“In her writings, she recounts how the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus appeared to her on other occasions, years after the initial apparitions.”

Gnosticism.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Gnosticism? Not a bit.

No one is required by the Catholic Faith to put credence in apparitions and other mystical experiences -- not even the one who personally receives these visions and messages, and not even when they are found free of doctrinal error by the bishop.

The Catholic Church teaches that there is nothing contained in "private revelation" which is necessary for salvation.

This is not to say that such visions and so forth are valueless. Only that they are not de Fide.

[Pyro7480]

A Gnosticism charge from you? Kosta, you may want to comment on this. ;-)

[Nihil Obstat]

Most Holy Trinity - Father, Son, Holy Spirit - I adore You profoundly and offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And by the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and those of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.

Saints Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia pray for us. Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us. Sacred Heart of Jesus have Mercy on us.

[the invisib1e hand]

Catholicism: the gift that keeps on giving.

[marshmallow]

Gnostic?

Scripture itself tells us that Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain with him and was transfigured before them, while speaking with Moses and Elijah who were visible to the apostles. St. Paul mentions his own mystical experiences in his letters. The entire last book of the Bible was received in a vision.

Mystical experiences have always been an authentic part of Christianity.

[Salvation]

BTTT!

[Iscool]

Most Holy Trinity - Father, Son, Holy Spirit - I adore You profoundly and offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ

I'm trying to make some sense out of this but it escapes me...How can you, or anyone offer Jesus Christ to Himself, His Father and His Spirit???

You may want to offer yourself instead...

[A.A. Cunningham]

Ignorance, on your part.

[Salvation]

 

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			15 Promises Our Lady gave for praying the Most Holy Rosary Whoever shall faithfully serve Me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. I promise My special protection and the greatest graces to all who shall recite the Rosary. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means. The soul which recommends itself to Me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. Those who are faithful in reciting the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.   I shall deliver from purgatory, those who have been devoted to the Rosary. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. You shall obtain all you ask of Me by the recitation of the Rosary. All those who propagate the holy Rosary shall be aided by Me in their necessities. I have obtained from My Divine Son, that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors, the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. All who recite the Rosary are My sons, and brothers of My only son Jesus Christ. Devotion to My Rosary is a great sign of predestination.