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IC CHAPEL (13 December 2017) Commemoration of Lucia, Martyr Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. ~ Isaiah 40:1-2 In the name of Jesus. Amen. These days are the darkest times of the year. It is not an accident that St. Lucia, whose name derives from lux, light, is commemorated when the days are the shortest. Festivals of light became very popular in northern Europe during this time of...

The 51-year-old mother of five is in kidney failure, a result of her Type 2 diabetes. Lucia (whose last name has been withheld at her request because of her family’s immigration status) is one of an estimated 6,500 undocumented immigrants in the United States who are living with end-stage renal disease, She feels grateful for the limited care she receives here in the United States, because she is acutely aware of the reality that she would not be entitled to any care in her native Mexico and would almost certainly have died by now.

The Pope celebrated mass in St Peter’s square this morning in honour of the Marian Day, an event organised as part of the Year of Faith on the anniversary of the final apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima (13th of October 1917). Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’ homily in English translation. In the Psalm we said: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things” (Ps 98:1). Today we consider one of the marvelous things which the Lord has done: Mary! A lowly and weak creature like ourselves, she was...

A Portland massage therapist gave local police a detailed statement last year alleging that former Vice President Al Gore groped her, kissed her and made unwanted sexual advances during a late-night massage session in October 2006 in a suite at the upscale Hotel Lucia. The woman told investigators that she informed two friends and kept the clothes she wore that night, including her black pants with stains on them. But Portland police didn't contact any of the woman's friends, obtain the potential evidence or interview anyone at the hotel, records show. "The case was not investigated any further because detectives...

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,...

ROME, SEPT. 25, 2007 (Zenit.org).- When Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone's book about the last Fatima visionary was presented, guests got a chance to watch a video about Sister Lucia's final moments, related by her Mother Superior. At Friday's presentation of "L'Ultima Veggente di Fatima" (The Last Fatima Visionary), written by the Pope's secretary of state, those in attendance saw a video reporting on the Convent of Coimbra, in Portugal, where Sister Lucia lived for the last 57 years of her life. The visionary occupied the same cell during all those decades, and from there "she flew to heaven," said the superior...

“The Fourth Secret of Fatima”Mainstream Italian Author Argues Third Secret of Fatima Not Entirely RevealedSecretary of Pope John XXIII Admits There Are Two Textsby John Vennari               On November 22, 2006, Antonio Socci’s Il Quarto Segreto di Fatima (The Fourth Secret of Fatima), hit bookstores in Italy. The author, after much investigation, comes to the conclusion that the Vatican has not formally released the entire Third Secret.              The importance of this book cannot be overemphasized. Mr. Socci is a famous, mainstream Italian author and TV anchor man, not associated with any “traditionalist” group. In fact, he began the project firmly believing...

The tradition of celebrating Saint Lucia of Italy in Sweden is honoured annually on 13th December. The total darkness of the Lucia early morning is broken by the glow of the Lucia figure dressed in a flowing gown of white and afire with a wreath of candles upon her head. Sankta Lucia, as she is known in Swedish, is a creature of goodness and light. She is a shining angel illuminating the way to the Christmas season. The Lucia celebration originates from the Middle Ages when December 13th was the longest night of the year according to the Julian calendar....

TRANSFERAL OF THE REMAINS OF SISTER LUCIA TO FATIMA LIVE (7 ½ HOURS) Viewing of the Casket of Sr. Lucia in the Cathedral of CoimbraSunday February 19, 2006 4:30 AM LIVE Sunday February 19, 2006 12:30 PM ENCORE Mass in the CathedralSunday February 19, 2006 6 AM LIVE Sunday February 19, 2006 2 PM ENCORE Monday February 20, 2006 12 AM ENCORE Departure to the Shrine of FatimaSunday February 19, 2006 7:30 AM LIVE Sunday February 19, 2006 3:30 PM ENCORE Arrival at the Shrine, Procession to the Little Chapel of ApparitionsSunday February 19, 2006 8:30 AM LIVE Sunday...

I doubt that Mel Gibson will have as difficult a time in finding a willing distributor for his next film - even if it will upset secular Hollywood again. Mel Gibson recently bought the rights to the book, “Stealing from Angels,” which involves the three secrets of Fatima. The last surviving witness to whom the Virgin Mary appeared near Fatima, Sister Lucia de Jesus de Santos, died two weeks ago at age 97 in Portugal. The first two parts of the three Fatima prophecies have been known for decades and are interpreted as predicting World War I and World War...

Mel Gibson says he cut scenes from his soon-to-be-re-released blockbuster film, "Passion of the Christ," to tone down the violence that earned it an R rating and kept some people from seeing it. Gibson said he received "truckloads of cards and letters” when the original film was released. "What came up again and again was that a lot of people were turned away because of the brutality in the film and were afraid to watch," he told Raymond Arroyo on EWTN’s "World Over Live" Friday night. "So I thought if I softened it up a bit, I could have a...

SISTER LUCY’S CELL ORDERED SEALED BY THE VATICAN by Christopher Ferrara Catholic Family News March 2005 Sister Lucy of Fatima died on February 13, 2005 -- the same day of the month on which the Fatims apparitions occurred each month for six months. (May - October) in 1917, and the same day of the month on which Ali Agca attempted to assassinate the Pope in 1981. The very next day Vito Messori, one of Italy’s top journalists, whose interview of John Paul II became the best-selling book Crossing the threshold of Hope, broke the stunning news in the Italian daily...

HERE'S A CURIOUS THOUGHT. Maybe the single most important person in the 20th century's long struggle against communism wasn't Ronald Reagan. Maybe it wasn't Karol Wojtyla or Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa or Václav Havel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn or Mikhail Gorbachev. Maybe it wasn't anyone whose name might leap to a cold warrior's mind--for the most important figure in that long, dark struggle might have been a 10-year-old girl named Lucia dos Santos. You remember her, of course. It was Lucia who went out one day in 1917 with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Martos to tend the family's sheep--and ended up...

HOT TOPICS: Fatima Forebodings about the Death of Sister Lucy Marian T. Horvat The first thing that struck me when I heard that Sister Lucy had died at age 97 on February 13 was: “How sudden and unexpected this news is! It must have been a heart attack, or some other such unforeseen sudden illness.” The last seer died leaving many questions about the Fatima message unresolved. Los Angeles Times, June 27, 2000 But no, it was not. Coimbra Bishop Albino Cleto told Radio Renascença that “she had been weak for several weeks and had not left her cell.”...

Hollywood A-lister buys the rights to the book ‘Stealing from Angels'Fittingly, just ten days after the death of Sr Lucia dos Santos, the last survivor to witness the appearances of the Virgin Mary at the Portuguese town of Fatima in 1917, Mel Gibson has bought the rights to the book ‘Stealing from Angels’. Brian Dullaghan’s novel tells the story of a young Irish man who escapes a dreary life in his hometown only to slip into a life of major crime in New York. Everything changes when he meets Maria and he jumps ship again, this time to Maria’s hometown...

Cardinal Bertone Making Contradictions about Fatima, Once Again by Robert SungenisWill the disinformation campaign and cover up of Fatima ever cease? Not if that hierarch happens to be Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the long-time newsmaker and Vatican spokesman on Fatima. Needless to say, my inkling is that Bertone didn't get a chance to see Fr. Gruner's new film on Fatima, but perhaps they don't get PAX television over in Rome. In any case, it still amazes me to see the lengths these prelates will go to in order to dismiss Fatima's ominous portents. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos: I know exactly what...

Lucy and the Piratesby Mark FellowsFew revelations have been as unconvincing as the Vatican's version of the Third Secret of Fatima. Those who thought, or hoped, that the June 2000 unveiling of the CDF's booklet, The Message of Fatima [1] ended matters are probably surprised by the recent tumult over Fatima in the press. There should be no surprise: For over forty years nearly every tactic------silence, intimidation, bad theology, disinformation, and hired liars------have been used to bury the real Message of Fatima. Yet the cork continues to bob to the surface. The terrorist attacks on September 11 triggered a chain...

Questions For Msgr. Bertone, Cardinal Ratzinger and Other Vatican Officials Regarding The Third Secret of Fatima and the Consecration of Russia Sister Lucy’s Fourth Memoir includes as part of the Fatima Message these words of the Virgin: “In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc.” The use of “etc.” by Sister Lucy clearly means the Virgin had more to say, perhaps in the Third Secret, many Fatima scholars believed. A. Why does the Vision of the Third Secret published on June 26 contain no further words of Our Lady? B. What happened to the words...

[N.B. click on the Source to get photos and links in the article. --Dajjal] Telling Secrets on the Vatican Controversy Erupts Over Release of Final Fatima Mystery by Jon E. Dougherty WorldNetDaily exclusiveSunday, July 2, 2000 A Catholic priest who says he has seen the original text of the "third secret" of Fatima disputes the official interpretation of the secret released by the Vatican. The Catholic Church says the Virgin Mary passed the secrets of Fatima to three Portuguese children in 1917. (See explanatory sidebar.) The third secret is the final one to be released. [image] A photo, circa 1917,...

http://www.tldm.org/news/lucys_writing.htm Alleged Third Secret Handwriting Attributed to Sister Lucy Appears to be a Forgery! Speckin Forensic Laboratories, an international forensic firm specializing in forgeries and handwriting (famous for the JonBenet Ramsey case) states, "it is my opinion, based on the documents examined, that the Questioned Document 'Third Secret' can not be identified with the purported known writings of Sister Lucy." (Speckin Report, p. 2) [see website for comparisons between the handwriting of the alleged "Third Secret" and samples of known handwriting of the late Sister Lucia.]