The Third Secret of Fatima

THE THIRD SECRET COMPOSITE - PART 2

CHAPTER 15

Sister Elena Aiello

That evening, Skinner sat reading in the main room of his one bedroom apartment on the seventh floor of Jesuit Hall. The apartment was more like a two room library with a few pieces of furniture. There were books everywhere. Bookcases hugged almost all the available wall space. One wall of the main room had a set of bookcases in which the books were stacked two rows deep. In other places books were stacked on the floor. In this landscape dominated by books, sat a conversation area. It contained a sofa and a couple of old stuffed chairs. In the other room were four more walls of books in the center of which was a bed.

He thought back over the arc of his life. He was born in the same decade as the Revelations of Pontevedra and Tuy. He was a toddler during the disappointment by Pius XI when the pope should have and did not Consecrate Russia and did not promote the First Saturdays. During his boyhood, the "worse war" began. In the years of his youth, Russia spread her errors throughout the world, fomenting wars, persecutions of the church, and the good being martyred. He had not yet seen the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart which the Madonna had promised. Nowhere on the horizon could he see the Consecration and conversion of Russia.

Each morning when he dressed, he kissed his brown scapular and made his morning offering. He recited "O Mary, who did promise that Russia would be converted, I offer thee this day..." For many years, he said it out of blind faith, never expecting that he would see its fulfillment. But in the last few years, he had begun to believe the ground was shifting and the time was approaching.

He remembered something from the sixties. He rose and hunted briefly through his books and selected two from among the many. The dining room table made an excellent desk because it had so much room. Different projects owned different parts of his tabletop.

After finding what he had been looking for, he sat down to type. After finishing, he folded the papers and sealed the envelope. He would drop the envelope the next morning in the outgoing mail. He preferred letters to email whenever he had been wandering among the shadows of truth. He wrote:
Cap,
I remembered that someone said that when the Pope John did not publish the secret in 1960, the Madonna took her message elsewhere. One of the holy women to whom She spoke was Sister Elena Aiello. Aiello made some dire announcements but in the course of time, she has been declared Blessed Aiello.

Sister Elena began suffering the stigmata on her hands, feet, head and side every Good Friday from the age of 28 until her death in 1961. She founded a religious order called The Sister Minims. She was respected by Pope Pius XII with whom she corresponded regularly. She had apparitions of the Blessed Virgin from 1947 until her death. The Madonna described tragedies which would occur in the future if people did not amend their sinful lives.

Revolution in Rome

"Oh, what a horrible vision I see! A great revolution is going on in Rome!...You cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen. A great revolution shall break out and the streets shall be stained with blood."

Slender thread shall snap.

"The world is thoroughly upset because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strife's and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind. Only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the earth."

Chastisement by fire

"Once there was the chastisement by water, but if there is not a returning to God, there will come the chastisement by fire, which will cover the streets of the world with blood."

Russia will burn.

"To Sister Aiello, Our Lady said ‘See how Russia will burn!' Before my eyes there extended an immense field covered with flames and smoke, in which souls were submerged as if in a sea of fire!"

Fire from the Angels.

"And all this fire," concluded the Madonna, "is not that which will fall from the hands of men, but will be hurled directly from the Angels (at the time of the great chastisement or "housecleaning" that will come upon the earth). Therefore, I ask prayers, penance and sacrifice, so I may act as Mediatrix for my Son in order to save souls."

Russia will battle America

"If people do not recognize in these scourges (of nature) the warnings of Divine Mercy, and do not return to God with truly Christian living, another war will come from the east to the west. Russia with her secret armies will battle America; will overrun Europe.

Rhine overflowing with bodies

"The river Rhine will be overflowing with corpses and blood. Italy, also, will be harassed by a great revolution, and the Pope will suffer terribly."

Cities submerged

"Great calamities will come upon the world, which will bring confusion, tears, struggles and pain. Great earthquakes will swallow up entire cities and countries, and will bring epidemics, famine, and terrible destruction especially where the sons of darkness are."

Fire will fall like snowstorms

"The world will be once more afflicted with great calamity; with bloody revolutions; with great earthquakes; with famines; with epidemics; with fearful hurricanes; and with floods from rivers and seas. But if men do not return to God, purifying fire will fall from the Heavens, like snowstorms, on all peoples, and a great part of humanity will be destroyed!'

"No longer do men speak according to the true spirit of the Gospel. The immorality of the times has ‘reached a peak! But men do not listen to my motherly warnings, so the world must soon be purified.

Red flag over St Peters

"Russia will March upon all the nation of Europe, particularly Italy, and will raise her flag over the dome of St Peter's. Sins of Impurity.

"Italy will be severely tried by a great revolution, and Rome will be purified in blood for its many sins, especially those of impurity! The flock is about to be dispersed and the Pope must suffer greatly!... sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the earth."

Hurricanes, earthquakes, famines

"Tremendous scourges are impending over the world, and various nations are struck by epidemics, famines, great earthquakes, terrific hurricanes, with overflowing rivers and seas, which bring ruin and death.

I will protect My faithful ones

"Spread the devotion to my Immaculate Heart, in order that many souls may be conquered by my love, and that many sinners may return to my Maternal Heart. Do not fear, for I will accompany with my maternal protection my faithful ones, and all those who accept my urgent warnings, and they - especially by the recitation of my Rosary - will be saved.

Soon Satan will show his might

"Satan goes furiously through this disordered world, and soon will show all his might. But, because of my Immaculate Heart, the triumph of Light will not delay in its triumph over the power of darkness, and the world, finally, will have tranquility and peace."

Nations convulsed

"People pay no attention to my motherly warnings, and thus the world is falling headlong into an abyss of iniquity. Nations shall be convulsed by terrible disasters, causing destruction and death. "Russia, spurred on by Satan, will seek to dominate the whole world and, by bloody revolutions, will propagate her false teachings throughout all the nations, especially in Italy. The Church will be persecuted and the Pope and the priests shall suffer much."

Rome will not be Saved.

"My daughter, Rome will not be saved, because the Italian rulers have forsaken the Divine Light and because only a few people really love the Church. But the day is not far off when all the wicked shall perish, under the tremendous blows of Divine Justice."

Men do not change.

"They live in their obstinacy of sin. More severe are the scourges and plagues to recall them to the way of God; but men still become furious, like wounded beasts (and harden their hearts against the Grace of God). The world is no longer worthy of pardon, but only of fire, destruction and death'.

Hell, so many fall-like snowflakes

"The Madonna then came closer, and with a sad expression, showed me the flames of Hell. She said:" ‘Satan reigns and triumphs on earth! See how the souls are falling into Hell. See how high the flames are, and the souls who fall into them like flakes of snow look like transparent embers! How many sparks! How many cries of hate, and of despair! How much pain!' ‘See how many priestly souls! Look at the sign of their consecration in their transparent hands! (In the palms of their hands the sign of the cross, in more vivid fire, could clearly be seen!) What torture, my daughter, in my maternal Heart! Great is my sorrow to see that men do not change! The justice of the Father requires reparation — otherwise many will be lost!'

For your perusal. Sincerely,
Fr John Skinner

References: http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2011/09/blessed-elena-aiello-mystic-stigmatic.html

CHAPTER 16

The First Four Lines

Cap and Skinner met again in July. Skinner poured two cups of tea. Sipping his tea, he sat back in his big chair and asked what Cap thought about What is Known about the Third Secret. Cap answered that she thought it was staggering. It is an alternate view of history. It would make a challenging class. Students would be struck by it.

"You don't have to be Catholic to be interested in Lucy," she said. "Throughout history there have arisen people who have a gift of prophecy. Tecumseh foretold the earthquake of New Madrid in 1812. You don't have to be Shawnee to accept that he was given a glimpse of the future. Some people have a gift. "I got your letter on Aiello and I looked up her information. She was a very kind person. She had the stigmata and various sufferings. She developed an orphanage for abandoned girls. She was gentle and compassionate with the children. It is remarkable that someone so tender would write images so upsetting.

Skinner said that Aiello didn't have much choice. Experience was rough on those who did not announce what they were supposed to announce.

Skinner said "About what is known about the secret. Now that you have many pieces of the mosaic, the question arises of how you fit them together. Let me give you my opinion of the structure of the third secret. I have thought about this on and off for many years. A number of others have talked about what is in the secret but as far as I know, no one has ever dealt with the structure of the secret except to say that it has about twenty-five lines.

"I would like to go out on a limb and suggest that the first four lines of the third secret are nearly identical to the first four lines of the second secret. Frere Michel shows that there is a parallel structure inside the second secret. I think the parallelism carries over into the third secret. She uses the same words because there is a certain harmony in the way she speaks to the children.

There is a literary device common in Hebrew literature called the Doublet. It is a matter of conveying an idea twice, in two similar ways. Mary used it in one of the few times She spoke in the New Testament. In the Magnificat, Mary begins by saying "My Soul magnifies the Lord and My Spirit rejoices in God, My Savior. That is an example of a doublet. The only time that Mary spoke two successive sentences, She used a doublet. It would not be surprising that She would use a doublet at Fatima.

First line

Skinner set down his tea and picked up his notes. "In the July apparition, the Mary showed the children a vision of hell which terrified the children. Lucy said it nearly killed them. Then She said ‘You saw hell where the souls of poor sinners go. Then a couple minutes later, Our Lady showed the children another vision. This time it was of a Bishop in White amidst a city in ruins. I assume that Mary uses the same expression, "You saw ...", after showing the children the vision of the bishop. So, If Mary said ‘You saw' something. It is the something which She just showed them. And what did she show them. She showed them a city half in ruins. I believe she used the word, ruin.

"So, I think the first line of the third secret is "You saw the ruin of the world."

Skinner went on to explain. Pope John XXIII used the word ruin in connection with the third secret. The Secret weighed heavily on him. In his Opening Speech to Vatican II, he wished to separate himself from those who foresaw trouble ahead. Several of his associates had read the secret with him. He assumed that a couple dozen more had been told the contents verbatim. And given that the walls have ears in Rome, many more had the general idea. He felt is necessary to counter the pessimism of the third secret. Therefore, in denying that pessimism he chose to use the word most associated with the first line of the secret. He attacked those who saw "ruin and calamity". Martin said "He mocked, disdainfully, those whom he called ‘prophets of doom.' And there was no doubt among any of us that he was speaking of the three prophets of Fatima, toward whom he was hostile."

City Half in Ruins

Lucy used the word ruin in describing the Vision of the Bishop in White in a city half in ruins. Frere Michel says "The Church was falling into ruin but only by half, because there still existed Catholics whose innocent souls had not let themselves be perverted by heresy.

Lamentable Ruins.

"It is notable that at the end of the Sixties, Sister Lucy was alarmed at the campaigns that the progressivists were waging, even in Portugal, against the devotion of the Holy Rosary. She wrote at the time to Father Umberto Pasquale: "We see, alas, the lamentable ruins that the demon has caused.' "

Ruin and death.

Our Lady told Sister Aiello "The hour of the justice of God is close, and will be terrible! Tremendous scourges are impending over the world, and various nations are struck by epidemics, famines, great earthquakes, terrific hurricanes, with overflowing rivers and seas, which bring ruin and death." Again, the word ruin arises.

Wolves and Ruin

Aiello wrote that "Rapacious wolves... will bring Italy to ruin"

Second line

Skinner went on to say "the second line in the second secret is ‘In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart.' I think the second line in the third secret follows the same pattern. It says ‘In order to save souls, God wished to establish the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays."

"Speaking about devotion to the Immaculate Heart, Frere Michel wrote that "since God has decided to manifest more and more His great design of love, which is to grant all graces to men through the mediation of the Immaculate Virgin, it seems that their refusal to submit with docility to what God wills is a fault which most gravely wounds His Heart. And for which He no longer finds in Himself any inclination to pardon them.... Sins against the Holy Spirit which shall not be forgiven in this life or the next." Skinner felt that these hard words were the central paragraph of the four volume Whole Truth About Fatima.

In connection with the Request for the Consecration of Russia, Our Lady would say to Lucy at Pontevedra in 1925: "So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed against Me, that I come to ask for reparation. Sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray." More hard words. Such a stunning statement. Most of the world believed that there are no sins against Our Lady, and certainly none which would merit eternal condemnation.

Skinner mused that it is as though there are three catholic churches. The old church in which Our Lady was venerated. The New Church in which Our Lady is minimized. And The Church of the Third Secret in which Our Lady explodes on the scene as God's front agent.

The third line.

Skinner continued. "The third line of the second secret is ‘If people will do what I ask, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.' The third line of the third secret follows the same pattern. ‘If the Holy Father had done so, many souls would have been saved.' Saving souls is Mary's main project at Fatima.

The fourth Line

The fourth line of the third secret is shocking. ‘Because he did not, the devil will infiltrate the Church.' He looked at Cap to gage her reaction. But she was looking out the window with a far-off expression. She was listening intently without making a judgement.

"My opinion is that the reason that the third secret has not been revealed is that it predicts that Lucifer will infiltrate the Church. It is a sad story. Because the world did not respond to Mary requests, evil entered the church. Sister Lucy said the Secret was sad. If the Holy Father had promoted the Communion of Reparation on First Saturdays, then Russia would have been consecrated, the world would have been converted and there would have been peace and an end to war.

"At Akita, Our Lady spoke the same words. "The devil will infiltrate the Church." Cardinal Ratzinger said that the message of Akita is essentially the same as the content of the Third Secret. This is the great danger from which Our Lady wished to save the Church and the world.

"Sister Lucy also spoke about the devil infiltrating the Church. She said ‘It is painful to see such a great disorientation in so many persons who occupy places of responsibility.... It is because the devil has infiltrated evil under cover of good, and the blind are beginning to guide others, as the Lord tell us in His Gospel, and souls are letting themselves be deceived.'

Cap asked, "Do you think that a humble nun would say that about the Church?" Skinner answered that she was not the only one. A number of others have spoken about the devil infiltrating the church. One of them was a devout mystic who lived in Brittany and died in 1941. Here name was Marie Julie Jahenny. She was perhaps the greatest stigmatist in the history of the Church. She was a virgin clairvoyant and a holy person.

Jahenny predicted numerous chastisements for sin that would fall on France and then the rest of the world. Earthquakes, destructive storms, famines, plagues, civil war, the closure of churches, the slaughter of Christians, the destruction of Paris, and the Three Days of Darkness. Signs in the sky would announce the coming of the Great Monarch and the Angelic Pontiff.

I will Decimate the People.

Jahenny had a vision of a dialogue between Our Lord and Lucifer. The latter said "I will attack the Church. I will overthrow the Cross, I will decimate the people, I will deposit a great weakness of Faith in hearts. There will also be a great denial of religion."

I will be Master of all things.

Lucifer boasted that "For a time I will be master of all things, everything will be under my control, even Your temple and all Your people."

In a taped interview with Bernard Janzen, Fr. Martin was asked the following question: "Who are the people who are working so hard to suppress Fatima?" Fr. Martin responded, "A bunch, a whole bunch, of Catholic prelates in Rome, who belong to Satan. They're servants of Satan. And the servants of Satan outside the Church, in various organizations; they want to destroy the Catholicism of the Church, and keep it as a stabilizing factor in human affairs. It's an alliance. A dirty alliance, a filthy alliance, but a very good (effective) alliance."

Lamentation

Skinner paused for a while. "I think that the third secret is in part a lament about humanity not having responded to Her requests and a description of what will have happened as a result. "Do you know the story of the stars on the cloak of Guadalupe? There are stars on the cloak. Some people tried to identify the constellations and were unable to do so. Finally, someone recognized that they were the constellations of the Zodiac see seen from the other side. From the outside in. Imagine looking at earth from the whole of the outside at once, from all 360 degrees at once. Mary was given us a message about the breadth of God's vision.

"The Secret is a song of regret. Keep this song in your heart. It is also a warning that trouble is coming. Sister Lucy said she never saw Our Lady smile. In the 1957 interview, Sister Lucy said that the message is supposed to be opened in 1960. It "will be very sad for everyone, not one person will rejoice." "Our Lady made her requests in 1917. She waited patiently and sadly until 1960. She said in effect, that if you will do what I ask, then there will be peace. If not, then war. Unfortunately, humanity did not do what She asked and now we are moving deeper into the territory of negative consequences.

The letter of 1982

On May 12, 1982, Sister Lucia wrote a letter to the Holy Father, probably at his request. It was later released when they revealed the Vision of the Bishop in White. It consisted of four paragraphs. Lucy began,

"The Third part of the secret refers to Our Lady words ‘If not, Russia 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.'

"Lucy continued. ‘The Third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation, referring to this part of the Message. Conditioned by whether we accept or not what the Message itself asks of us: ‘If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, etc.'

"‘Since we did not heed this appeal of the message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going toward it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violation of the rights of the human person, immorality, violence, etc.

"And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way. On the contrary, it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In His kindness, God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom He has given us, hence people are responsible."

Skinner took another sip of tea and began to explain his interpretation of the letter. "I have included this letter because it supports the texture of what I am suggesting above. What is remarkable about this letter is that Lucy is writing directly about the third secret. It was written on the day before John Paul II's Mass at Fatima in which he publicly thanked Our Lady for sparing his life in the assassination attempt one year earlier. He studied Lucy's notes thoroughly. One may assume that the Pope met with Lucy and encouraged her to write this letter. The politics of the situation was that Pope John Paul wanted to release the secret. The anti-Fatima party did not.

Colossal Punishment

"First of all, Lucy makes is clear that the third secret is about a Colossal Punishment which God will visit upon humanity. But not to blame God because we have brought it on ourselves. "Second, Lucy says that the punishment concerns the harm which Russia will cause in the world. "In the first two paragraphs, Lucy is saying that the third part of the secret focuses on what will happen if we have not responded to Her requests. The third secret concerns the "If not, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars ... nations will be annihilated."

Background, the Second Secret.

"Here it is helpful to remember that the second and third secrets were part of a single discourse which occurred at the third apparition. They were back to back. There was the vision of hell. Then about twenty lines of discourse from Our Lady. Then the Vision of the Bishop in White and another twenty lines of discourse. The whole apparition lasted only about twelve minutes.

"Our Lady proposed an If and If not offer to humanity. She did so twice. First, She says if people will do what I ask, then many souls will be saved. If not, then a worse war would follow. Next, She presented the First Saturday devotion and the Consecration of Russia. And then She stated the second if and if not condition. She said "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." "It is remarkable that Our Lady made an offer to humanity and almost no one knows about it. It was backed up by the most witnessed miracle in human history. It has been buried.

We did not respond.

"In the third paragraph Lucy is saying that "Since we did not heed this appeal of the message," we must now face the consequences. Russia has invaded the world with her errors. The natural effect of those errors is a train of consequences which we are experiencing now. Little by little, we move closer to the final fulfillment of the third secret. We are making great strides in moral disintegration. We are traveling along the path of sin. The final fulfillment will be a universal convulsion in which are dominant the conditions of "hatred, revenge, injustice, violation of the rights of the human person, immorality, violence, etc."

Etc.
"The etc is significant. Sister Lucy doesn't finish her sentence. And the manner in which she cuts off the sentence is the same as she used when she said "In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved etc." The "etc" was then a means of making public that there was more to the story. Father Alonso and others have said the the rest of the sentence is implicit. If the dogma of the faith has been preserved in Portugal, then this clearly implies that it will be lost elsewhere. "So, what does the et cetera mean here. It implies that "If we do not reject the path of sin," then we shall experience a worldwide convulsion of hatred, worldwide war, the triumph of atheism, and finally widespread annihilation of nations and the consequent loss of an enormous part of human life.

Cadavers

"In the Vision, the bishop in white passes a large number of bodies on his way up the hill. Lucy used the word cadavers. The word cadavers is used in the old testament just twice, to describe apostates. So, it could be said that the Vision begins with a world half in ruins, of wide spread apostasy and war. First comes the apostasy, a worldwide loss of faith. Then comes war. then the killing of the pope, the clergy and the laity.

Pluperfect

Skinner continued his presentation. "One of the overlooked aspects of the Third Secret is the tense in which it is written. Does Mary speak in the past, the present or the future. "In the second part of the secret, Mary was looking forward in time to future events. She uses the future tense. She uses the word "will." As in there "will be an even worse war... He will punish...Russia will spread her errors... the good will be martyred... nations will be annihilated."

"In the third part of the secret, the perspective changes. Mary showed the children a vision of a city half destroyed in war, corpses on the ground, and a murdered bishop in white. It is the view of a past event. Mary took the children forward in time in order to look back at what will have happened as a result of not following Her requests. Our Lady is no longer speaking about a thing which may or may not happen. The choice has been made. Fate has been sealed. The die has been cast. No longer is it appropriate to speak in terms of "If My requests are heeded." The time of choice has past. It is as if She showed them a movie of a past event and spoke about it. The appropriate verb tense is past perfect. Of a thing completed in the past.

Conditional

"Lucy is giving us a big clue when she says ‘The secret ... Conditioned by whether we accept or not what the Message itself asks of us.' She clearly indicates that the secret involves a conditional expression. ‘If not, she will spread her errors .... Since we did not heed this appeal of the message, ....' "

The four criteria

"So, the first four lines of the third secret expressed above meet the four criteria in Lucy's letter: The past pluperfect tense. It is a conditional expression and it is the negative branch of the conditional expression. It ends in a punishment. A negative conditional expression about punishment in the pluperfect tense would look like four lines above.

"Glancing at the clock on his window sill, Skinner said "That's enough for today. If you want to tackle reconstructing the Third Secret, start reading Frere Michel. The three volumes have only about three thousand pages. The Fourth Secret by Socci is good too. He is an Italian journalist who came around 180 degrees on the existence of the secret. It is a good read. Especially if you get bogged down in the big book. However, you might not. The big book is like reading a mystery novel. You want to see what happens next. Except that sometimes you need to set it down and give your mind time to absorb what you have read.

Cap told him that she had been turning the project over in her mind. "I have decided to accept the challenge and try to reconstruct the third secret. On the one hand, it is a most interesting project. It matters a lot that you think that I can do it. On the other hand, I am not sure it can be done. I would not have dreamed of tackling it without your encouragement."

"I will see you after summer vacation. Good luck with this great endeavor." With that they parted and Cap bicycled back through Forest Park and the Central West end to her apartment. As she coasted past the Giraffe field, she had the same sense again that the world looked different. She couldn't help but drift off thinking about the whole project just before she ran off the bike path, bounced a few times and landed safely in the grass. After a minute of counting her little scrapes and bruises, she sat back in the grass and reflected that it was a fine time to gaze at the sky.

CHAPTER 17

The Fuentes Interview

Skinner continued to think about the job that Cap had tackled. In late July, he wrote to her.

Cap,
If there is one Fatima document which stands above the others, it is the Fuentes Interview. Fr Augustine Fuentes was the postulator for the cause of the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta. In that capacity, he interviewed Sister Lucy in 1957. Lucy had been under instruction not to speak about Fatima. In the case of beatification interview, her prioress instructed Lucy to give Father Fuentes her full cooperation. Little did the prioress realize that she was giving Lucy a green light to talk about Fatima.

Upon his return to Mexico, he gave a conference to group of nuns. One of the nuns took notes and his remarks were later published. They stirred up a hornet's nest. There were elements about which Sister Lucy spoke strongly which were in neither the first or the second secret. It could be deduced that she was speaking about the third secret.

Sad, Pale, Emaciated

Fr Fuentes said "I wish to tell you about the last conversation I had with Sister Lucy on December 26 of last year. I met her in her convent. She was very sad, very pale and emaciated. She said to me: "Father, the Most Holy Virgin is very sad because no one has paid any attention to Her message, neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on their way but without giving any importance to Her message. The bad, not seeing the punishment of God actually falling upon them, continue their life of sin without even caring about the message. But believe me, Father, God will chastise the world and this will be in a terrible manner. The punishment from Heaven is imminent."

A Terrible Chastisement

"Father, how much time is there before 1960 arrives? It will be very sad for everyone, not one person will rejoice at all if beforehand the world does not pray and do penance. I am not able to give any other details because it is still a secret. According to the will of the Most Holy Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima are permitted to know the secret, but they have chosen not to know it so that they would not be influenced.

"This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady which will remain secret until 1960.

Russia to be the Scourge of God

"Tell them, Father, that many times the Most Holy Virgin told my cousins Francisco and Jacinta, as well as myself, that many nations will disappear from the face of the earth. She said that Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by heaven to punish the whole world if beforehand we do not obtain the conversion of that poor nation.

Decisive Battle between Mary and Satan

"Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God, and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus, the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God because in this way, the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.

Drag to Hell

"Religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell.

Always Sad never smiled

"In all the apparitions, we always saw Her sad. We never saw Her smile. This sadness is caused by the offenses against God and the punishment that menaces sinners.

Material Punishments Imminent

"Father, this is why my mission is not to indicate to the world the material punishments which are certain to come if the world does not pray and do penance beforehand. My mission is to indicate to everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity.

We are on our own

"Father, we should not wait ... for a call to come from Rome to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call to penance to come from our bishops in our diocese nor from the religious. It is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform himself spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul but also all the souls that God has placed on our path.

The Last Times

"Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world but She made me understand this for three reasons.

The Final Battle.

"The first reason is because She told me that the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. And a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Hence, from now on, we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil. There is no other possibility.

The Last Remedies.

"The second reason is that She said to my cousins as well as to myself that God is giving two last remedies to the world. These are the Holy Rosary and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies which signify that there will be no others.

Sin Against the Holy Spirit.

"The third reason is because in the plans of Divine Providence, God always, before he is about to chastise the world, exhausts all other remedies. Now, when He see that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, we say in our imperfect manner of speaking, He offers us with a certain trepidation.

The Last Means of Salvation, His Holy Mother.

"It is with a certain trepidation because if you despise and repulse this ultimate means, we will not have any more forgiveness from Heaven because we will have committed a sin which the Gospel calls the sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists of rejecting with full knowledge and consent, the salvation which he offers. Let us remember that Jesus Christ is a very good son and that He does not permit that we offend and despise His Most Holy Mother.

"Sister Lucy told me: the two means to save the world are prayer and sacrifice.

Special Efficacy of the Rosary

"Regarding the Holy Rosary, Sister Lucy said: Look, Father, the Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, ... that cannot be resolved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves. We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls." End of the interview.

Best wishes,
Skinner

CHAPTER 18

Short Version of The Third Secret

In early August, Skinner sent Cap a letter in which he hoped she was enjoying her summer vacation. He wanted to share with her his thoughts on a few lines of the Fuentes Interview. He liked to call it the short version of the third secret.

Cap,
In the Fuentes interview, there are a few lines in which Sister Lucy gives away the basic content of the third secret.

She said "My mission is not to indicate to the world the material punishments which are certain to come if the world does not pray and do penance beforehand. No, my mission is to indicate to everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain obstinate in sin." If this is rearranged according to the structure of the second secret, it looks like this.

If we remain obstinate in sin, we are in imminent danger of losing our souls for all eternity.

If the world does not pray and do penance, it is certain that the world will suffer material punishments.

The Secret consists of Spiritual and Material punishments. The danger of losing our souls is imminent, that is to say nearby, close. She said this in 1957. The spiritual chastisement comes first. The material punishments come later. The spiritual chastisement will be in progress in 1960. At that time, it will be "clearer".

The heart of the Secret is that there will be a spiritual chastisement which involves the eternal loss of many souls. It brings to mind what Malachi Martin said on the Art Bell radio show. He said that in the Third Secret was something worse, far worse than the annihilation of nations and the extermination of peoples. It "would terrify people, would fill confessionals on Saturday night, would fill the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the churches with believers on their knees, beating their breasts."

What is terrifying is that the world has rejected God's wishes, and that God has abandoned the world to the devil. He has written off modern culture. Enormous numbers of souls will be condemned for all eternity for having neglected Mary. Mary said to Lucy, "So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed against Me." The world has rejected the request for the daily rosary, for prayer and penance, for the First Saturdays, for the Consecration of Russia, and for "His design of love, which is to grant all graces to men through the mediation of Immaculate Virgin... The refusal... is a fault which gravely wounds His Heart. ... no inclination to pardon them."

No Crime More Unpardonable

The offenses stack up. Lucy said "For Our Savior, there is no crime more unpardonable than to despise His Most Holy Mother. It is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will not be forgiven in this life or the next.

The reason the Churches and confessionals would be filled on Saturday night is that anyone who had not been saying the daily rosary and doing the First Saturdays, will rightly be terrified of being damned. Even those who have said the daily rosary will be shaking in their boots.

What are non-Catholics to do? Pray and do penance. Sister Lucy told Father Fuentes "The two means to save the world are prayer and sacrifice." Padre Pio said that Jesus came to make an alliance with men of good will. It was not exclusively catholic.

In 1984, the Bishop of Fatima, speaking with an insider's knowledge of the Secret, said that "the loss of faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation: and it is true that faith is continually diminishing in Europe." This agrees with the logical sequence. First the faith will be lost. Then the world will be punished. He was saying in a guarded way that Europe was losing the faith and that war and natural catastrophe would inevitably follow.

Another Summary of the Third Secret.

When, in 1943, Sister Lucy was asked by her bishop, to write the Third Secret, she encountered great difficulty. Months passed during which she tried several times to write the secret. Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucy to tell her to write the Secret. Sister Lucy was then able to act in peace and in assurance that she was acting in accord with God's will. She was able to write the Secret.

If it had been just a matter of wars or natural disasters, Sister Lucy would not have anguished over writing the secret. It was something far worse. Something which made her shudder. At one point during her struggle, she said it was not absolutely necessary to do so, "since in a certain manner, she has already said it." What had Our Lady said? She has said "In Portugal the dogmas of the Faith will always be preserved." And by implication, that they would be lost elsewhere. The Madonna had also already said that war was a punishment for sin. "If people will attend to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, Russia will spread it errors throughout the world, fomenting wars and persecution of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and that several nations will be annihilated." And that war, hunger, and persecution of the Church and the Holy Father would follow if the First Saturdays of Reparation and the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart were not performed.

In my opinion, the short version of the Third Secret is a good summary of the contents.

Best wishes,
Skinner

CHAPTER 19

The Great Hurricane

Over the fall and winter, Skinner and Cap met a few times to discuss what she had read. As winter turned to spring, Cap began a rough draft of the third secret, writing and rewriting it. Testing it against what was already know about the secret.

As weeks passed and Cap worked on her secret, warm weather swept across the south. Temperatures in the Gulf grew steadily. At the end of August when temperatures normally taper off, they continued to rise. Some buoys in the gulf were transmitting temperatures which had never been seen before. Tropical Storm Lilly grew into category 1 status as it approached Cuba. Instead of weakening over land, it continued to grow in strength as it headed north toward Florida. It traveled slowly up the western shore of Florida, gaining strength and flattening buildings in Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Bradenton and Tampa. Near Tampa it sat in place, pounding the Tampa area for a day. Then it retraced its path back to Ft Myers and traveled north a second time. Whole communities were broken and washed away. The rains dumped millions of gallons per minute all across the peninsula. Rains falling on the central highlands rose faster than they could flow away. What poured onto the central area stacked up and moved slowly as a rising plane of water across land that was already flooded. A large part of the water flowed toward the Atlantic coast. But most of it slowly moved west and submerged what was already flooded.

The bowl.

The coastal communities from Tampa south to Naples were caught between the central highlands on one side and the tidal surge on the other. The central highlands stood at an elevation of about 100 ft. The Tidal Surge pushed water up to 30 feet and beyond that with waves. In between the land filled up like a bowl.

Roads and airports were closed. There was no way to get out. The water level in the eastern suburbs of Tampa inched up hour after hour. Water from Lakeland and the central communities south of it began slowly flowing downhill toward Tampa. When the rain surge met the eastern edge of the tidal surge, it just piled on top of it.

People began climbing on to their roofs and into the second floors of multistory buildings. In the lower lying areas, people went from the first floor to the second. Then from the second to the third. One of the tools of hurricane preparedness is a hatchet. People began breaking through their roofs from the inside when water flooded the attic.

More people drowned than in any recorded hurricane. The state was declared a disaster area. Many businesses and people decided to leave. Few could afford the insurance premiums. The damage was staggering. The shattered buildings would remain for years, slowly falling apart. A few of the stalwarts purchased trailers and slowly began clearing the rubbish from their property. The experience with Katrina had taught that the damage would remain for years. Local authorities relaxed the zoning laws to allow extended use of travel trailers. Parts of the state became a continuous trailer park.

Aiello Terrific Hurricanes

Cap and most of the nation were gripped by the unfolding tragedy. Cap searched her notes for hurricanes. She found that Our Lady had told Sister Aiello: "The hour of the justice of God is close, and will be terrible! Tremendous scourges are impending over the world, and various nations are struck by epidemics, famines, great earthquakes, terrific hurricanes, with overflowing rivers and seas, which bring ruin and death." On another occasion, Aiello said that fearful hurricanes would be followed by snowstorms of fire.

Manuel

Over the winter water temperatures remained higher than normal. When spring turned to summer, the warm breezes gave a head start to a rise in water temperatures.

In the panhandle, it had been considered a bad omen when the resort areas experienced a rain of tiny frogs at the beginning of summer. The old timers had talked about the legend of raining frogs but no one had ever seen one. Stormy weather was brewing in the western part of the gulf.

The popular summer resort of Destin was situated on a relatively narrow strip of sand lying between Choctawhatchee Bay on the north and the Gulf on the south. Called Okaloosa Island, it was accessible to the mainland by four bridges. The island was about twenty miles long and one mile wide.

In the second week of August, the normal population had ballooned to 40,000 with visitors. It was the last week of summer vacation before school resumed. While the Destin tourists soaked up the sun, Hurricane Manuel was safely out in the Gulf heading toward Texas. It was rated as a category two. At 9 pm it veered north toward New Orleans. At midnight, one hundred miles off the coast, it turned east to travel parallel to the coast. Wind speed picked up and it was rated as a category three. At the same time, it slowly began falling away from the coast.

Local authorities debated whether to call for an evacuation. After listening to the National Hurricane Center, they announced a ten percent chance of striking Destin. They put out a bulletin suggesting that if you were leaving the next day, now would be a good time leave. Between 1 and 2 am, Manuel picked up more speed and began traveling at 50 mph on a path which continued to drift away from the coast. They raised the danger level to fifteen percent. At 3 am, it reached category four status. The "hurricane crew", as they were called, announced the danger level of eighteen percent and set off a series of three staccato sirens blasts. News casts showed the path of the hurricane but added that winds were pushing Manuel further and further from the coast. Few heard the news. Most of Destin slept.

Throughout the middle of the night, the Crew sat on the edge of their chairs. Of the six, two wanted to call for an evacuation even though no one in the room really believed that Manuel would strike Destin. What were the chances. The crew had seen many of these. All counted they had two thousand hurricane experiences amongst them. They calculated a two percent chance that Manuel would strike Destin. The published Danger Level was a ramped-up version the odds. It was meant to overstate the statistics. One more vote and they would call for an evacuation. But it was difficult to call for an evacuation when the stars were out, and the soft breeze was balmy. It was one of the most beautiful nights of the year. The sky was unusually clear. Occasionally, a meteor would streak across the sky. The conditions argued against danger.

Turns toward Destin

At 5 am, Manuel was adding miles between it and the coast. It was headed toward Cuba. Fisherman calculated the odds and set out to sea. Wind speeds were dropping. Travel speed was dropping. At current course and speed, it would pass 160 miles south of Destin and follow the same path as two recent hurricanes which dissipated over Cuba. The danger vote was dropping. It teetered at one and a half. It looked like it would make for a rainy day at worst. At 6 am, the man at the radar softly called out "landfall Destin". There was an audible gasp in the room. The winds of dawn had abruptly turned Manuel toward Destin. Someone said "Dear God". They realized that Manuel had fooled them. They had lost their opportunity. They should have woken everyone at midnight. Local authorities scrambled.

Winds speeds picked up. Manuel passed into category five status. At speeds of 160 mph, the winds were capable of inflicting catastrophic building failures.

There was still hope that Manuel could turn in any direction. The odds were that it would drunkenly zig zag toward some other destination. The evacuation plan was put in effect. Sirens rang out every five minutes for the next two hours. All police and fire department personal were called in. All non-essential businesses were closed. Police and volunteers were stationed at every intersection along the evacuation routes to facilitate the outward flow of traffic. There was a good plan. Hospitals along the way were alerted. Fuel suppliers from the neighboring counties were called in to replenish the gas stations. Alabama troopers were called to keep the traffic moving up through their state all the way into Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. Volunteer Tow trucks were called in from neighboring states to keep the path open.

The Marinas

The Marinas began methodically calling a long-prearranged list of captains to pilot the big boats to safety in the west. If they outran the hurricane, good. If not, they were to steer them into the many sheltered inlets and rivers of Alabama and Mississippi. During Katrina, there were little fishing streams that turned into great lakes twenty miles inland. Later, they had to fish the boats out of the fields.

People stunned

People were stunned. They had gone to bed after a wonderful day at the beach and maybe stayed up a little later than usual because this was the last night of their vacation. Then they awoke to what sounded like a war zone. The media said to leave immediately. Not to bother to pack. Leave everything behind and run. If you didn't have a car, hitchhike. Someone would pick you up. They had taken over all the lanes. Once across the four bridges, police were passing out alternate traffic maps to fan out the traffic over the many smaller roads of lower Alabama. Each little town put an evacuation assistance plan into effect.

Manuel picked up windspeed and kept moving directly toward Destin. Travel speed over water was 30 mph. It was 120 miles away. They had four hours. The mayor did his calculations. So did the police and the firemen. There were four bridges. The east most bridge leading to Panama City would be used by the people in South Walton. The Destiners would have just three bridges. They would need to put 12,000 people across each bridge. That would be 4,000 vehicles total. which would be 1,100 per hour. which would be 20 cars per minute. It was doable. But it would be close. They had a fighting chance.

Hurricane Party

40,000 people less the ones who decided to stay behind. And there were a lot. The locals had seen this happen again and again. At the Sandpiper Grill in Santa Rosa Beach, plans had already been announced for another hurricane party. When the power went out, it was against the law to serve food or beverages. To get around this, they stocked up on beer and ice and hamburgers. They set up a charcoal grill on the porch. Customers made donations instead of payments. Most of the men were out boarding up buildings. They would arrive when the work was done. It had always been great fun. Some of the locals looked forward to the hurricane party as the best event of the year. They considered themselves part of a brave and exclusive club. You cannot imagine what fun it was they would tell others. Each would get a free beer on the anniversary date the next month.

Bridges

It all depended the bridges. Normally they closed the bridges when wind speeds reached 50 mph. Under these circumstances, the mayor declared that they would ignore that rule and keep the bridges open as long as possible. What was "as long as possible" someone asked. He took a deep breath and said "until cars start being blown off the bridge." He heard himself saying the words but he could hardly believe it was his voice. It sounded to him like some voice from far off had come to say words that he could not bear to say.

Two hours later traffic was still moving. The rains were driving across the streets almost horizontally at 60 mph. They were strong enough to knock a man down. The Crew figured that three quarters of the people had gotten off the island. They needed just one more hour to get the rest of the island. A few of the emergency workers had asked the question already. They had thought about it months if not years earlier. What if they didn't have time to get everybody off the island. Twenty-four hours would have been ideal. Twelve hours would have been pushing it. Most considered eight hours as the lower limit of possibility. Six hours would have been miraculous. And they were trying to do it in four.

Last Men Off the Island

There was a cadre of fire, policeman and emergency workers who were part of the evacuation planning committee. They called themselves the Last Men Off the Island. They had even called their meeting announcements by that name.

A few of the LMOTI had spoken with each other as the hours rolled by. Now the time was rapidly approaching when they would not be the last men off the island. Either they would not leave or they would leave others behind.

Fireman

Firemen prepared for the worst. On the North shore of Choctawhatchee Bay sat Eglin Air Force base, the largest USAF base in the world. There were a number of other bases along the gulf coast. There was a strong military tradition in the local uniformed services. Some of the captains had war gamed the worst scenarios. What if Destin was struck with the same kind of waves which had struck Mississippi with Katrina. There had been a thirty-foot tidal surge and thirty foot waves on top of that. There had been two story houses on the beach on stilts and the waves had rolled right over the top.

There were places on the Island where the elevation was only twenty feet. If the water were to breach a low point, it could cut through the sand like butter. Between the mounting water in the bay on the north and the angry waves of the gulf on the south, millions of gallons could surge through a cut in seconds. In minutes, a surge could create a channel big enough for a large cruiser. Then the water would begin eating up the land like a ravenous beast.

Fireman suit up

The fireman suited up with super-sized life preservers which served a double purpose. To protect them against flying debris, like a bullet proof vest and bigger to provide for extra buoyancy if they were swept into water. New members of the department were allowed to take a pledge after they had experienced their first category 3 hurricane. In an informal after-hours ceremony, most of the men had pledged that they would stay until all who wanted to leave had left, or the water washed the land from beneath their feet and they floated away. They would activate a transponder in case they were swept out to see. Word came in that water had breached dunes in San Destin on the eastern end of the island. Within seconds it had swallowed several hastily abandoned cars. It was tearing up the roads and eating up houses like they were made of straw.

The war gamers knew what this meant. Enough water given enough time could tear the island apart. It was nearly inconceivable but it was possible. The last men to leave the station knew they might never see it again. They said "See you on the north shore." If they made it.

Cell phone towers down
A half hour before landfall, the telephone towers went down. Not that it mattered much. The wind howled so loud that there was nowhere to have an audible conversation. There in the midst of a freight train of driving rain and howling wind, the Mayor's center began to break apart. Pieces of the roof were being torn away. Windows were breaking. The building was being pummeled by debris of the disintegrating building upwind. The electricity went off. Beneath the emergency lights, the Mayor literally called "Abandon ship". There was nothing more to be done. Their families were already safely away. Now it was time to make their way as best they could. There was a heavy truck waiting outside.

Mayor to boat

Earlier, the Mayor had called for his boat to be made ready. He wanted to be the last man off the island, by boat if necessary. His boat was docked at a marina on the bay a few blocks away. His plan was to get to the boat. If the engine failed, the wind alone would carry him across the bay. He had seen what had happened in New Orleans. Quite a few boats had safely made their way miles inland. Some ended up nested in trees.

When he was sure that everyone was gone. He made a run for it like a man under fire. Running from building to building and pausing in the lee of each to catch his breath. He could see the storm better now without the blur of windows. With his back against a brick wall, he gazed at water shooting past his little shelter on all sides. The force and the power of the storm was awesome. Even the earth shook.

Water was up to his ankles. The city was being submersed in a giant lake. In his career, he had never in his wildest dreams imagined such a sight. And he knew it would continue to rise. Three blocks back and two blocks from the marina was the main road. He passed abandoned cars shaking in the wind. He made it to the marina. The harbormaster took his job seriously. Temporary lights were on. The shortwave radio crackled. A couple old salts sat with a beer in hand and talked with the grim humor of soldiers going into battle.

As the mayor made ready to get to his boat, he remembered the last car he had passed. He fought his way back through the wind and crouched down in the shelter of the car. He beat on the door. A window came down. There were two terrified adults and two kids inside. He yelled at them. They couldn't hear him. He waved at them to follow him. After a few seconds that seemed like an hour, they struggled out. He took one of the kids by the arm and scrambled the short distance to the harbor office. Dripping wet, he told the harbor master to take his boat and take the family to the other side. With a knowing look, the harbor master agreed. He knew that the small skiff had a capacity of four. Five was pushing it especially in these conditions. He led the family out into the wind and struggled to reach the nearest slip a dozen yards away.

The mayor helped them push off, fell down, and crawled back to office. It was rattling and shaking. One of the salts looked at the mayor and said "I guess you know that was the last boat."

Choctawhatchee

The hurricane dumped so much rain into the watershed that Choctawhatchee Bay rose a dozen feet. In the following hours the waters washed back and forth across the island, cutting a dozen wide pathways across the soft sand. Destin had the highest concentration of buildings in the panhandle and it was built on sand.

In many areas everything disappeared. The buildings and streets were washed away. Even the trees were torn away. Here and there a small patch of grasses remained.

High rises

Even the high rises were destroyed. The wind tore through them from front to back. leaving them as empty concrete shells. In some places, the enormous volume of water rushing against the high-rise foundations created a vortex which sucked the sand from beneath their foundations. The wind pushed over the high-rises like a great hand. Then the waters washed away whatever was left. When it was all over, the main island was gone. What remained were just a few small islands that were barely more than sandbars. It looked like it did two hundred years earlier except that here and there a lonely empty concrete tower stood surrounded by water.

CHAPTER 20

Economy After Florida

Everyone was stunned at the losses in Florida. The shock of it sent the stock market tumbling again. The dollar dropped further. The government began issuing a stream of disaster loans. The hand writing was on the wall. The US would not be able to pay back its debt. Inflation soared. Social Security and the Military experienced cuts in real dollars. The military began withdrawing from Europe and closing many of its 900 bases overseas. Suppliers all over the US but especially in California were devastated by the loss of military contracts.

Suddenly, no one could get a 30-year loan, so new home sales plummeted. Thirty-year mortgages became a valuable commodity. To sell an existing house, people resorted to wrap around trusts. Values continued to fall in real dollars. Property taxes couldn't keep up. Schools and municipalities began layoffs.

One of the effects of inflation had been that when prices doubled, everyone could only buy half as much. Incomes did not keep pace. National consumption therefore dropped in half. Business sold only half as much and laid off half their employees. The state governments were broke so they reduced unemployment compensation and reduced staff. The states begged the churches and charities to pick up the ball and feed the poor and now a considerable part of the former middle class. Most of the largest companies had so much in the way of fixed overhead that they could not deal with a halving of income. So, they declared bankruptcy in staggering numbers. And laid off more people. As in Argentina, people took to the streets. Housewives beat pots and pans. Unemployment reached fifty percent.

With the loss of so many students, most of the colleges went into bankruptcy. Enrollment shrank. They could not afford to heat and maintain empty buildings. So, they had to sell them at ninety percent losses. which had been the loss ratio of the great depression except that in some cases they now had to give them away. No one could see a recovery in the foreseeable future.

Legislatures heaped on new taxes. Most of them were elected by the 55% who did not pay taxes. In several western states, led by the example of North Dakota and Texas, the tax payers, small businesses, and police formed an alliance and took over the upper legislature. The lower legislature was still elected by popular vote. The upper was elected by tax payers according to the taxes they paid. One dollar, one vote, up to thirty thousand votes. An agenda was put in place to allow businesses to grow and hire. Simple flat tax rates were legislated. Import taxes were put in place to balance external trade and bring jobs back. The green light was given to harvesting coal and oil shale. Refineries were fast tracked. Construction workers started finding jobs. Suddenly, new industries entered the takeoff phase.

It did not make much difference to Skinner. He had two sets of black trousers and black shoes, a couple frayed white shirts and he knew how to sew. He didn't need any more books and he ate next to nothing. He didn't have a car. It was a good thing because inflation had pillaged the annuity fund of his order. All the non-essentials had to go.

He had to give up his office. He met his clients in some of the empty classrooms or offices nearby. He cut his charges and often gave away his time.

Cap had survived the first couple rounds of cuts and still had a job. Her salary had been cut in half in real dollars. She had been able to preserve her savings. Her stocks and bonds had been just about wiped out but half her savings had been in gold and silver and that had done well. She had to cut back on room order. That had been a sacrifice. The restaurant of the first floor was struggling to survive.

CHAPTER 21

Our Lady of Akita

During September, Cap focused on getting her classes on an even keel. Enrollments were down. Given the budgetary challenges, she wanted no strikes against her in her performance ratings.

In the first week of November, Cap and Skinner met in a comfortable sitting room off the lobby of his residence hall. After discussing the events in Florida, they turned their attention to the subject at hand, the Third Secret. Cap handed Skinner a study sheet which she had made up. "I have done some reading on The Revelations of Our Lady of Akita Japan.

The message of Our Lady of Akita

Cap related the story. In 1984, just before retiring at a venerable age, the diocesan Bishop of Niigata, Bishop John Shojiro Ito, in consultation with the Holy See, wrote a pastoral letter in which he recognized as being authentically of the Mother of God, the extraordinary series of events that had taken place from 1973 to 1981 in a little lay convent within his diocese, at Akita, Japan. Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, in June 1988, approved the Akita events as "reliable and worthy of belief".

The Messages of Akita and Fatima are essentially the same.

In fact, the Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, in 1998 spoke to Cardinal Ratzinger about Akita and the Cardinal "personally confirmed to me that these two messages of Fatima and Akita are essentially the same". Hence in Akita we are dealing with a Church approved intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary as in as Lourdes, La Salette, or Fatima.

Only a few people know of Our Lady of Akita but the message, like that of Fatima, is a specific warning of worldwide chastisement. The chastisement threatened is truly terrible — far worse than the possibility of annihilation of several nations prophesied at Fatima. Akita is consistent with prophecies of Scripture. The first message received by Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa on June 6, 1973, was a call for prayer and sacrifice for the glory of the Father and salvation of souls. The second message, August 3, 1973, was for prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices to soften the Father's anger.

The third message on October 13, 1973, the actual anniversary of the final visions and miracle of Fatima is as follows:

A Terrible Punishment ... Greater than the Deluge

"As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before.

Fire will fall from the Sky.

"Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful.

The Survivors will envy the dead.

"The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day, recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests.

The Devil will infiltrate the Church

"The work of the Devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against other bishops.

"The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their Confreres.

Altars stripped and Churches sacked.

"The Church and altars will be vandalized. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. "The demon will rage especially against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them."

Skinner was pleased to see that Cap was taking the lead.

CHAPTER 22

Neues Europa Versions of The Third Secret

Then Cap handed Skinner a second paper. Skinner read his copy out loud:

Neues Europa version of the Third Secret of Fatima

In 1963, Neues Europa, a German newspaper, published a version of the Third Secret. Although there are a number of reasonable objections to this version, there are reasons to give it some credence. "In 1971, the Fatima expert Father Messias Dias Coelho said that he was hesitant to reject the Neues Europa "Third Secret" as false, for two reasons: ‘The affirmation recently made to me by an eminent Cardinal, whose name we will keep secret for the moment. According to him, the text in question contains some exaggerations (which we had already noted in 1964), but fundamentally it corresponds to the truth.

Second, the fact that the central nucleus of the text in question, as moreover everybody recognizes, is the prediction of a future climate of division within the Church, a prophecy which was unbelievable eight years ago (the publication of Neues Europa dates from 1963), but is a reality today! ‘

The "eminent Cardinal" was Cardinal Ottaviani, who gave the endorsement of the article in Neues Europa. According to Father Coelho, Cardinal Ottaviani said that the Neues Europa version of the Third Secret fundamentally "corresponds to the truth." Regarding to the text printed by Neues Europa, Cardinal Ottaviani reportedly exclaimed, "Publish 10,000 copies! Publish 20,000 copies! Publish 30,000 copies!" (personal testimony of Msgr. Corrado Balducci. This fact is also attested to by Marco Tosatti in his book Il Secreto Non Svelato, (The Secret Not Revealed), Edizioni Piemme Spa, Casale Monferrato, Italy, May 2002, p. 86). Cardinal Ottaviani read the Real Third Secret, as he himself affirmed on February 11, 1967, during a press conference at the time of a meeting of the Pontifical Marian Academy in Rome: "I, who have had the grace and the gift to read the text of the Secret—although I too am held to secrecy because I am bound by the Secret..." (The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol. III, Brother Michel of the Holy Trinity, p. 727).

Here is the "extract" of the Third Secret of Fatima that was published by Neues Europa, a German newspaper in 1963:

"It was the thirteenth of October, 1917. On that day, the Holy Virgin appeared for the last time to the little visionaries, Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucy, at the end of a series of six apparitions in all. After the manifestation of the miracle of the sun at Fatima, the Mother of God revealed a special secret message to Lucy, in which She particularly stated:

"‘Don't worry, dear child. I am the Mother of God speaking to you and begging you to proclaim in My name the following message to the entire world. In doing this, you will meet great hostility. But be steadfast in the Faith and you will overcome this hostility. Listen, and note well what I say to you: Men must become better. They must implore the remission of the sins which they have committed, and will continue to commit. You ask Me for a miraculous sign so that all may understand the words in which, through you, I address mankind. This miracle which you have just seen was the great miracle of the sun! Everyone has seen it — believers and unbelievers, country and city dwellers, scholars and journalists, laymen and priests. And now, announce this in My name:

"‘A great punishment shall come to all mankind, not today as yet, nor even tomorrow, but in the second half of the 20th Century. What I have already made known at La Salette through the children Melanie and Maximin, I repeat today before you. Mankind has not developed as God expected. Mankind has gone astray and has trampled underfoot the gifts which were given it. There is no order in anything. Even in the highest positions, it is satan who governs and decides how affairs are to be conducted. He will even know how to find his way to the highest positions in the Church. He will succeed in sowing confusion in the minds of the great scientists who invent arms, with which half of humanity can be destroyed in a few minutes. If mankind does not refrain from wrongdoing and be converted, I shall be forced to let fall My Son's arm. If those at the top, in the world and in the Church, do not oppose these ways, it is I who shall do so, and I shall pray God My Father to visit His justice on mankind.

"‘There will also come a time of the hardest trials for the Church. Cardinals will be against Cardinals and bishops against bishops. Satan will put himself in their midst. In Rome, also, there will be big changes. What is rotten will fall, and what will fall must not be maintained. The Church will be darkened and the world plunged into confusion.

"God will punish men still more powerfully and harshly than He did by means of the Flood, and the great and powerful will perish just as much as the small and the weak.

"The greatest World War will happen in the second half of the 20th Century. Then fire and smoke will fall from the sky, and the waters of the oceans will be turned to steam, hurling their foam towards the sky; and all that is standing will be cast down. Millions and millions of men will lose their lives from one hour to the next, and those who remain living will envy those who are dead. There will be tribulation as far as the eye can see, and misery all over the earth and desolation in every country.

"The time is continually approaching, the abyss is growing wider, and there is no end in sight. The good will die with the wicked, the big with the small, the princes of the Church with their subjects. Satan's henchmen will then be the only sovereigns on earth.

"This will be a time which neither king nor emperor, Cardinal nor bishop expects, but it will come, nevertheless, in accordance with My Father's plan to punish and take vengeance. Later, however, when those who survive all this are still alive, God and His glory will once more be invoked, and He will once more be served as He was, not so long ago, when the world had not yet become corrupted.

"I call on all true imitators of My Son, Jesus Christ, all true Christians and apostles of the latter days! The time of times is coming and the end of everything, if mankind is not converted, and if this conversion does not come from above, from the leaders of the world and the leaders of the Church. But woe! Woe if this conversion does not come about, and if all remains as it is, nay, if all becomes even worse!

"Go, my child and proclaim this! I shall always remain by your side to help you."

Skinner turned the paper over to make sure there was not more on the other side. Cap said "That ends the Neues Europa version of Third Secret." They talked for a while. Skinner said some of it was fluff and some struck to the heart of the Third Secret.

CHAPTER 23

Comparison of Akita and Neues Europa

Then Cap handed Skinner a comparison between the two. It read:

Here is a comparison between revelations at Akita and a version of the Third Secret of Fatima which was published by Neues Europa. It is safe to assume that phrases which are found in both are found in the Third Secret.

The Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, in 1998, spoke to Cardinal Ratzinger about Akita and the Cardinal "personally confirmed to me that these two messages of Fatima and Akita are essentially the same."

Speaking of the Third Secret, Cardinal Ottaviani said "The Madonna wanted it to be published already in 1960". Sister Lucy also said the Our Lady wanted it revealed in 1960.

Here are the phrases that are found in both:

Greater than the Deluge
Fire will fall from the sky
Survivors will envy the dead
Devil will infiltrate the Church
Cardinal against Cardinal, Bishop against Bishop

Here is the Comparison phrase by phrase:

Greater than the Deluge Akita
If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before.
Greater than the Deluge Neues Europa
God will punish men still more powerfully and harshly than He did by means of the Flood.
Fire will fall from the sky Akita.
Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful.
Fire will fall from the sky Neues Europa.
Fire and smoke will fall from the sky, and the waters of the oceans will be turned to steam, hurling their foam towards the sky; and all that is standing will be cast down. Millions and millions of men will lose their lives from one hour to the next.
The Survivors will envy the dead Akita.
The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.
The Survivors will envy the dead Neues Europa
Those who remain living will envy those who are dead.
The Devil will infiltrate the Church Akita.
The work of the Devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against other bishops.
The Devil will infiltrate the Church Neues Europa
Even in the highest positions, it is satan who governs and decides how affairs are to be conducted. He will even know how to find his way to the highest positions in the Church... Satan will put himself in their midst.
Cardinal against Cardinal, Bishop against Bishop Akita
One will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their Confreres.
Cardinal against Cardinal, Bishop against Bishop Neues Europa
Cardinals will be against Cardinals and bishops against bishops.

Skinner held his paper and said "Good work. I lived through the ‘Cardinal against Cardinal period' of Vatican II. We had high hopes. Like Benedict, I was a liberal back then."

As they spoke, the old steam heating system clanged gently in the background as it struggled to keep the building heated. Everyone was wearing sweaters. It was the new era of cutbacks.

CHAPTER 24

Next Several Lines

Cap arranged to meet Skinner a couple weeks later to continue where they left off. After they talked about the three papers, Cap began

"So, the first four lines of the Third Secret are:

"You saw the ruin of the world.

In order to save souls, God wished to establish the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays."

If the Holy Father had done so, many souls would have been saved."

Because he did not, the devil will infiltrate the Church."

About the fourth line, "the devil will infiltrate the Church". At first, I thought the idea was beyond the pale, but the more I read, the more possible it became. Malachi Martin, the one who said that the third secret would fill the churches on Saturday night, wrote a book titled, Vatican A Novel. Although it's fictional, Martin proposes the theory that the Pope John Paul I was murdered by the Soviet Union because he would abandon the accommodationist policy of his two predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. They did not want him to condemn the atheistic totalitarian ideology. Martin believed that the church structure was infiltrated for decades by masonic agents who reached positions of high influence. Bella Dodd, who was head of the communist party in American, claimed that she personally sent into the Catholic seminaries over 1,000 young men. And before she died, she reported that some of them had already become bishops. Lenin said that he would infiltrate and destroy the Catholic Church.

I think the next line could be infiltrate the Church and mount the throne of St Peter. This does not mean the Pope John XXIII was a willing agent of the devil. But it does mean that John XXIII was Pope when things went wrong. Lucy wrote that the "devil infiltrated the Church under cover of doing good".

I have read the three volumes you suggested. There is a fourth volume by a different member of the order. He makes a good case that Pope John was duped by the Russians. In a high stakes game of world political power, the pope had four of a kind and the Russians had a pair. But he dazzled himself and threw in his hand, thinking he had been the master of a political success. He forbade criticism of communism. In 1970, Sister Lucy wrote to a friend, Mother Martins, that "It is painful to see such a great disorientation in so many persons who occupy places of responsibility....It is because the devil has infiltrated evil under cover of good." Many believe that it is possible that John XXIII meant well in his effort to reform the Church, but the effort was used by the devil to further his fight against God and souls. In Nikitaroncali, the author writes that during the last weeks of his life, the pope was heard roaming the halls late at night saying "What have I done. What have I done."

After John XXIII read the secret, he said it "does not refer to my pontificate." This suggests that the secret was saying something negative about someone's pontificate and that it seemed to point to him. He was in effect saying "it is not about me. I am not the one it is talking about." But it was still too close for comfort. This is the likely reason that John XXIII chose not to publish the secret. The Third Secret stands alone as the one Marian apparition which has been suppressed.

On the Art Bell radio program. A listener called in and said that a Jesuit had confided to him that the secret spoke of a Pope who "would be under the control of Satan. Pope John was reeling, thinking that it could have been him." Father Martin responded "Yes, it seems that this person would have had a means of reading or would have been given the contents of the secret." Which comes very close to saying that the third secret says that the pope will come under the influence of Satan.

Skinner agreed that Martin may have slipped and said more than he intended. Martin was a writer and was used to polishing his presentations. The Art Bell program was a live radio program.

Cap added that Father Kramer said the when John XXIII read the secret, he turned white and nearly fainted.

There are also the words of Cardinal Ciappi, the theologian for the pontifical household for Pius XII through John Paul II. He said "In the third secret is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy will begin at the top."

There will be a Council

Cap went on as Skinner listened intently. "The next line would be ‘There will be a Council.' Cardinal Ratzinger told a friend that Our Lady also warned that there would be an evil Council in the Church that would cause great scandal. I found an article by Father Paul Kramer: The Secret Warned Against Vatican Council II and the New Mass. Kramer says that Our Lady foresaw that the council would be misused. "Cardinal Oddi spoke with Sister Lucy in 1985. Afterward, he said that "In my opinion, what is written is that in 1960, the Pope would have convoked a council from which, contrary to his intentions, there would arise many difficulties in the Church." So, in plain speech, what Oddi is saying is that the secret says that the pope will call a council of all the bishops, and that in that council grave mistakes will be made which affect the church and will cause serious problems and loss of faith. He deduced from Lucy's words that the Secret "preannounced some grave error."

It will be sad for everyone.

"In the Fuentes interview, Lucy said "Father, how much time is there before 1960 arrives? It will be very sad for everyone, not one person will rejoice at all if beforehand the world does not pray and do penance. I am not able to give any other details because it is still a secret. According to the will of the Most Holy Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima are permitted to know the secret, but they have chosen not to know it so that they would not be influenced."

"Sister Lucy never said a positive word about Vatican II. If she had, she would have been quoted. "So, I think that logically the next line would be "Cardinal will oppose Cardinal. Bishop against Bishop. The priests who revere me will scorned and opposed.

" This is drawn from Our Lady of Akita. It also fairly describes the ascendency of progressives and modernists in Vatican II and subsequent events. In the ecclesiastical struggle for power in the era of Vatican II, Our Lady was demoted. People today have little appreciation of the loss of Marian Devotion which has a occurred in the last fifty years. Rosary production dropped ninety percent in the decade following Vatican II. The catholic is different today.

"After the reference to the bishops would come the line "They will alter the Mass and the teaching of the Church."

Pope Pius XII

" Msgr. Eugene Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, made an astonishing prophecy on the future upheaval in the Church:

"I am worried by the Blessed Virgin's messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. ... I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past.

"A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, 'Where have they taken Him?'"

- Roche, Pie XII Devant L'Historie, p. 52-53

Odious in My Sight

"In the field of Fatima prophecy, Marie Julie Jahenny, the Breton Stigmatist, is a figure of respect. She said that Our Lord spoke to her about a new mass whose words would be "Odious in My Sight."

The Abomination of Desolation

There is a case to be made that the new mass is The Abomination of Desolation. John Vennari, in the article referenced above, says "Meanwhile, the Church has been updated beyond recognition, far worse than it was in the early days of the revolution in 1973. So much so that if Pope Benedict XV, the reigning Pontiff in 1917, would now step into the average parish church during Sunday Mass, he would assume that a weird, liberal sect had commandeered the once-Catholic building: a sect that offers a loose Protestant liturgy and preaches perverse doctrine; a sect that sings insipid songs and allows sloven, immodest dress during worship; a sect that spends large sums of money renovating and de-Catholicizing the church interior; a sect where lay-people help give out Communion, indicating the sect does not believe in the Real Presence. He would also note from the dwindling numbers that the sect is dying."

Catechism of Fatima.

Skinner took a slow sip of his tea. He said "If you look at what the Our Lady said at Fatima, you could construct what could be called the Catechism of Fatima. It is much different than what is taught today. For example, Our Lady said that too many souls are being condemned for sins against her. Elsewhere there is a focus on Hell. However, in the church today Hell is not much spoken about. In fact, there is an attitude which favors universal salvation. But please continue."

Cap looked back at her paper. "The next line would be "The devil will sweep a third of the clergy into his service." This is a reference to Revelation 12:4. "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son."

"Pope John Paul II gave a sermon at Fatima on May 13, 2000 on the Beautification of Francisco and Jacinta. He said "The message of Fatima is a call to conversion, alerting humanity to have nothing to do with the ‘dragon' whose ‘tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth.' Man's final goal is heaven, his true home, where the heavenly Father awaits everyone with his merciful love." "John Paul II refers to "the message of Fatima" but nowhere else in the Fatima messages is this passage found. It can be reasoned therefore that the passage must be in the third secret. "The message of Fatima" could be used as another name for the most famous message of Fatima which is the third secret. He was saying in effect that The Third Secret warns humanity against the dragon who will sweep away a third of the clergy into his service.

"Paul VI, speaking years earlier in the same plaza, referred to the same page of Apocalypse in his sermon on the fiftieth anniversary of the apparitions.

"Socci hypothesizes that a deal was struck in the Sacred Palaces between the pro and anti-Fatima sections that would allow John Paul to reveal the contents of the third secret indirectly, so that the astute would get the message and the Church could say in good conscience that the third secret had been in revealed.

The Haydock Commentary of the Douay-Rheims Bible.

"Father Paul Kramer says that the image of one third of the stars of Heaven has been interpreted to refer to "bishops and eminent persons who fell under the weight of persecution and apostatized." "In The Book of Destiny by Father Herman Kramer, published in 1956 with an imprimatur, one third of the stars is interpreted to mean that one third of the clergy will follow the dragon. One third of the consecrated souls will be in "the service of the devil, working to destroy the Church from within."

Supporters of the Devil

Sister Lucy also brings up the idea that numerous clergy were working for the devil and not for Our Lady. In a letter in 1970, speaking of liberals and dangerous innovators in the Church, Sister Lucy says "We see how supporters of the devil work for evil and how they fear nothing.... They always go forward with intrepid audacity. "That one so humble as Sr Lucy has spoken so strongly suggests that she speaks about the secret.

Next, "The beast will overcome pastors. The flock will be abandoned and scattered. The devil will drag many to hell."

"In Sister Lucy's letters can be found a recognition of the Great Battle between Satan and Our Lady. The themes include: Overcoming consecrated souls, souls abandoned by their leaders in the midst of wolves, the seizing of the unprotected sheep, and the dragging of souls to hell.

"Speaking about the Decisive Battle between Mary and Satan, Sister Lucy said "Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God, and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus, the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God because in this way, the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them."

Drag to Hell.

"Sister Lucy continued, ‘Religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell.' "

Final Impenitence.

"The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence." Sister Lucy added that "Our Lady was always sad".

Altars will be stripped and churches will be sacked.

Cap continued. "This is drawn from Our Lady of Akita. This has already happened figuratively. Churches were once places of beautiful architecture, statues, stained glass, magnificent altars, and ornaments. Now they tend toward denuded boxes.

"In the Vision of the Bishop in White, there is a war in which the pope is killed and then the Cardinals, Bishops, priests and clergy. In such a war, it is likely that churches will be physically sacked.

Then, Cap closed her folder and relaxed back into her big padded chair. She told Skinner that she felt that she was delving deeper and deeper into a realm of darkness. And she didn't know where she was going or what to do with it. Skinner encouraged her to keep moving forward.

CHAPTER 25

Diabolical Wave

Over the Christmas holidays, Cap continued to read and study about Fatima. She read letters which Lucy had written to her aunt during the seventies. Lucy seemed to believe that the world was being demonically possessed. Possessed as in need of an exorcism. She wrote Skinner:

Fr Skinner,
"I believe that one of the lines in the third secret may be, A diabolic wave will sweep the world. I think that Lucy believed that the world became possessed in that period.

Going out on a limb. I think that in looking at Lucy's writings, one can discern elements of the third secret. Sister Lucy was humble about herself. She was resigned to a quiet and retired life in her cloister. Whenever she seems to be boldly going out on a limb with a dramatic statement or line of thought, she is reflecting the Madonna's own thinking.

Diabolical Disorientation. Sister Lucy made several references to Diabolical Disorientation during the 70's. It is apparent from her letters that she believed that a diabolical wave was sweeping the planet. The argument could be made that after 1960, the world came to be possessed by the devil. Possessed, as in needing an exorcism. This was a punishment upon the world and the Church for having disobeyed His Will.

Rosary every day to arm against diabolical disorientation

In 1970 Sister Lucy wrote to a friend "People must recite the rosary every day. Our Lady repeated this in all her apparitions, as if to arm us in advance these times of diabolical disorientation, so that we would not let ourselves be fooled by false doctrines."

Diabolical Disorientation Invading the World

Speaking of those who reject the mediation of Mary, Sr Lucy says "This is a diabolical disorientation which is invading the world and misleading souls."

Devil has Infiltrated

"It is painful to see such a great disorientation in so many persons who occupy places of responsibility...It is because the devil has infiltrated evil under cover of good, and the blind are beginning to guide others, as the Lord tell us in His Gospel, and souls are letting themselves be deceived."

War against the Rosary

About the benefits of the Rosary, Sr Lucy says; "That is why the devil has waged such a war against it. And the worst is that he has succeeded in leading into error and deceiving souls having a heavy responsibility through the place which they occupy... They are blind men guiding other blind men."

"The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommends recitation of the Rosary with such insistence... The devil has unchained his struggle against it.

Diabolic Wave

In a letter to her nephew, a Salesian priest, in 1971, Sr Lucy wrote "I see by your letter that you are preoccupied by the disorientation of our time. It is indeed sad that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave sweeping over the world... Their principal fault is that they have abandoned prayer.

Sincerely hoping that you and I are not among the possessed,
Cap

CHAPTER 26

Dream of Hildegard

One night in early February, Cap had a dream. A child met her and took her by the hand. They were was transported back in time. She found herself somewhere at night. It was almost completely dark. She could feel a cold stone floor with her bare feet. There was no breeze. She was inside a man-made structure. A little to the right and left were stone walls. She was in a hallway. The walls were made of rough stone. There was no heat and there was no noise. It was late at night. It felt like a castle. She inched slowly along the hallway. She turned one corner, then another. There was a faint glow as she made her way along the hall. It lead to a chapel. She paused at its entrance. Two candles on an altar bathed the room in a soft light. There were two nuns. One was standing. Words were softly spoken and the standing nun left the room. The other continued to kneel at a communion rail at the front of the church. After the longest time, Cap crossed the threshold of the chapel and walked very slowly toward the front. Cap was surprised that her footsteps made no noise on the stone floor. When she was a few feet from the communion rail, she heard the words "Come nearer my daughter."

The nun arose and lead Cap to a sitting room nearby. "My name is Hildegard. This is my convent. You have come a long way in distance and in time. You are in the Palatinate of the Rhine, in the Holy Roman Empire. Nearby is a village that people of your time will call Heidelberg Germany. The time is the twelfth century.

Hildegard pointed at the wall several feet away. A tapestry hung on the wall. At that, the wall began to melt. They were then looking at a large country with many cities. "This is the great nation in the ocean that will be called America. It is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent. Before the comet comes, many nations will be scourged by want and famine. It will be devastated by earthquakes. It will be shaken like a child shakes a toy. In some places the work of men will be shaken to the ground so that not one stone will sit upon another.

"Storms of uncommon strength will the pummel the countryside. Like wild horses, they will trample upon the villages. Dark grey clouds will come down to earth and tread heavily upon the roofs and walls of your cottages.

"A few places where the good live will be spared. But elsewhere even the sea will rise up in anger. Great tides will romp upon the land. The powers of the earth which keep back the seas will abandon their posts. Seas will roam across the land at will. Fishes will look down at the trees. Fields will look up at the waters. Wheat will sway in the currents.

"The seasons will be released from their yoke. They will not carry their burden. They will wander from their appointed paths. The rains will not dip into their sacred vessels and pour out their dew upon the dry soil. They will forget. The waters will come too late and then too much. In some places the seeds will not sprout. Elsewhere, wet fields will pull down the wheat.

"The harvests will stray from their royal duties. Fathers will find no food for their children.

Divided.

"Look at the great river in the middle of your country. See how it will grow. The land will be divided and, in great part, be submerged. See the coasts. See how the seas trespass upon them. All coastal cities will live in fear, and many of them will be swallowed and destroyed by tidal waves. "

Ships.

"That nation will also have many misfortunes at sea. It has so many ships." Cap was given the ability to see all the ships stretched out upon the sea for a great distance. She was given the insight to know what a great and awesome number they would appear to be to someone from so long ago. "The great nation will lose its ships." Then Cap saw the ships flounder one after another. Some were assaulted by war. Some were sunk by large waves. Many suffered disrepair. Some rolled onto their sides in shallow water. Others were carried onto the land by large tides.

A child tugged upon the sleeve of Cap's night shirt. "Come with me." Cap bowed goodbye to the nun and quietly said "Thank you, Mother."

They traveled much nearer to Cap's own time. The child pointed to a woman. She was talking to American soldiers. The time was just after World War II. The place was Bavaria. The child said "She bears the wounds of Christ."

The soldiers had heard of Therese Neumann. She was a simple peasant but in trance she would speak ancient Aramaic, Greek and Latin. She lived on nothing but the host. A yogi once met her and said "I see ... that energy flows to your body from the ether, sun, and air."

The soldiers asked Therese if America would be destroyed in World War III. She answered that in the next century "America will be destroyed by a series of natural disasters... Blessed is he, who not gets annoyed at God."

The child said "Goodnight Padraigin." It was the Irish feminine version of Patrick which meant noblewoman. She understood that he was saying in effect, "Remember, you have noble blood. You have a soul."

When Cap awakened, she wrote down her dreams. A couple days later she a couple free hours in her schedule. She searched and found the prophecies which related to her dream.

St. Hildegard once wrote "Before the comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scourged by want and famine. The great nation in the ocean that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent will be devastated by earthquake, storm, and tidal wave. It will be divided and, in great part, submerged. That nation will also have many misfortunes at sea and lose ... All coastal cities will live in fear, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves. "

In a book about modern prophecies, Cap found a quote which Therese Neumann is alleged to have told to American GI's after World War II. "Near the beginning of the next century, America will be destroyed economically by a series of natural disasters."

A week later, the smallest of earth tremors began to rattle the foundations of St Louis.