As the episcopal consecrations draw near, we are reminded of another, even more urgent and vital Consecration, the absence of which could be said to necessitate these extraordinary actions of the Society of Saint Pius X. That is, it is necessary for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as instructed by Our Lord and Our Lady during the Fatima apparitions.
Archbishop Lefebvre on Fatima
Archbishop Lefebvre himself drew a connection between the message of Fatima and his decision to perform the initial episcopal consecrations in 1988. The previous year, on June 29th, he had written with regard to the unpublished portion of the Fatima secret:
“They have not wanted to reveal her secret. They have buried the message of the Virgin Mary. Without a doubt this message was supposed to prevent what is happening today. If her message had been known, it is very probable that we would not have gone so far and that the situation in Rome would not be what it is today. The popes have refused to publish the message of the Most Holy Virgin. The punishments pronounced by the Virgin Mary are coming. The apostasy foretold in the Scriptures is arriving. The coming of the Antichrist approaches. This is clearly evident.” 1
Only weeks later, Archbishop Lefebvre led a large pilgrimage to Fatima, at which he personally consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart during Mass. In his sermon, he drew a connection between the message of Fatima and the crisis in the Church:
This is the true current situation in which we find ourselves, a mysterious situation, probably announced by Our Lady of Fatima in Her third secret, saying that those who want to remain Catholics will be persecuted by those who, while having authority in the Church, stray from the faith; and since they stray from the Faith, they would like to drag us along with them.
Because we disobey them by our unwillingness to lose the faith with them, they persecute us. 2
The Archbishop again made reference to Fatima in his sermon for the 1988 episcopal consecrations:
“Without a doubt, the Third Secret of Fatima must have made an allusion to this darkness which has invaded Rome, this darkness which has invaded the world since the Council. And surely it is because of this, without a doubt, that John XXIII judged it better not to publish the Secret: it would have been necessary to take measures, such steps as he possibly felt himself incapable of doing, e.g., completely changing the orientations which he was beginning to take in view of the Council, and for the Council.” 3
In the wake of those first consecrations, others began to see the connection between the Crisis in the Church and the message of Fatima. One of those was the ‘hero-priest’, Fr. Meuli. His sermon on the First Saturday devotion, given below, is as relevant now is it was when it was first preached thirty years ago. It provides the Fatima message in a nutshell and details our required response.
The Other Consecration by Fr. Meuli
This sermon was preached by Reverend P. D. Meuli during an all-night vigil on November 5, 1993 at Mount St. Mary, Titirangi, New Zealand. In this sermon Fr Mueli explains why the Consecration of Russia to The Immaculate Heart not been done by the Popes as requested by Our Lady herself, and how, as a result, the Great Chastisement is almost upon us. This sermon comes to us courtesy of the traditionalist journal, ‘Catholic’.
Anyone who comes fairly frequently to this church will have been regaled off and on with the threat of the ‘great chastisement’ which has been foretold by innumerable seers down through the centuries and with increasing frequency over the past couple of centuries, and with accelerated and increasing frequency over the past few decades.
This great chastisement will be visited on us all because we have not turned to Christ. There are many indications that it cannot be too far off because it is only too evident to anyone who looks out and about that society is coming apart, falling into total decadence, into anarchy.
There’s still a way to go mind, but if you are prepared to make a comparison with what reigns today in society with what say reigned twenty years ago, then you cannot but conclude that things are getting worse, and getting worse in particular offences against Almighty God, even to the extent of being enshrined in our very legislation two of the four sins which cry to heaven for vengeance, as sacred scripture informs us.
They are specifically, unnatural vice, which is now presented by society, and protected by the law, as an alternative lifestyle. And the other: murder of the innocent. That too is woven into our legislation, so it can’t be far off, the great chastisement, which I can say confidently because all those seers in the past who have had anything to say on the matter have foretold that it will be towards the end of the twentieth century.
Well, we have only six years to go, so somewhere along that line of time the great chastisement is going to come. There is no way of avoiding it. All that can be done is that its severity be mitigated, and that by dint of our prayers and sacrifices.
So I put it to you. If you come here now and then you will very likely have heard something of the great chastisement. Tonight in the Fatima context, because it is in that context that we know mostly about the great chastisement, two examples of which have already been given us and that so described by the utterances at Fatima.
These two were the First World War and the Second World War, with lots of other things happening in between, and subsequently, like the starvation of ten million Kulaks in the Ukraine by Stalin during the ’30s of this century, and other hideous crimes against humanity.
Those intimations of the coming and great chastisement have already given us a taste of what it is going to be like, but what I want to draw your attention to tonight is not just simply to remind you of the duty we have to live according to God’s law, and the duty we have to ourselves to live according to God’s law that we may survive the great chastisement, but to direct your attention to after the great chastisement.
I do not know whether this is accurate, but from one source and another it is affirmed that three-quarters of the population of the world will be destroyed. That will leave lots of empty spaces around the place. One-quarter will survive. All the enemies of God will be wiped out. But what about after? And that may give us pause.
Well, whatever about the difficulties, and there are bound to be difficulties, it is certain that God is going to give us a period of peace which is described in the Fatima context as the peace of our heavenly Mother; peace during the reign of the Immaculate Heart.
A question arises: What is necessary to enter into this particular peace, to survive in other words and still be around when it is instituted? One thing in particular. That is the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of our heavenly Mother. Many other things may be required, many other things may contribute to our survival, but this is a sine qua non, it is absolutely essential.
It is pretended today that this Consecration has already been done and pretty persuasive arguments are brought to bear to persuade one that it, in fact, has been done. But they fall, each one of them, against the truth, and are shattered because the truth of the matter is it has not been done, and that is admitted even by John Paul II himself.
It is affirmed that what has been done, namely the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart, has been accepted by God, but there is no evidence of it because one of the effects of the Consecration is the conversion of Russia. It cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be deemed converted. Rather is it perverted, for into the gap, such as it is, left by Communism, there has rushed, not the graces of God, but the vile, sinful principles of the West given over to rebellion against God, pursuit of pleasure, and the destruction of all that is good.
Now consider that matter because it is to some degree susceptible to our prayers and the way we live. We, very few of us, can make appeal to our Blessed Lord, His Most Sacred Heart, our Blessed Lady, her Immaculate Heart, that all those who are required to perform in a certain way to so perform, namely the Holy Father and the Bishops in communion with him. They and only they are required to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart.
For one reason or another they have stubbornly refused, right up to our day. Our Blessed Lord has said of them that, just like the King of France, and that was Louis XIV to whom was revealed through the good office of St Margaret Mary Alocoque in the 17th century, that he was to prosper if he would consecrate himself, his family and kingdom, to the Most Sacred Heart of our Blessed Lord. He refused.
It isn’t that he positively rejected it, it is just simply that he didn’t get round to consecrating his kingdom to the Most Sacred Heart of our Blessed Lord, and similarly with his heirs, all the way up to Louis XVI, who, in the Bastille, did finally consecrate himself and his family to the Most Sacred Heart, but it was by then too late. Not long after, having been stripped of all his powers, he was led to the guillotine.
Our Blessed Lord said apropos of those who have not, and who should have, consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart, that they would follow the King of France into misfortune, but that it would eventually be done, that is the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and that then the reign of the peace of the Immaculate Heart would begin.
Let us consider what actually is required: a consecration. It isn’t as though a consecration is unknown to us; there are many examples of it in sacred scripture.
The consecration of David
Jesse, the father of many sons, was approached by Samuel the prophet. Samuel – this is in the reign of Saul – had been instructed by Almighty God to get his phial of oil because God – speaking to Samuel – informed Samuel that he had abandoned Saul, and Samuel was to get his phial of oil and go where the Lord would direct him and anoint a new king. He went to the territory indicated, went to the family indicated, and requested of Jesse that he be presented all of his sons.
He had seven sons. They were splendid men and they were presented one by one to him. Interiorly Samuel heard: “Not this one”, and again, “Not this one,” until finally the sons presented by Jesse were no more. “Is this the whole of your family?” enquired Samuel.
He received the reply: “Well, no, there is one other, the youngest, he is out looking after the sheep.”
“Call him”, said Samuel. “Present him to me for we shall not sit down to sup until he is amongst us. At that the eighth son was called, and as he entered the door, Samuel was informed interiorly by God: “This is he; anoint him.”
He took his phial of oil and anointed him, consecrated him. That son was called David, King David. It is fascinating to follow his career from that time on, how he was inserted into the court of Saul who was still reigning, though only on sufferance, and finally took over the entire kingdom. It was David who was chosen from amongst all sons. He alone was identified by God and set apart and consecrated.
The consecrations of Saul and Barnabas
Come now into the New Testament, to the Acts of the Apostles, of Saul and Barnabas. They were designated by God to be set apart. In the room where they were identified there were others, but the word of the Lord fell on Saul and Barnabas.
“Set them apart for Me,” said God. “Consecrate them. I have much for them to do.”
They alone were identified by God and led to consecration. So consecration is specific; it is not something that is generalised, where everybody in the room was being consecrated. No, these two were identified, Saul and Barnabas.
Similarly with Russia. It has been identified. It is not the world or all the nations together. It is strictly Russia that is to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope and by the Bishops in communion with him.
Back to Fatima
In the Fatima apparitions, our Blessed Lady said: “Only I can help you.” From which we may conclude that our Blessed Lord has designated our Blessed Lady as His agent for the restoration of the world generally to the peace of Christ.
That is clear from the question that Sister Lucy, the last surviving seer of the three children of Fatima, put to our Blessed Lord, enquiring:
“Why is it that you require the consecration of Russia to Immaculate Heart for its conversion and therefore for entire world?”
To which she received this reply from our Blessed Lord:
“It must be seen that the conversion is to be attributed to the intervention of the Immaculate Heart of My Mother, who is to be elevated to the level of devotion of My own Most Sacred Heart.”
To assist us in that, our Blessed Lady, on a particular occasion, appeared to Sister Lucy and claimed: “It is now time to require of the Holy Father that he order the Bishops to perform the consecration,” and in the same context our Blessed Lady described a devotion which you and I are following this very evening, the devotion of the Five First Saturdays.
This devotion is describe thus: On each of five consecutive Saturdays, that is to say the first Saturday of the month, we are to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, confess our sins, and the confession may be before or after within an appropriate interval of time, recite five decades of the Rosary, meditate- or as our Blessed Lady described it, keep our Blessed Lady company for fifteen minutes meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary – and all this done in a spirit of penance and reparation for sin.
How it is described is to give comfort – principally to give comfort- to the outraged Immaculate Heart, that Heart which appeared to Sister Lucy covered with thorns.
Of course the pursuit of excellence in our own lives and the pursuit of sanctity in our spiritual lives are necessary: we are to acquire grace and virtue, further, we are to engineer as much as within our power lies, and so as I can see at the moment, the only means we have available are prayer and sacrifice, but that is enough.
So, these five first Saturdays with all that goes with them – the Rosary, the meditation, the confession, the Mass and the Communion, are designated by our Blessed Lady herself as being the means by which individuals will gain what is called the grace of final perseverance.
Now that is a grace which is absolutely gratuitous. It is not due to us. If it is given, it is given gratuitously, because the world is so bad that those who are to be saved are to be plucked out of it. And how will they be plucked out of it? By being distinguished from everybody else. How distinguished? By the five first Saturdays, and the daily Rosary.
Thus shall we be survivors, my brethren, of the great chastisement. We shall make it through, if we are still around when it comes, to the other side and enter into peace, the peace of Christ here in this world.
- Archbishop Lefebvre and the Vatican by Fr. Francois Laisney as per a post by Matt Gaspers on X ↩︎
- Sermon by Archbishop Lefebvre in Fatima, August 22, 1987 ↩︎
- Archbishop Lefebvre, Sermon from the 1988 Episcopal Consecrations ↩︎
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