Ecstasy
date January 27, 1882 (“The Breton Stigmatist”, Book,
p.32)
Message to Marie-Julie: "But
woe to the pastors who abandon the flock."
Same
Day
January
27, 1882, (“The Breton Stigmatist”, p. 50)
Our
Lord: "My Montmartre
Sanctuary (i.e. the Sacre Coeur basilica) is
already destined to serve as a theatre for the impious and all those
involved with human laws." Also, "It would not
be long before the place of prayer of Saint Geneviéve would become a
theatre for dances and the most infernal crimes..."
Our
Lady of Victories further told Marie-Julie: "The
sanctuary of Our Lady of Victories would resist the cannon-balls, the
gun fire of the instruments of the world and that the miraculous
protection of Heaven would preserve it in the midst of the debris."
(Our Lady of Victories, Paris.)
(Interior, altar dedicated to Our Lady, the Refuge of Sinners).
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I
believe it would be apropos to include here the history of Our Lady
as Our Lady of Victories, and why this shrine will be protected as a
sign of Her maternal care.
The
History of Our Lady of Victories
Victory
will come from Devotion to the Rosary
and
the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The
first chapel ever dedicated to Our Lady of Victories was built by
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester after the Battle of Muret,
September 12, 1213. Simon de Montfort, a Christian Crusader, defeated
King Peter II of Aragon (now in Spain), thus uniting the Languedoc
region to France, (the county of Toulouse). Obviously, Our Lady was
forming the Kingdom of France at an early date.
However,
the title of Our Lady of Victories was not instituted until centuries
later. During the 16th century, the Muslim Ottoman invaders marched
as far as Vienna, had taken over lands as far as the Danube, and were
threatening to invade the rest of Europe. They had the most fearsome
fleet on the Mediterranean; after the fall of Cyprus, it was feared
they would next invade Italy and France.
Pope
St. Pius V promoted the Holy League to fight against the Turks, a
coalition of the major European maritime forces. Led by John of
Austria, they engaged in battle off the coast of Western Greece on
October 7, 1571 and defeated the Ottoman fleet, they had not been
defeated at sea in over a century.
On
that day as the battle took place, St. Pius the V held a rosary
procession at St. Peters, and the Holy League attributed the victory
to Our Lady.
(Image: St.
Pius V and his vision of the Battle of Lepanto)
In
thanksgiving, St. Pius V instituted in the Feast of Our Lady of
Victories. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of
this feast-day to "Feast of the Holy Rosary". This
feast was extended by Pope Clement XII to the whole of the Latin
Rite, inserting it into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in
1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in October. Pope St. Pius
X changed the date to October 7 in 1913, as part of his effort to
restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays.
Hence,
the celebration of Our Lady of Victories is on the Feast of the
Rosary, and the Feast of the Rosary honours Our Lady of Victories.
Our Lady seemed to strengthen this association with regards to Fatima
… .
Fatima
and Our Lady of Victories
Not
many Catholics are aware that centuries before Our Lady appeared as
Queen of the Rosary in Fatima, an unusual event happened at the Cova
da Iria.
In 1383, when King Fernando I of Portugal died, he left no
male legitimate heir to the throne, only his daughter Princess
Beatrice, who was married to King John I of Castille. Hence, Portugal
was on the point of losing its sovereignty to Spain. The Portuguese
nobles decided it was better to defend the sovereignty of their
country and elected Fernando's illegitimate brother to the throne,
John, Master of Aviz. St. Nuno, a valiant knight, supported this
decision, and was made Commander of the King's Army and the Third
Count of Ourém. The Spanish began to press their rights and war
ensued.
On
their way to the decisive Battle of Aljubarrota (August 1385) they
passed through the Cova da Iria. St. Nuno suddenly stopped the King
and the army, declaring that something marvellous would happen there
in the future. Of course, we now know it was the apparitions of
Fatima. The King and St. Nuno knelt at the spot and promised Our Lady
that if she would grant them victory and save the kingdom, they would
each build a monastery in her honour. They
won the battle, and King John began the Dominican monastery in the
town of Batalha (Battle) in 1386 and dedicated it to our Lady of
Victories, (about a fifteen minute drive from Fatima), while St. Nuno
built a Carmalite monastery in Lisbon, which he entered after giving
up all his wealth, lands and titles. Sadly, Nuno's monastery was
destroyed during the great earthquake in Lisbon, 1755.
Our
Lady of Victories Monestary, Batalha
St. Nuno's statue is to the right
The
Battle of Aljubarotta (August 14, 1385)
St.
Nuno is not widely known outside of Portugal. He is often called the
“Precursor to Fatima” because of his great devotion to Our Lady,
the Rosary, and the Brown Scapular. We recall Our Lady also appeared
in Fatima as Our Lady of Mount Carmel with the Brown Scapular. Of
interest, St. Nuno is the founder of the House of Braganca, the Royal
House of Portugal, he is the father of Kings! The House of Braganca
survives to this day.
(Image: St.
Nuno after entering Carmel)
(Image: Our Lady of Victories statue at Batalha).
Our
Lady of Victories, Queen of the Rosary, therefore shows her powerful
protection over nations and especially monarchies.
Not
satisfied with showing the association between victories and her
Rosary, Our Lady also wanted devotion to her Immaculate Heart to be
made known and charged Sr. Lucia of Fatima to spread devotion to her
Immaculate Heart and the practise of the Five First Saturdays.
Compare this with the history of Our Lady of Victories Shrine in
Paris:
Our
Lady of Victories Shrine in Paris (Notre Dame des Victoires)
In
1619 the Discalced Augustinians (colloquially referred to as the
"Petits Pères") established their convent,
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, on three hectares of land they had
purchased, the Bourse (Market) located at the intersection of the
Place des Petits-Pères and Rue de la Banque.
On
December 8, 1629 the foundations were blessed by Archbishop
Jean-François Gondi. The next day, King Louis XIII himself laid the
cornerstone in the presence of the Court's 'seigneurs' and the city
officials. Remembering the Battle of Lepanto, King Louis XIII
promised to fund the construction on the condition that it be
dedicated to his victory over the heretical Protestants at La
Rochelle, which he attributed to the intercession of the Blessed
Mother.
The
first church being too small, reconstruction commenced in 1656
according to the plans of Pierre Le Muet. Libéral Bruant, Robert
Boudin, and Gabriel Leduc oversaw this work. The new church, not yet
completed, was consecrated in 1666. Work was finalized in 1737 under
the supervision of Sylvain Cartaud. He oversaw the expansion of the
nave, the construction of the façade as well as the construction of
the transept's striking spherical roof. The sanctuary is graced by
several paintings by the French painter Louis-Michel van Loo
(1707–1771).
However,
it was seized during the various political Masonic upheavals in
France, the church was converted into the home of the national
lottery and a stock exchange during the Directory. A large garden and
a double-cloister existed at the site until the Revolution. At that
time, they were confiscated and fell into disuse. Although the church
had been returned to a place of worship in 1809, the remnants of the
monastery were destroyed in 1858 and a police station as well as an
office for
the mayor of the arrondissement were constructed in their place.
In
the 1830s, the task of re-establishing parish life in the church fell
to Fr. Charles Eléonore Dufriche Desgenettes. However, due to its
location in a business district, it attracted few parishioners which
resulted in, among other things, financial difficulties. Having very
few parishioners attending Mass, Fr. Charles thought he had failed in
his ministry and wanted to resign his functions in Our Lady of
Victories when on December 3, 1836, he heard a voice as he was about
to begin Mass: "Consecrate your parish to the Holy and
Immaculate Heart of Mary." At the time, this devotion was
only just beginning, and he was sceptical. However, he heard the
voice again after Mass, and decided he had better pay heed to the
message.
He
received approval from the Archbishop of Paris and publicised the
consecration Mass for eight days later, December 11, 1836. Not
expecting more than the usual 40 attendees, he was surprised to see
500 people arrive!
Encouraged
by the response, that same day he constituted the Association of the
Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary for the conversion of sinners, an
association which became an archconfraternity in 1838 by the decision
of Pope Gregory XVI.
The
numbers of parishioners and pilgrims continued to increase, the
Shrine became the powerhouse of prayer during the 19th century as
evidenced by the thousands of ex-voto offerings. Many of the famous
French Catholics of the period maintained a connection to the Church.
These included Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, Ven. Francis Libermann and
the refounders of the Holy Ghost Fathers and a whole host of Foreign
Missions seminarians and priests, including St. Theophane Venard.
Saint John Henry Newman went there to give thanks for his conversion,
which had been the subject of prayer there. Later, the young Therese
Martin (St. Therese of the Little Flower) prayed before the same
statue for Our Lady's help in realising her vocation. As we have seen
above, Marie-Julie was told this shrine would be spared during the
destruction of Paris.
Our
Lady had promised that the Rosary was the weapon that would drive
back enemies, root out heresies, and protect the faithful. It is
inextricably linked to her Immaculate Heart and to her title as Our
Lady of Victories. In union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she is
Protector of Catholic nations and absolute monarchies, we have heard
through Marie-Julie, Our Lady will help restore Catholic France and
the monarchy under the Great Monarch.
It
is interesting that Our Lord revealed to Marie-Julie that His
IMMACULATE Mother will decide the time for the appearance of the
Great King, and, that Our Lady revealed to Marie-Julie Jahenny in 1904 one
of the blasphemies against Her Immaculate Heart a little over 20 years before the
revelation of the Five First Saturday devotions to Sr. Lucia of
Fatima in 1925. Sr. Lucia was later told the precise blasphemies by Our Lord in 1930.
Marie-Julie Jahenny learned what would be known later as the Fourth Blasphemy - the blasphemy of little children not taught to love the Immaculate Heart of their Mother.
Marie-Julie Jahenny learned what would be known later as the Fourth Blasphemy - the blasphemy of little children not taught to love the Immaculate Heart of their Mother.
"
My beloved children, all is engaged in an irreparable loss, I mean
the salvation of souls of children. The nourishment of these poor
little souls should be for them the bread of love of their Immaculate
Queen, the Queen of Heaven. (That is, children are no longer given
this 'bread of love', they are not taught to love her.) I suffer to
see these souls as pastures delivered to the enemy of the salvation
of souls; it is the goodness of my Divine on that Satan takes to
himself and to appropriate it, (i.e. Satan takes advantage of God's
mercy to the earth) he has his supporters in every corner on the
Earth. I despair, yes, I despair of saving those souls without
immense peril and multiplied souls and bodies.
Marie-Julie intercedes and the Blessed Virgin answered:
“After the delivery of young adolescent souls to Satan, the enemy of souls, I mean to say that most of these children have entered the path of corruption and these souls have not received a drop of this perfume of my virtues of purity; it is in very immense pain, because if you saw the number, you would be frightened and even struck as if by a mortal blow.
The frightening part is Marie-Julie was told that during
these evil days children will be set on the path to perdition before
they reach the age of reason because parents have failed to raise
their children in the faith and to love Our Lord and His Mother.
Marie-Julie
Jahenny was also told that the devotion to Immaculate Mary would be one of
the 'Three Shelters' that would protect faithful souls during the
times of the chastisements, and that during the Three Days of
Darkness, being close to an image of Her would also help lessen the
terror we will experience in those days, no doubt a sign of our
devotion to her Holy images will be in reparation for the Fifth
Blasphemy as well. (See more about the Three Days here.)
As
we know, Our Lady told Sr. Lucia of Fatima that the Age of Peace and
the Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart will not occur until devotion to
her Heart spreads and reparation made for the blasphemies committed
against Her Immaculate Heart via the Five First Saturdays. The
prophecies of Marie-Julie Jahenny and the visions of Fatima are
therefore interlinked – as Our Lady said to Sr. Lucia, the Age
of Peace would come AS SOON AS A SUFFICIENT NUMBER of people were
DOING WHAT SHE ASKED.
We
will not have the Age of Peace and Victory of the Cross via the Great
Monarch until we pray for it, pray and help spread devotion to the Rosary, as well as spreading devotion to the Immaculate the Heart of Mary, and make reparation for the five
blasphemies committed against Her Immaculate Heart, especially
through the Five First Saturday Devotion. Learn more about the Five First Saturdays Devotion, click here.
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