- Category: Faith
- 19 Oct 2013
- Written by Corazon Damo-Santiago, PhD
AB-29 Superfortress bomber, Enola Gay, which took off from the Pacific island of Tinian, dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan.
At 8:15, the deadly atomic bomb exploded with “blinding flash of bluish-white light, which seared the sky,” reached a temperature of 9,000°F (around 5,000°C) and “leveled almost everything within a radius of more than 3 kilometers.”
The bomb’s “explosive force of 20,000 tons of TNT” killed outright 78,000 people.
The article “When, Where, Why and How It Happened” by Readers Digest estimated that 250,000 had either been killed outright or died of radiation within five years.
But the deadly blast which ushered the atomic age did not affect the church of Our Lady of Assumption near the center of the blast.
Seven Jesuit priests also survived the blast without suffering any major injury and radiation effects. Among them were Frs. Hubert F. Schiffer, Hugo Lassalle and Kleinsorge.
Two-hundred scientists made investigations for several years in search for scientific explanation about the phenomenon experienced by the Jesuit priests.
Father Schiffer, during the 1976 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia, said their house is different. They recited the rosary every day for special protection.
The Hiroshima bombing occurred on August 6, 1945, while that of Nagasaki followed on August 9. The priests in the Franciscan Friary established by Saint Maximillan Kolbe were also unharmed.
‘Rosarium’ of special graces
THE Blessed Virgin Mary made 15 promises to those who pray the rosary, to Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche, OP.
Saint Louis de Montfort, OP, emphasized that there is no limit to the power of the rosary for it is “man’s crown of merit during lifetime, a crown of peace during death and a crown of glory in heaven.”
In the 12th century, the religious orders recited together the 150 Psalms in the Bible every day. The non-readers who wanted to pray, too, made a string of 150 knots to pray the Psalms to honor Jesus and His Mother. It was called the Psalter.
To greet Our Lady, the episodes in the Anunciation and the Visitation, Hail Mary (Luke 1:28, 42) is recited.
The salutations were considered as roses (rosarium) of spiritual graces the Virgin Mary bestows on her children.
Each Hail Mary is a salutation equivalent to a rose to form a crown for the Lady which the Blessed Mother returns as a crown of spiritual graces to those who pray the rosary fervently.
The rosary was revealed to Saint Dominic in 1214, when he went into a forest near Toulose, France, for three days of prayer and penance on how to convert sinners and the heretical sect of Albigenses, who believed the “duality of good and evil and Jesus as a rebel against the cruelty of an omnipotent God.
The Blessed Mother accompanied by three angels appeared to Saint Dominic, and told him to preach the Angelic Psalter.
Saint Dominic, with burning zeal, went straight to the cathedral. Unseen angels rang the church bells to gather the people.
During his Homily, a storm broke out, the earth shook and the sun darkened, accompanied by thunder and lighting.
The picture of the Blessed Mother came to life and she raised her arms thrice toward heaven.
The people of Toulose were converted and “renounced their false beliefs.”
Saint Dominic preached about the rosary and instituted the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary in his entire lifetime. However, after a century, the rosary was “like a thing buried and forgotten.”
In 1460 Blessed Alan restored devotion to the rosary after a reproach from Jesus.
While saying Mass, Jesus spoke to him in the Sacred Host. “How can you crucify me again so soon.... You have all the learning and understanding that you need to preach my Mother’s rosary and you are not doing so.”
Power of the rosary
DURING the pontificate of Pope Pius V, the naval forces of Turkey threatened to invade Europe. Alarmed by the impending danger, the pope prayed for enlightenment, then called all European leaders to unite and form an army. He gave every soldier a rosary.
On September 30, 1571, a fleet of about 5,000 men went to battle against the mighty 30,000 Turkish fleet in the Battle of Lepanto, which was won by the Church on October 7, 1571.
Saint Pius V, to honor the Blessed Mother, established October 7 as a commemorative feast for Our Lady of the Rosary.
The victory of Lepanto is just one of the many glorious battles attributed to the power of the rosary.
The defeat of the Dutch in the Philippines in 1646 is also recognized in Church history as a “victory for the rosary.”
On March 15, 1646, a “formidable flotilla” of Dutch Protestant ships arrived in the port of Manila. This brought anxiety to Spanish and Filipinos who had only two merchant ships.
Fr. Jean de Conca, OP, taught the sailors how and why they should pray the rosary in choruses during the encounters.
From March to October they did, and what was humanly impossible happened: The Protestant fleets were destroyed and only 15 of the 200 Christian men perished.
The victory was considered important because it saved Catholicism in the Philippines.
Mystery of Light
IN 2003, Year of the Rosary, Pope John Paul II added the Mystery of Light or Luminous Mystery on the public life of Jesus and Mary.
Thus, there are now four mysteries; the Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.
When we pray the Rosary, we pray with our Blessed Mother to honor the life of Jesus. And Mary is the only one in heaven and earth to whom Christ, our Lord, cannot say “no.”
15 promises of Our Lady to those who pray the rosary:
1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the rosary shall receive signal graces.
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the rosary.
3. The rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell. It will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary shall not perish.
6. Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice. He shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion to the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death, they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary.
10. The faithful children of the rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the rosary.
12. All those who propagate the holy rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
14. All who recite the rosary are my sons and brothers of my only Son Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to my rosary is a great sign of predestination (of going to heaven).
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