Pope Pius XII Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Pope Pius XII's Consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary took place on October 31, 1942. Pope Pius XII performed a Marian consecration, entrusting the world to the Virgin Mary, as Queen of Peace, through her Immaculate Heart. This consecration was made in the context of the reported messages from Jesus and the Virgin Mary purportedly received by Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar, and communicated to her spiritual director, Father Mariano Pinho.

Statue of Pope Pius XII in Fátima, Portugal

Historical context

Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar

Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar was the great messenger of Jesus to the request of the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary made by Pope Pius XII.

Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa, from Balazar, was a Portuguese mystic who reported many private apparitions, messages and prophecies received directly from Jesus and the Virgin Mary. In June 1938, based on the request of her spiritual director, Father Mariano Pinho, several bishops from Portugal wrote to Pope Pius XI, asking him to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In June 1938, Father Mariano Pinho conducted a retreat at Fátima, Portugal, for the Portuguese bishops, at the end of which the bishops forwarded their own request to Pius XI for the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This request was renewed several times.

At that time, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) was the secretary of the state of the Vatican. On October 31, 1942, Pius XII made a solemn Act of Consecration of the Church and the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, joined by the bishops of Portugal, gathered at the Cathedral in Lisbon. Pius spoke by radio, in Portuguese, to an audience of thousands of pilgrims who had come to Fatima to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the last apparition of Our Lady.[1]

At that time, German troops under General Rommel had conquered strategic parts of North Africa while advancing towards the Suez Canal, and in Russia fighting continued against an expanding German invasion. On October 31, 1942, Pius XII called for a prayer crusade to Mary the Queen of Peace, and stated that only her intercession could save the situation. He then dedicated the whole human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He renewed the consecration again on December 8, 1942.[2][3]

The consecration is noteworthy because it contains a specific reference to military victory.

  • Peace in truth, justice and the charity of Christ. Give them peace of the arms and peace of mind he asked from the “Conqueress in God’s battlefields”.

Supporters of Pope Pius and his Marian views point out that indeed the battlefield situation improved markedly for the Allies. Shortly afterwards, in the battle of El Alamein, British forces achieved a major breakthrough. According to Winston Churchill, not known as a Marian devotee, one can almost say, before El Alamein, we did not have a single victory, and after not a single defeat.[4] In the Pacific, the Japanese defenders were decisively beaten during the Guadalcanal Campaign, as part of the larger land and sea battles in the Solomon Islands Campaign, within a few days after the consecration. The downfall of Stalingrad began a few days later as well with the encirclement on November 19, 1942. Stalingrad surrendered on the Marian feast day, February 2, 1943. This view is not shared by everyone, but is popular among Marian devotees of Pope Pius XII.[5][6][7]

Interpretation

The noted Mariologist Gabriel Roschini called the 1942 consecration of the human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary "the greatest honour, which anyone can imagine. It is the highest manifestation of the Marian cult."[8] It opens new perspectives for salvation history. He and others see the consecration as a new “Marian way”, neither collectivism nor unlimited liberalism. The consecration to Mary by Pope Pius means “that an age of the Church” had begun: Through Mary we understand the super-natural destiny of mankind and every human being.[9]

Relation to Balazar

Main article: Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar

The act of consecration

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Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Queen of the Holy Rosary,
Help of the Christians,
Refuge of the human race,
Conqueress in God’s battlefields,
To You and to Your Immaculate Heart
In this tragic hour of human history
We entrust and consecrate ourselves,
And the Holy Church.
She is the Mystical Body of Your Jesus,
Suffering and bleeding in so many parts
And tormented in so many ways,
We consecrate to You the whole world torn by bitter strife
And consumed by the fire of hatred
The victim of its own wickedness.
Look with compassion to all material and moral destruction
To the suffering and fears of fathers and mothers
Of husbands and wives, of brother and sisters and innocent children.
Look at the many lives cut down in the flower of youth
So many bodies torn to pieces in brutal slaughter
So many souls tortured and troubled
And in danger of being lost eternally.
Oh, Mother of Mercy, obtain peace for us from God!
Obtain especially those graces, which can convert human hearts quickly.
Those graces, which can prepare, establish and insure peace.
Queen of Peace, pray for us;
Give the world at war the peace for which all are longing,
Peace in Truth, Justice and the Charity of Christ.
Give them peace of the arms and peace of mind,
That in tranquillity and order
The Kingdom of God may expand.
Grant Your protection to infidels
And to those still walking in the shadow of death;
Give them peace and permit that the sun of truth may raise upon them;
And that together with us
They may repeat before the Only Saviour of the World:
Glory to God in the highest
And peace on earth among men of good will (Lk2.14)
Give peace to the people separated by error and schism,
Particularly those, who have special devotion to You
And among whom there was no home,
Where Your venerable Icon was not honoured,
Though at present it may be hidden
In the hope for better days.
Bring them back to the One Fold of Christ,
Under the One True Shepherd.
Obtain peace and complete liberty for the Holy Church of God,
Check the spreading flood of neo-paganism,
Arouse within the faithful love of purity
The practice of Christian life and apostolic zeal,
So that the people who serve God,
May increase in merit and number.
All of humanity were once consecrated to the Heart of Your Son.
All our hopes rest in Him, Who is in all times
Sign and pledge of victory and salvation.
Forever we consecrate ourselves to You
And to Your Immaculate Heart,
Oh, Mother and Queen of the World!
May Your love and patronage hasten the victory of the Kingdom of God,
May all nations, at peace with each other and with God, proclaim You Blessed
And sing with You from one end of the earth to the other,
The eternal Magnificat of glory, love and gratitude
To the Heart of Jesus, in which alone,
They can find Truth, Life and Peace.

See also

References

  1. Calkins, Arthur Burton. Totus tuus: John Paul II's program of Marian consecration and entrustment, 1992, ISBN 0-9635345-0-5 page 97
  2. Mary's Immaculate Heart by John F. Murphy 2007 ISBN 1-4067-3409-8 pages 96-103
  3. Christian social witness and teaching, Volume 2 by Rodger Charles 1998 ISBN 0-85244-461-3 pages 104-106
  4. Winston Churchill War memoirs, Volume IV, 2
  5. J Zeitler, die Marien Welt-Weihe eine dogmatisch zeitgeschichtliche schau, Kaldenkirchen, 1956,
  6. Johannes Maria Höcht, der große Ruf, München, 1956
  7. Johannes Maria Höcht Fatima Pius XII Wiesbaden, 1956
  8. Quoted in Höchst, 265.
  9. Zeitler, 93

Sources

  • For Love Alone! Costa, Alexandrina Maria (organized by Eugénie Signorile and translated by Leo Baron Madigan of Lumiar)
  • Calkins, Arthur Burton. Totus tuus: John Paul II's program of Marian consecration and entrustment, 1992, ISBN 0-9635345-0-5