PREFACE BY MANOEL CARDOZO
THE story of Fatima has been told many times in many tongues, but here is a new approach to an old subject that everybody, particularly those who pray to Mary under her latest title, will want to read. This unusual book, which Dr. Boehrer's lucid translation now makes available to a wider public, must surely be considered not only as a means of deepening our understanding of Fatima but also as a significant contribution to the literature of the Marian Year.
What the author has to say he says in terms of Portugal and of Portuguese history. Our Lady, after all (possibly because of the great devotion to her that has always characterized the Portuguese, as Mr. Brochado points out) chose to appear in Portugal. She might have again appeared in France, as she did at Lourdes and at La Salette, but this time she revealed herself in Portugal. Since our Lady could not have appeared at Fatima unless she wanted to, we may suppose that she wanted Portugal to serve as an example of something of worldwide significance and application. That is why Mr. Brochado's book, though it deals with the Portuguese implications of Fatima, must necessarily have much more than local interest. Our Lady may well be using Portugal as an example to the rest of the world, and if this is in fact what she is doing, the Portuguese experience is of universal value.
What went wrong in Portugal that made the country seem to need a miraculous intervention in 1917 to save its faith? The answer to this question can be fully appreciated by reading Mr. Brochado's book. With broad strokes of the pen, the author has outlined the introduction of Christianity in Portugal, its development during the Middle Ages, its missionary apostolate at the time of the Renaissance and later, the antireligious movement of the eighteenth century, the Masonic-Liberal offensive of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and finally the more immediate disasters that preceded the apparitions at Fatima. The past two hundred years of a Christian history of almost two millennia do not make a pretty picture, but we may be sure that what happened in Portugal has happened elsewhere.
Mr. Brochado suggests that our Lady saved the Church in Portugal, and that only through her may we explain its recovery. The facts of history, as he has pieced them together, seem to point in that direction, although no man can pretend to know the super-natural explanation for this historically palpable phenomenon.
What we can say and what he does say, and this without qualms, is that Fatima has strengthened the faith of Portugal beyond the dreams of those who, only a few years ago, were witnesses to our Lady's presence. Fortunately for us, our Lady did not appear for the exclusive benefit of the Portuguese (though they were favored above all others ). In helping the Portuguese, through a practical application of the message of Fatima, she has indicated a means by which we may be helped, too.
MANOEL CARDOZO
Download it Here - Fatima in the Light of History
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