False Miracles of John Paul II? Why not the beatification of Sister Lucy?

[Sue K]

The original statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, sculptured by José Ferreira Thedim, 1948, installed at the tomb of Sister Lucy-"My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge." "You (Sister Lucy) will go to Heaven", Our Lady to Lucia

WHAT ABOUT SISTER LUCY ?

Catholic Counter Reformation: What about Sister Lucy?

JOHN PAUL II : TRUE OR FALSE MIRACLES ?

LAST June 24, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz announced that a miracle obtained by the intercession of Blessed John Paul II ought to permit his canonisation in autumn : “ The commission of theologians approved John Paul II’s second miracle, the inexplicable curing of a woman, which had already been recognised in April by the experts of the medical commission. ”

Yet is it a true or a false miracle ?

We are permitted to pose the question since the traditional procedure for processes of beatification and canonisation, which were marked by the wisdom and the prudence of the Church, and which guaranteed the value of these processes, had been overhauled by Pope John Paul II himself, in the constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister, of January 25, 1983. This was done to the great indignation of the best Roman jurists, as we will see further on.

What is more, the ‘ first miracle, ’ the one accepted for the beatification of John Paul II, has remained disputed. Last May 20, Dr. Pierre Busson wrote to Fr. Robert Aliger, the national delegate in charge of information :

“ Since I had the opportunity of reading a few articles intended for the general public on the inexplicable cure of Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre in June 2005, I would like to be able to consult the medical dossier relative to this cure.

“ At Lourdes, as is the case for every doctor who is received in the medical bureau, I had the privilege of consulting the dossiers concerning recent inexplicable cures related to the apparitions of Our Lady, the grotto and the sanctuaries. I have always been impressed by the scientific quality of these dossiers and was moved to see in these cures a token of the Blessed Virgin’s goodness and tenderness.

“ I would like to know if similar documentation exists concerning the cure of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre. Where and how would it be possible to consult these documents ? ”

Our friend received this following reply, dated June 14 :

“ Fr. Robert Aliger has transmitted to me your request to consult the medical dossier of the miraculous cure of Little Sister Marie Simon-Pierre. I was delegated by the Archbishop to conduct the diocese’s preliminary investigation of this cure.

“ I regret to inform you that since this dossier is part of a cause for beatification and canonisation, it is placed under the ‘ Pontifical Seal of Secrecy ’ and cannot be consulted without the authorisation of the Holy See. This is not the case for the dossiers of the Medical Bureau of Lourdes, which are more easily accessible.

“ I therefore am unable to give you access to these documents without having received the order to do so from the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.

“ I thank you, Doctor, for your interest in this case. Yours sincerely,

“ Father Luc-Marie Lalanne, vice-official ”

Fr. Lalanne did not deign to transmit the request of our friend to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, with a recommendation. Thus the medical dossier will remain inaccessible to him.

Our friend’s request was legitimate to say the least when we know that the new regulations enacted by Pope John Paul II for the processes of beatification and canonisation (Divinus Perfectionis Magister, 1983) opened the door to all kinds of abuses. This is because all the adversarial exchanges that occurred in the course of the different stages of the process, have almost entirely disappeared from the procedures. Some members of the college of postulators were alarmed. “ According to Mgsr. Luigi Porsi, who has twenty years of experience in the Church’s legal system, the reforms went too far : ‘ There is no longer any place for an adversarial function, ’ he complained to John Paul II, in a letter that remained unanswered. ” (Kenneth L. Woodward, How the Church Makes Saints, Grasset, 1992, p. 97)

THE WISDOM OF THE CHURCH :
EXAMINATION OF MIRACLES

WHEN commenting on ‘ the examination of miracles ’ according to the former procedure for the process of canonisation, the theologian T. Ortolan wrote : “ All possible means are used to expose untruthfulness and to dismiss error. The anxious haste or enthusiastic zeal of those who have undertaken the process and are pushing forward, come up against the extreme slowness and the requirements of this tribunal that is never hasty, and is not disturbed by the fact that a cause risks remaining before it for centuries. When the multitude of legal acts that it imposes, the indefinite series of difficulties that it accumulates at every moment, the abundance and obviousness of the proofs that it demands are considered, one would be prompted to accuse it of exaggerated distrust rather than of pious credulity. No human tribunal acts with such exactitude pushed to the point of scrupulosity and such severity, which would seem unjustified in any other matter. ”

So true is this that the adversaries of the Church were astounded by it. Read it for yourself :

“ For twenty years, from 1708 to 1728, Prosper Lambertini, who later on became Benedict XVI, was Promoter of the Faith at the Congregation of Rites. One day he received the visit of one of his friends, an Anglican gentleman. He offered to let him read several documents relative to miracles attributed to a person whose process of canonisation was pending. The gentleman carefully read them, and astounded by so many proofs which, in his opinion, were irrefutable, and which, in his eyes, illuminated the issue completely, he exclaimed :

“ ‘ Ah ! If all the miracles that the Roman Church accepts were as well established, we too would have no difficulty accepting them ! ’

“ ‘ Well ! ’ continued the prelate, ‘ Of all these miracles that seem so perfectly well-established to you, none has been accepted by the Congregation of Rites. According to it, these proofs are not sufficient. ’

At these words, the Protestant, even more surprised, confessed that he would never have supposed that the Roman Church should be so demanding in the examination of the miracles attributed to those of her sons that she placed on the altars. It would take, he added, obstinate bias not to recognise the deep wisdom and the extreme prudence that she exercises in the canonisation of saints. ” (Dictionary of Catholic Theology, Article : Canonisation, 1932)

At least, this was the wisdom and prudence that she exercised before the reform decreed by Pope John Paul II !

THE MIRACLES OF SR. LUCY

True miracles, the miracles of the Immaculate at Lourdes, or those of Her confidants, are verifiable, public miracles ; in short, they are not placed under the ‘ Pontifical Seal of Secrecy. ’

The day after the death of Sr. Lucy, the seer of Fatima, on February 14, 2005, the Diario de Coimbra indicated : “ Fr. Kondor, vice-postulator of the Cause of canonisation of Francisco and Jacinta, declared that Sr. Lucy satisfies all the requirements for being raised to the altars. Pilgrims attribute thousands of miracles to her. Sr. Lucy jestingly said that she worked many miracles without knowing it. ”

Sr. Mary-Lucy of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart manifested an extraordinary power of intercession, similar to that of her cousins, Blessed Francisco and Jacinta, as early as her noviciate with the Dorothean Sisters, at Tuy in Spain.

In our collection of archives on Fatima, we have detailed testimonies on the instantaneous cure of Teresinha do Menimo-Jesus, Little Thérèse of the Child Jesus, the daughter of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Vigo.

On January 9, 1928, at three years of age, “ Teresinha became ill. ‘ She suffered, ’ her father related, ‘ from a boil on the upper lip. On the fifth or sixth day, two abscesses appeared on her back, one on the level of the left kidney, the other in the lower lumbar region. ’ ” The doctors consulted diagnosed this three year-old-child as having a purulent streptococcus infection. “ The tumours were very deep and took time to mature before they could be lanced. In the meantime, the little girl who, from the beginning, had a high fever with delirium, now suffered horrible pain. ” Five weeks later, the upper tumour, which had become enormous, seemed to present the conditions required for an operation. Alas ! the surgical operation failed to improve the situation. Furthermore, “ the lower tumour began reaching a volume greater than that of the upper tumour, and the swelling spread in the right leg, down to the knee. ”

Since her sisters went to school at the Dorothean Institute of Tuy, the seer of Fatima learned of the child’s serious illness. She then told her parents not to worry, that Teresinha was going to recover. “ It was at that moment ” her father wrote, “ that there took place a phenomenon inexplicable to us. During the night, and contrary to what the doctor foresaw, everything disappeared : the fever, the tumour, the swelling of the leg. When, in the morning, we saw our daughter who had been so disfigured and afflicted with fever a few hours before, and was now without a trace of the evils that had tormented her for three months, we were really stupefied ! Teresinha was laughing and saying that she wanted to be put down on the ground. ”

The doctor was no less astonished.

The consul concluded : “ It is fitting here to give all our thanks to the good Dorothean Sisters. I believe that it was they who obtained everything by their prayers. ”

“ If my father, ” his daughter Isabel testifies, “ did not allude to Sr. Lucy it is because, at the request of the mother superior, we had to keep her presence in Tuy secret, and this is why my father thanked Sr. Lucy for her intervention by referring to all the Dorotheans. ”

Later on, in the 1940’s, when Sr. Lucy was living in the college of Sardao, some of her miracles were very well-known. In his book Fatima onde o ceu tocou a terra (éd. Mensageiro da fe, 1954 ,) the Jesuit, Father Luiz Gonzagua Mariz wrote : “ Sr. Lucy has the gift of miracles. In a recent letter her superior of Sardao related a fact that offers all the characteristics of an authentic miracle.

“ A poor mother came to the door of the college with her child, who was crippled with paralysis. The child wept and moaned. His mother clasped him to her breast and implored the superior ; ‘ Go fetch Sr. Lucy so that she can cure my son ! ’

“ ‘ What ? You’re not serious, ’ the superior replied. ‘ Sr. Lucy cannot work such a miracle ! ’

“ At that very moment, the paralysed child let out a heartrending squeal of pain.

“ ‘ You see, Mother Superior ! Are you so heartless as to let my son suffer when you are able to relieve him ? ’

“ The superior, touched by such great faith, called the seer and said to her : ‘ Carry this child to the garden. ’

“ Sr. Lucy took the child in her arms and left. A few minutes later, she returned, holding the child by the hand. He accompanied her, toddling hurriedly along.

“ When the mother of the child saw her son walking without difficulty, she was about to give a shout of happiness. The mother superior gestured at her to remain silent and said to the seer : ‘ That will be all. Thank you. ’

‘ The news of this miracle spread rapidly everywhere. ’

Private correspondence kept at the St. Theresa Carmel in Coimbra contains many more accounts of miracles obtained by the prayer of Sr. Lucy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As for post mortem miracles, we find many very impressive testimonies in the bulletin for the Cause of beatification.

It is these miracles, but also her reputation for holiness, that permitted the opening of her process of beatification in 2008, only three years after her death, departing from the rule of a five-year minimum delay after the death of a servant of God.

“ THE GOSPEL SUFFICES ”

In the course of the following years, however, the diocesan inquiry has barely progressed. Fr. Kondor, the ecclesiastic who knew Sr. Lucy during the last forty years of her life better than any other, died in 2009, without anyone having taken down his testimony about the seer. Sr. Angela de Fatima Coelho, who succeeded him at the vice-postulation of Francisco and Jacinta, was distressed about this.

When I questioned Bishop Albino Cleto, of Coimbra, in 2011, about Sr. Lucy, he answered me : “ Discretion. Discretion. Above all the Holy See must not get the impression that we are precipitating the advancement of her Cause. ”

Bishop Virgilio Antunes, Bishop Cleto’s successor, made no decision that would accelerate the diocesan inquiry. Last May, a correspondent from Fatima wrote to me : “ the treatment of the correspondence of Sr. Lucy alone (classifying and transcribing) will still take much time : there are lots of suitcases full of correspondence at the Carmel of Coimbra, and the poor sisters are only progressing very slowly. ”

In February 2012, when I met the Provincial Superior of the Portuguese Carmelites, Sr. Lucy’s former confessor, I expressed to him my sorrow upon realising that no one in Portugal was really interested in the Cause of the messenger of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He cut me short : “ The Gospel suffices ! ”

[Dawn Marie]

The Gospel suffices !

That burns me up.  The generic answer, the answer that they believe will justify all they have NOT done toward what Our Lady asked, and for what they HAVE done to her messengers.

More's the pity for them.

[Michael]

The Gospel suffices !

That sounds kind of familiar, like sola scriptura...

[Sue K]

exactly, "sola scriputura"-according to modernist interpretation, that is, and throw in lots of scientism (scientist are so much more knowledgeable than the wisdom of our Holy Bible, the Church Fathers, and our saints- esp. St. Thomas Aquinas). 

The Church Liberals like to talk with anyone-Buddhist, Moslem Protestant, Animist, you name them, except a bona fide Catholic.  Reminds me of what St. Alphonsus L. said about England during and after Henry VIII's reign, any religion was allowed except the Catholic.

Michael said:

The Gospel suffices !

That sounds kind of familiar, like sola scriptura...

[Sue K]

Sr Lucy is a real, real saint.  Her theology in Calls from the Message of Fatima (written by Sr. Lucia, translated by Sister of the Monastery of Holy Mary and the Convent of Our Lady of Good Success, Lisbon) is nothing if not a perfect map to salvation.  No one but a saint could have written this. Only someone with a first-hand experience with Our Lord and Our Lady could have this understanding of Holy Writ and explain it in such precise terms.  Put aside the controversy of the Fatima consecration and the third secret and read this wonderful work of this saint of our times.

Perhaps she hasn't been canonized because she is so orthodox!