Letter from Mrs. Ada Federspiel to friends of the Rosary Procession Crusade:
(Ada Federspiel is 88 years old at the time of the launch of the National Rosary Procession Crusade on February 25, 2007. Ada is the mother of 14 children and she now has many grandchildren. Because she actually witnessed the “unknown light” of Fatima on January 25, 1938, and because she has done her best to say the daily Rosary and live the message of Fatima for over half a century, she was asked to be the Chair Emeritus of the Rosary Procession Crusade. She graciously consented, and the below letter and subsequent article was composed over a period from 2003 to 2005.)
Dear Friends,
In January of 1938, from a high elevation near Huntington, West Virginia, I saw a strange illumination, like a low-lying sunset, long after the accustomed sunset had disappeared.
I was only 19 years old, and was on a visit to the rural home of my Aunt, who had called me onto the porch to see this unusual sight. It appeared as a forest fire, late at night, stretching 180 degrees, over a wide range of the horizon.
The next day, we found that no fire was reported in our area.
It turned out that what I had seen was part of a phenomenon witnessed throughout the western world on the evening of January 25, 1938, stretching over Europe, as well as across the USA and up into Alaska. This reddish light was so impressive in London, France, and Switzerland that fire engines were called out to chase nonexistent fires. The New York Times carried an account the next day, January 26, 1938.
At first some scientists thought that the light might be an aurora borealis, but it turned out the usual conditions, such as the sunspot activity accompanying such a well known phenomenon, were not present.
Sometime later I learned of the following passage in the 1947 book, Our Lady of Fatima, authored by the great historian William Thomas Walsh. The passage is found on page 81, the Image Books edition, October, 1954. Walsh was reporting the words of Our Lady of Fatima, as related by the oldest of the three Fatima children, Lucia dos Santos. July 13, 1917:
“When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father.” (Click above on “Our Lady of Fatima” to find a brief thumbnail sketch of the Fatima apparitions.)
In her book, “Towards World Government: The New World Order”, Irish author Deirdre Manifold tells us regarding this “unknown light” which I and many other had seen firsthand on January 25, 1938: “When the bright light shone in the sky, Sister Lucia, the Fatima seer, in her convent in Spain, let it be known that this was the sign given by God, and foretold by Our Lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917, that a major war would soon occur.”
History records that Hitler invaded Austria on March 12, 1938, about 45 days after this “unknown light” appeared. World War II was coming upon the world.
At the time I did not understand the significance of what I had witnessed. However, since those subsequent years when I heard of the prophecies of our Lady of Fatima, I have endeavored to fulfill her requests.
I believe we are living in the time of great chastisement foretold by our Blessed Lady and also by our Lord. Catholics need to keep their Faith in solitary or very hostile circumstances. Families will be divided on moral issues.
Our Blessed Lady recommended the practice of praying the daily Rosary, wearing the Brown Scapular and the devotion of the First FiveSaturdays — Confession and Holy Communion.
In Austria, the Holy Rosary was credited with preserving Austria from devastation both by the Nazis and the Communists. In 1955, after a long and fervent national rosary crusade, including many public Rosary processions, the Communists left Austria without bloodshed and without explanation. The Communists had occupied Austria since the end of World War II, and just a few months earlier a top Communist official had stated that “once we occupy a country, we never leave.”
In Brazil in 1964, it became known that the Communists were making final preparations to seize control of that government. People by the tens of thousands participated in large public Rosary Processions across Brazil. Finally, one military leader was persuaded to begin preparations to move against the Communists, and officers began to rally around him. At about the same time, many Brazilians, mostly women, lay on an airplane runway praying the Rosary, thus preventing Communist leaders from landing for the purpose of consolidating their power over Brazil. Right after these developments, the Communists abandoned hope of taking over Brazil, again with almost no bloodshed. (Readers Digest carried a large article about this period entitled, “The Country that Saved Itself.”)
The Rosary has saved other nations. It can save ours.
I endorse all that is written in the article below. Especially urgent for America are Rosary Processions and private family recitation of the Rosary, as well as parish Rosary recitals.
Ada Federspiel
(The following article was prepared by during 2005 by Ada Federspiel, with input from some of her friends, it repeats a few of the concepts in the above letter, but is well worth studying carefully.)
As we move through the first years of the 21st century, Catholics worldwide are experiencing arguably the most confusing period in the twenty centuries of the Christian era. Many of the moral and doctrinal crises that have confronted the faithful in the past five decades are as severe as any in earlier times, but their effect has perhaps been even more acute than most former ones because they have often seemingly come from within the very structures of the Church itself.
Entire nations have abandoned Christian social principles and today sanction the most vile and immoral practices that were consistently condemned throughout the Christian centuries. This is entirely consistent with what Pope Leo XIII warned of in his 1884 encyclical Humanum Genus, when he spoke of those who seek “to bring back after a lapse of eighteen centuries the manners and customs of the pagans.”
And even historically, over the last four centuries, Catholic nations have gone from making the Catholic Church the state religion, which was done in just recognition of its Divine institution by Jesus Christ, to adopting a policy of indifferentism that reduces the Church to merely one of many more or less equally good religions.
Sister Lucy of Fatima believed that this problem of religious confusion was so serious that more than once she referred to “these times of diabolical disorientation” and urged Catholics to pray the Rosary that they not be numbered among those deceived.
In addition to these dilemmas, Catholics in the United States see our nation faced with many stern challenges, including new, imminent ones since the attacks of September 11, 2001 (9-11).
Those attacks led to the invasion of Iraq as part of what the government says is a larger war against terrorism that could continue for decades. While American troops are stationed indefinitely in the Middle East, at home the announced threat of future attacks has led to tighter security measures at the expense of freedoms that generations of Americans have had as their birthright.
At this hour, the United States of America has seen “legalized” abortion for more than 30 years. Over 40 million unborn children have been destroyed by the crime of abortion.
Abortion is listed in the Baltimore Catechism as one of the four sins which cry to Heaven for vengeance. Another sin listed which cries to Heaven for vengeance is the sin of sodomy. And in the last decade we hear brazen public cries for “homosexual rights” and “same sex marriages” as in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The times are grim and it is not at all farfetched to wonder if a persecution of Christians is around the corner. Consider the increasing intolerance of anyone speaking out against abortion or sodomy. Consider, too, that when Terri Schindler-Schiavo was being starved to death in a Florida hospice by court order during Holy Week of 2005, a police SWAT team was stationed on the roof to resist any attempts to rescue her. Other policemen were stationed at door of her room to search the family and other visitors to make sure they were not carrying any water of ice chips which they might try to put on the dying girl’s parched tongue. This has become the reality of life in America.
Our Lady reminded us in 1917 that we would always have the Rosary and the Scapular, and she indicated that some day this might be all that many of us would have, at least for a time.
One reason that I am happy to assist in the efforts of National Rosary Procession Crusade is that I was one of the thousands of individuals who was blessed to see the “unknown light” of Fatima predicted by Our Lady, and which Sister Lucy said would presage the beginning of the next great war, which turned out to the Second World War (1939-1945).
Are we now headed for another chastisement, this time either in the form of another great war, or perhaps a more direct punishment from God? Certainly, as noted above, there are reasons to believe this could be so.
In any case, we have our Lady at Fatima telling us to pray the Rosary to avert such calamities, or at least to minimize their impact. (There are many verified stories of homes and monasteries being spared in the midst of near total destruction, because those in such places had prayed the Rosary daily.)
In particular, public Rosary Processions have proved to be a very successful means of protection for Church and State in times of distress. The most celebrated processions came in connection with the 1571 Battle of Lepanto, at which time Pope St. Pius V ordered all Christendom to form Rosary processions for the express purpose of turning back the onslaught of Islamic invaders. The resulting victory by a multinational Catholic navy led to the Church instituting the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary.
Two times in the twentieth century, public Rosary processions were instrumental in saving countries from disaster: in Austria in 1955, and in Brazil in 1964.
Despite the dire straits in which the United States of America finds itself, as of the time of this writing, no effective nationwide Rosary Crusade for the rescue of America and the Triumph of the Church has been organized (this is being published in February, 2007. That is the purpose of this National Rosary Procession Crusade website – to help people organize for such Rosary processions in their local area, as well as to provide a nationwide clearing house for the people and groups participating. It is my fervent hope that all the local Rosary procession groups, while maintaining their own independence and autonomy, will join together in these worthwhile intentions: the exultation and triumph of the Church, the rescue of America, the fulfillment of the requests of Our Lady of Fatima (especially for prayer, penance, and the doing of our daily duty), and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In closing, the weaponry that now exists with the potential to destroy mankind, or segments of mankind, has never existed before. Nuclear weapons, biological weapons – the major media has been warning about the potential for a suitcase nuclear bomb to be set off in a major American city.
For the first time, people everywhere are being told, in effect, that they could be blown up or poisoned fatally by biological weapons at any moment, with the threat existing 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But even with all the physical threats around us, we are told in the Gospel to fear not those who can destroy the body, but those who can destroy the soul. Our Lady said at Fatima, “Only I can save you” – meaning our Lord has reserved a special and unique place for His Mother near the end of time to “crush the head of the serpent.”
For the sake of being preserved from sudden physical destruction, for the rescue of our country, for the salvation of our own souls and those of our friends and families, for the conversion of our national leaders, for the rescue of our country, for the end to the public crime of abortion, for the triumph and exaltation of the Church, for the fulfillment of the requests made by our Lady at Fatima, and for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, — let us follow the illustrious examples of our Catholic past, and institute public Rosary Processions throughout the United States of America. – Ada Federspiel
“Let people say the rosary every day. Our Lady stated that repeatedly in all her apparitions, as if to fortify us against these times of diabolical disorientation, so that we would not allow ourselves to be deceived by false doctrines. Unfortunately, the great majority of people are ignorant in religious matters and allow themselves to be led in any direction. Hence, the great responsibility of one who has the task of leading them . . . A diabolical disorientation is invading the world, deceiving souls! It must be resisted.” –Sister Lucy of Fatima