1945, the world's deadliest nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
August 6, 1945: 6Aug=68
It is the liturgical Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ.
A B-29 Superfortress named the Enola Gay struck out across the Pacific and dropped a uranium-235 atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb, flattened buildings for miles in all directions. The explosion in the first Japanese city, Hiroshima, instantly killed around 80,000 people.
Roughly 4.5 km from the epicentre of the blast, the Nagatsuka Jesuit novitiate remained standing. These Jesuits went down in history as the Hiroshima Eight. They survived the explosion that had instantly killed 86% of the people in an eight-block radius.
The number of victims doubled in the following days and months due to injuries and radiation-related diseases.
August 9, 1945: 9Aug=98 (68+98=166) (166=Fr. Abel Fernandez. 16June)
The city of Nagasaki was the next one to be devastated by an atomic bomb.
The blast wiped out approximately 8,500 of the 12,000 parishioners at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Nagasaki — Japan's most Catholic city.
A Catholic monastery named, “The Garden of the Immaculate” built in Nagasaki by Fr. Maximilian Kolbe (now Saint) survived and to this day brings a Franciscan message of Peace.
[By the end of 1945, the bombing had killed an estimated 140,000 men, women and children in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki.]
[[140,000+74,000=2,14,000]]
[[177FrCG+37FrCG=214BusRouteHome]] Fr. Christopher Goveas.
(214=reversal142FullName) Fr. Reuben Tellis.
Acts 2:1-4
But in the midst of the devastation, near the hypocenter, eight Jesuit missionaries who were in their rectory of the church of Our Lady of the Assumption, survived.
The Jesuit Priests sustained only minor injuries from shattered windows. None suffered hearing loss from the explosion. Their church, Our Lady of the Assumption, suffered the destruction of its stained-glass windows; it was one of only a few buildings left standing in the midst of widespread destruction.
The Jesuits were kept safe from the blast — They suffered no ill effects from the harmful radiation. Doctors who cared for them after the blast warned that radiation poisoning to which they had been exposed would cause serious lesions, illness and even death. But 200 medical exams in the ensuing years showed no ill effects, no trace of radiation confounding the doctors who had predicted dire consequences.
Fr. Hubert Cieslik writes in his diary that they only sustained minor injuries from the broken windows – but nothing resulting from the atomic energy that was unleashed.
The diagnosis never materialized. No disorders ever developed.
The Jesuit Rectory (Church of Our Lady of the Assumption) remained standing.
The Franciscan Friary ("The Garden of the Immaculate"), founded in 1931 by St. Maximilian Kolbe, remained completely intact.
These communities of Jesuits and Franciscans were spared the worst of the destruction when the atomic bombs were dropped.
------------------------------------------------
The Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976.
------------------------------------------------
Fr. Hubert Schiffer, was only 30 years old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He tells His story 31 years later, at the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976.
At the time, all eight members of the Jesuit community who had lived through the bombing were still alive. Before the gathered faithful, He reminisced about celebrating the Holy Mass of the Feast of the Transfiguration, in the early morning, then sitting down in the rectory kitchen for breakfast. There was a bright flash of light. Speaking before the Eucharistic Congress, He said that at first, He thought it might be an explosion in the nearby harbour.
Then He describes the experience: “Suddenly, a terrific explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me ‘round and round’ like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind.”
The next thing He remembered, He opened His eyes and He was lying on the ground. He looked around and there was nothing in any direction. Everything was levelled to the ground. The only physical harm to Himself was that He could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of His neck. As far as He could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with Himself. Thousands of people were killed or maimed by the explosion. The army doctors and scientists explained to Him that His body would begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. Many of the Japanese people had blisters and sores from the radiation. To the doctors’ amazement, Fr. Schiffer’s body contained no radiation or ill-effects from the bomb.
Fr. Schiffer attributes this to the devotion of the Blessed Mother, and the daily Fatima Rosary.
(This event also coincides with the bombing of Nagasaki where Fr. Maximilian Kolbe (now Saint) had established a Franciscan Friary which was also unharmed because of the special protection from the Blessed Mother, as the Brothers too prayed the daily Rosary. They suffered no ill effects from the bomb.)
Fr. Schiffer and the other Jesuits were examined and interviewed repeatedly by scientists, medical doctors and others who could not understand why they had escaped injury. Fr. Schiffer reportedly said that He Himself had been interviewed 200 times.
Asked why they believe they were spared, when so many others died either from the explosion or from the subsequent radiation.
Fr. Schiffer spoke for Himself and for His Companions: We believe that We survived because We were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that home.
Fr. Schiffer believes they received a protective shield from the Blessed Mother which protected them from all radiation and ill-effects.
Fr. Schiffer died on March 27, 1982 — 37 years after that eventful day.
*37=Fr. Christopher Goveas.*
In the midst of such horrible deaths, chaos and destruction, God protected these missionaries. They ministered to the injured, sick, and dying from the attack. They lived to be witnesses to the world of the horrors of war and the use of nuclear weapons, witnesses to God’s Power and Mercy, and witnesses to the POWER of the Fatima Prayer.
------------------------------------------
The Blood of The Martyrs - Nagasaki, Japan.
------------------------------------------
The 26 Martyrs of Japan: (1597)
Consisted of 6 European Franciscan missionaries, 3 Japanese Jesuits, and 17 Japanese laymen, which included three young boys.
Tied to crosses and pierced with lances, while singing hymns and preaching forgiveness.
Crucified on 5 February 1597, in Nagasaki, Japan.
Canonized in 1862 by Pope Pius IX.
Day: February 5.
Known as St. Paul Miki & Companions.
The Great Genna Martyrdom: (1622)
The mass execution of 55 Catholics at Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan, on 10 September 1622.
Method of Death: 24-25 burned at the stake (including Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, and catechists); 30-31 beheaded (including Japanese and Korean lay people, as well as children aged 3 to 12).
Beatified by Pope Pius IX on July 26, 1867 as part of the beatification of the 205 Martyrs of Japan.
Day: September 10, the day of the execution.
Known as the Great Martyrdom of Nagasaki.
The 205 Martyrs of Japan: (1617-1632)
The missionaries and followers who were persecuted and executed for their faith in Japan, mostly during the Tokugawa shogunate period in the 17th century.
Priests and brothers from the Jesuit, Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian orders.
Many Christians were executed by burning at the stake in Nagasaki.
Pope Pius IX beatified them on May 7, 1867.
Day: September 10, the day of the Great Genna Martyrdom.
Known as Alfonso Navarrette Benito, Perdo of Ávila, Carlo Spinola, Ioachim Díaz Hirayama, Lucia de Freitas, and 200 companions.
16 Martyrs of Japan: (1633–1637)
Nine Dominicans, two cooperating brothers, two tertiaries, and three other lay people (including 9 Japanese, 4 Spanish, 1 Italian, 1 French, and 1 Filipino).
Martyred on Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan.
Pope John Paul II canonized these 16 Martyrs of Japan as saints on 18 October 1987.
Known as Saints Lorenzo Ruiz, Dominic Ibáñez de Erquicia, Pérez de Lete, Iacobus Tomonaga Gorōbyōe, and companions.
Current Page: The Priests Who Survived and the MARTYRS.
Please continue to read: The Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
No comments:
Post a Comment