Post by Pacelli on Sept 8, 2022 9:18:08 GMT -5
A question has been put to me about the following quote attributed to Our Lady of Fatima: "Certain fashions are being introduced that offend Our Lord very much."
My opinion is that this quote, among others, should not be attributed as certainly coming from Our Lady. It's authenticity is questionable and for people to recklessly publish it as a quote from Our Lady of Fatima is shoddy scholarship at best. A simple internet search of the quote will find dozens, if not hundreds of websites that have this quote and most attributing it to Our Lady of Fatima. None, that I am aware of, caution the reader that this alleged quote was not part of the Fatima message, and was only allegedly said by Our Lady to Jacinta and relayed to a single witness whose reliability is questionable.
So, let's get to the key points to unravel this mess:
1. In January, 1920, due to young Jacinta's health deteriorating, and an opportunity for her to receive better care in a hospital in Portugal's capital city of Lisbon, the decision was made by her parents to send her there.
2. When Jacinta arrived in Lisbon with her mother, she was not able to immediately get a hospital bed, and the lady that had initially offered to care for her until the bed was ready for her rescinded her offer, and she had no place to go.
3. There was a small group of unapproved religious women with neither the habit of official recognition from the Church, that had an orphanage in Lisbon and took Jacinta in and cared for her during the period of time until the hospital could finally admit her. The group was led by a woman titled Mother Godhino.
4. It was during this time, and also subsequently during visits of Mother Godhino to Jacinta in the hospital in Lisbon, in which Mother Godhino asserted that Jacinta told her things that Our Lady allegedly said. Mother Godhino was the only witness to these alleged statements from Jacinta to her of the alleged statements of Our Lady, so the veracity of these statements is completely reliant on the credibility of Mother Godhino.
5. Before getting into some of the issues that call Mother Godinho's credibility into question, I would first like to make clear that this should not be construed in any way as an attack against this woman or her holiness. She clearly was a loving and caring Catholic who took in a very sick girl when no one else would, who needed intense care, and not only nursed her but befriended her and gave great consolation to the suffering Jacinta who was essentially alone in Lisbon, away from her family.
6. With that said, let's move on to examine the credibility of the statements of Mother Godhino. The following is research done by Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, who is clearly one of the greatest Fatima researchers of all time, and author of the three volume set, "The Whole Truth About Fatima."
7. Mother Godhino, in February 1920, told Canon Formigio of a special revelation given by Our Lady to Jacinta of a prophesy of things to come in Portugal which did in fact happen, and the message appears clearly authentic.
8. With that said, Mother Godhino wrote a letter to Pope Pius XII in 1954 with many strange assertions and prophesies that never came to pass about the world and about her order, which calls into question the credibility of her assertions that were allegedly given by Our Lady to Jacinta as related by her.
9. I am going to present the entire section dealing with Mother Godhino's letter to Pope Pius XII, but before I do, I have some brief conclusions.
10. Whether or not the statements of Jacinta to Mother Godhino, as related by Mother Godhino are true and accurate, these statements are not the same as the "Message of Fatima," as they were not given by Our Lady to the children of Fatima, at Fatima in 1917, but were allegedly given to Jacinta at Lisbon in 1920. To say Our Lady of Fatima said these things is a stretch at best, deceit at worst.
11. The alleged statements of Jacinta to Mother Godhino may or may not be the statements of Jacinta. The only witness to these alleged statements is Mother Godhino who clearly said other things allegedly told to her by Jacinta of what Our Lady said that were not true which calls into question her credibility.
12. With that said, one should be cautious of the assertions made by Mother Godhino of what she claimed Jacinta told her of what Our Lady said during the brief time she knew her, in late January, 1920 to Jacinta's death on February 20, 1920.
13. I present now the entire section dealing with Mother Godhino's letter to Pope Pius XII, (all emphasis added):
The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol. II, Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, is available for free on archive.org and linked HERE
My opinion is that this quote, among others, should not be attributed as certainly coming from Our Lady. It's authenticity is questionable and for people to recklessly publish it as a quote from Our Lady of Fatima is shoddy scholarship at best. A simple internet search of the quote will find dozens, if not hundreds of websites that have this quote and most attributing it to Our Lady of Fatima. None, that I am aware of, caution the reader that this alleged quote was not part of the Fatima message, and was only allegedly said by Our Lady to Jacinta and relayed to a single witness whose reliability is questionable.
So, let's get to the key points to unravel this mess:
1. In January, 1920, due to young Jacinta's health deteriorating, and an opportunity for her to receive better care in a hospital in Portugal's capital city of Lisbon, the decision was made by her parents to send her there.
2. When Jacinta arrived in Lisbon with her mother, she was not able to immediately get a hospital bed, and the lady that had initially offered to care for her until the bed was ready for her rescinded her offer, and she had no place to go.
3. There was a small group of unapproved religious women with neither the habit of official recognition from the Church, that had an orphanage in Lisbon and took Jacinta in and cared for her during the period of time until the hospital could finally admit her. The group was led by a woman titled Mother Godhino.
4. It was during this time, and also subsequently during visits of Mother Godhino to Jacinta in the hospital in Lisbon, in which Mother Godhino asserted that Jacinta told her things that Our Lady allegedly said. Mother Godhino was the only witness to these alleged statements from Jacinta to her of the alleged statements of Our Lady, so the veracity of these statements is completely reliant on the credibility of Mother Godhino.
5. Before getting into some of the issues that call Mother Godinho's credibility into question, I would first like to make clear that this should not be construed in any way as an attack against this woman or her holiness. She clearly was a loving and caring Catholic who took in a very sick girl when no one else would, who needed intense care, and not only nursed her but befriended her and gave great consolation to the suffering Jacinta who was essentially alone in Lisbon, away from her family.
6. With that said, let's move on to examine the credibility of the statements of Mother Godhino. The following is research done by Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, who is clearly one of the greatest Fatima researchers of all time, and author of the three volume set, "The Whole Truth About Fatima."
The testimony of Mother Godinho. At this stage in our account, we must open a brief critical parenthesis. On many, many occasions Mother Godinho spoke of the actions and gestures of little Jacinta. Very often, unfortunately, she was the only witness of these things. The prolixity and bewildering character of several of the statements she attributes to the seer have justly evoked some scepticism on the part of well informed critics. Father Alonso declared in 1971: «Mother Godinho attributed so many things to Jacinta that it is impossible that the child could really have said all that!» 84
However, while he does point out that the declarations of Mother Godinho are not always perfectly credible, the Fatima expert remarks that it would be unjustified to reject indiscriminately her testimony as a whole. Many actions and gestures which she attributes to Jacinta seem taken from real life and correspond quite well to her character, such as Lucy has described it for us. (Vol. II, p. 216-217)
However, while he does point out that the declarations of Mother Godinho are not always perfectly credible, the Fatima expert remarks that it would be unjustified to reject indiscriminately her testimony as a whole. Many actions and gestures which she attributes to Jacinta seem taken from real life and correspond quite well to her character, such as Lucy has described it for us. (Vol. II, p. 216-217)
7. Mother Godhino, in February 1920, told Canon Formigio of a special revelation given by Our Lady to Jacinta of a prophesy of things to come in Portugal which did in fact happen, and the message appears clearly authentic.
8. With that said, Mother Godhino wrote a letter to Pope Pius XII in 1954 with many strange assertions and prophesies that never came to pass about the world and about her order, which calls into question the credibility of her assertions that were allegedly given by Our Lady to Jacinta as related by her.
9. I am going to present the entire section dealing with Mother Godhino's letter to Pope Pius XII, but before I do, I have some brief conclusions.
10. Whether or not the statements of Jacinta to Mother Godhino, as related by Mother Godhino are true and accurate, these statements are not the same as the "Message of Fatima," as they were not given by Our Lady to the children of Fatima, at Fatima in 1917, but were allegedly given to Jacinta at Lisbon in 1920. To say Our Lady of Fatima said these things is a stretch at best, deceit at worst.
11. The alleged statements of Jacinta to Mother Godhino may or may not be the statements of Jacinta. The only witness to these alleged statements is Mother Godhino who clearly said other things allegedly told to her by Jacinta of what Our Lady said that were not true which calls into question her credibility.
12. With that said, one should be cautious of the assertions made by Mother Godhino of what she claimed Jacinta told her of what Our Lady said during the brief time she knew her, in late January, 1920 to Jacinta's death on February 20, 1920.
13. I present now the entire section dealing with Mother Godhino's letter to Pope Pius XII, (all emphasis added):
APPENDIX III
AN APOCRYPHAL MESSAGE
«THE SECRET OF MOTHER GODINHO» (APRIL 25, 1954)
We have seen how “the secret” reserved for Canon Formigao concerns a very precise object, and was passed on to the intended recipient immediately. If we consider the way it was transmitted, the content, as well as the undeniable fruits of grace it engendered, it comes to us with solid guarantees of credibility. 1 The same is not the case for the two other secrets which Mother Godinho claims she received from Jacinta, on the part of the Most Holy Virgin.
A nonexistent secret. Regarding the secret supposedly destined for Dr. Lisboa, which Mother Godinho herself said she was unaware of, Father Alonso puts forward a very plausible hypothesis: Jacinta, who was sick at the hospital of Lisbon, asked insistently for a visit from “Senhor Doutor”... but this expression was frequently used by the little seers to designate... Dr. Formigao! Thus it may have been a simple mistake in the names, Jacinta in reality having no secret for Dr. Lisboa. 2
“The secret of Mother Godinho.” That leaves only the famous secret supposedly destined for Mother Godinho herself, known to us only by the letter she wrote to Pope Pius XII, on April 25, 1954. When it began to be partially divulged, around the year 1970, this secret caused quite a stir: did it not predict frightful cataclysms for the year 1972? An announcement of future events predicted for a precise date always makes a great impression. Moreover, several Portuguese authors took this text very seriously. In 1971, Father Messias Dias Coelho published the integral text of it once again, with a commentary which tended to favour its authenticity. 3
Let us point out that at the same time, Father Alonso did not have any qualms about giving a decidedly opposing opinion. During the Third International Seminar on Fatima, from August 17 to 22, 1971, he was asked several times about this subject:
«“There is talk concerning a text of Jacinta for the year 1972. What should we think of it?” Response: “This text exists. It has been published twice by the revue Mensagem de Fatima, but it does not merit critical confidence.” Question: “Where is the original of Mother Godinho’s letter to the Pope? What is its content?” Response: “The letter is at Lisbon. As for its content, it is hard to say because the letter is long, but in general it deals with eschatological things. Finally, it is said that there will be a great calamity in the world in 1972.” Question: “Is it true that the year 1972 will be a year of great disasters? The texts speak of this date and no other.” Response: “This comes from Mother Godinho, but she attributes so many things to the seer that it is impossible that she really said all that.”» 4
Events have proven the Fatima expert right. The fateful year 1972 went by without anything to verify the prophecy objectively. That might have settled the matter, and we could let this document fall back into the oblivion it merits, as Father Alonso seems to have wished. However, since we propose to give “the whole truth about Fatima”, it seems necessary, to get to the bottom of the matter, to quote the entire text and present a point by point critical commentary. 5
« Prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, the humble and obscure Mother Mary of the Purification Godinho, who for forty years has worked at the foundation of an order of Franciscan Sisters, Claretians of expiation, beseeches Your Holiness to deign to give her and her sisters, who have been present at the foundation of this order, the necessary authorisation to realise their ideal, cherished for so many years and anxiously hoped for.
« For many years, I have been director of the orphanage of Our Lady of Miracles, at 17 Rua de Estrela, Lisbon, Portugal, and I am ever hopeful of the realisation of this ideal. I have lived in community with some women who have a decided vocation for the religious life, regulating their entire life and actions according to the rule of Saint Claire and Mother “Mary da Costa”, a rule we have all observed since 1916 without interruption; we have combined the active life with the contemplative life, and consequently we are not cloistered, although we very much wish we could be. And all the women who feel a true calling and wish to embrace the religious state in this community must be daughters of a legitimate marriage, they must be Catholics, they must give up everything they have in the world, they must be chaste and virgins both in soul and body, they must be humble and obedient, and practice all forms of charity, they are bound to observe silence, and they must always, day and night, apply themselves to perpetual adoration.»
In this introduction we have the essence of the letter. It is perfectly clear, while the rest of the letter is confused, incoherent and disorderly. In 1954, Mother Godinho desired to obtain directly from the Holy Father what her bishop, Cardinal Cerejeira, had always refused her, in spite of her repeated fervent requests: canonical recognition of the nascent religious community gathered around her. But does not this text alone suffice to justify the refusal of the Patriarch of Lisbon? Clearly, whatever her good intentions might have been, Mother Godinho possessed neither the clear-sightedness, or instruction, or any other qualities necessary to claim the role of Foundress of a great religious order.
Here there would have been nothing more than the banal and rather frequent case of a new foundation not approved by the Church, if Mother Godinho had not had, in 1920, the merit of sheltering the little seer of Fatima. And due to the fortuitous absence of Canon Formigao, she had the additional honour of passing on to him the message the Blessed Virgin gave him through Jacinta. Such had been the role of Mother Godinho, and this admittedly entitles her to a certain amount of respect. But to go from that to attributing to herself the heavenly mission, comparable to the mission of Canon Formigao, of founding a congregation of Sisters of reparation – this is quite a jump... Indeed we see how in her ideal of religious life, Mother Godinho in the final analysis attributes the idea to the Blessed Virgin Herself, through the mediation of Jacinta. Now, very curiously, she goes on to mingle with the idea of this congregation prophetic considerations of worldwide significance:
« I am the godmother of Jacinta Marto, the seer of Fatima, who made me privy to the following secret, which I have kept religiously for many years, but now as I feel death approaching, I wish to communicate it to Your Holiness. Under oath I guarantee that what I say expresses purely and simply what I heard from her, and which forms my secret. Here is the essential part. “Mother, tell the Holy Father that the world is troubled and Our Lady can no longer hold back the arm of Her beloved Son, Who is very offended by the sins committed in the world. If, however, the world decides to do penance, She would come to its aid again, but if not, chastisement would infallibly fall upon it, for its lack of obedience to the Holy Father.»
Is this last phrase the echo of an authentic revelation of Jacinta? If this were the case, it would be the only time Our Lady of Fatima developed this thought. For in none of the revelations which Sister Lucy received later on do we find a similar diagnosis for the cause of the chastisements threatening us. Heaven insists only on the offences against the Most Holy Virgin, and especially, as we will see, on the disobedience of the Pastors of the Church to the great designs of God in favour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 6
This mention of disobedience towards the Holy Father, on the other hand, appears closely related to what seems to be the dream, the idée fixe of Mother Godinho: a most intimate union of her community – which by the very fact would assume an exorbitant importance – with the Holy Father, or with the Vatican, directly, so as to compensate for the coldness and lack of understanding by the Cardinal Patriarch.
« Jacinta then asked me to tell the Holy Father and His Excellency, the Bishop of Leiria, that the house I occupy at Fatima ought to be called “the House of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima”, and that the sisters of this order, after their approval, were to take the name of “Claretian Sisters of Mother Mary da Costa”, and that they would keep united to the Vatican to prepare for the year 1972, because the sins of impurity, vanity, and excessive luxury would bring great chastisements to the world, which would cause great suffering to the Holy Father. “Poor Holy Father!” she would say.»
What a deluge of prophecies! At the moment these words were supposed to have been uttered by Jacinta, there was no building at the Cova da Iria except the tiny “Capelinha”. Mother Godinho had no house. There was no Bishop of Leiria yet, for the diocese still did not have a titular named for it. Nor do we grasp the necessity of informing the Holy Father of such insignificant details. Let us pass over the great cataclysm predicted for 1972. Let us likewise pass over the causes of the chastisement invoked here, concerning which Sister Lucy has never mentioned a word. As for the union of the Claretian Sisters of Mother Godinho with the Vatican for 1972, it was impossible, and for good reason. Indeed in 1960, when Mother Godinho died, the Cardinal Patriarch ordered the few religious living with her (all of whom, by the way, wanted to be in charge), to request admission into another community, or resume civil life. Thus the prophecy was not fulfilled at all.
« I could hardly believe these things; but Jacinta insisted, saying: “Godmother, tell the Holy Father that Our Lady wishes this work to be the apple of the Holy Father’s eye, try therefore to talk to him about it ”; and among other things she said: “Our Lady wants there to be at the Cova da Iria a house for Her, the Mother of God, and that the Sisters who go there imitate Her virtues, and expiate for the sins committed in other religious houses (sic).” Among other things Our Lady told the seer: “In this house there will be rigorous silence, only what is absolutely necessary will be said, and nothing more; nothing will be done without permission of His Holiness, and the religious who live there under Our Lady’s roof will imitate the virtues of the Heavenly Mother; they will have no contact with the world and they will live a very retired life, and it will behove them to pray particularly for the Holy Father, uniting all their penitential practices to the Vatican, for the intention of...” 7
« I, a Sister of Saint Francis, Maria of the Purification, to whom the seer Jacinta revealed these things, understood nothing of these things, but it seems to me that she meant that wars would stop in the world only when men also finished (sic).
« At this moment I said to Jacinta that the Holy Father knew very well what he had to do and that Our Lord and Our Lady would inspire him so that it would be superfluous for me to tell him what the seer related to me. But she went on talking, and she said that the triumph of Our Lord still had to come, but beforehand there would be many tears, because in the world His Holy Will is not being accomplished. And she told me that she was distraught at not knowing how to express it better, but she wanted to try anyway:
“ There is a secret of Heaven and another of the earth, and the latter is frightening, it already seems like the end of the world and in this cataclysm everything will be isolated from Heaven, which will become as white as snow.”»
Let us say unequivocally: it would be a waste of time to make heads or tails of these words. Mother Godinho goes on, continuing to jumble everything together:
« Our Lady said that we must pray much and perform many “mortifications of the senses” (give up many things) because this is very pleasing to Our Lord, that we must love Our Lord with all our heart and respect priests because they are the salt of the earth, and their duty is to show souls the way to Heaven. She also recommended often to the seer that I do nothing without the permission of the Holy Father and the Most Reverend Bishop of Leiria, and that she (Jacinta) ask me to tell Your Holiness, among other things, that Our Lady appeared to me here at the orphanage several times, and that she also appeared to the seer, before the latter went to the hospital of D. Estefania, and at this moment Jacinta felt such harmony that it seemed to her that she was already in the presence of God, and already enjoyed eternal glory for all eternity.»
This last paragraph is decisive: Mother Godinho herself also supposedly saw the Blessed Virgin! Whoever wishes to believe this may do so. But in any case, what a curious way of letting us know. Instead of simply saying: “I saw the Blessed Virgin, who gave me such or such a mission,” Mother Godinho wraps herself once more in the cloak of Jacinta: the Most Holy Virgin asked Jacinta to ask Mother Godinho to tell the Holy Father that Mother Godinho had herself seen the Holy Virgin several times in her house on Rua de Estrela, just as Jacinta had several times seen Her! What a mess!
« This long but loyal exposition which I have made, being concluded, the humblest of your servants casts herself at the feet of Your Holiness as she kisses your ring, full of respect.
Mother Maria of the Purification Godinho April 25, 1954»
The authentic document... For clarity’s sake let us point out that this document is not a fake, as certain authors affirmed. We know in fact that Mother Godinho had made a copy of her letter to Pope Pius XII. In July, 1983, we received firsthand the testimony of a priest who shortly before the death of Mother Godinho had this copy in his hand and recopied it exactly. He confirmed to us that the published version is perfectly identical with the original. 8
... of an apocryphal “secret”. That being said, following Father Alonso, and as another Fatima expert who knew Mother Godinho well advised us, «we have reason to be critical». Fatima rests upon unquestionable facts and testimony. The declarations of Mother Godinho, on the contrary, upon examination appear groundless.
1) The visions. There is no solid reason to take seriously the claim of Mother Godinho that she herself saw the Most Holy Virgin in 1920. An apparition which took place precisely when Jacinta was in her house. An apparition concerning which she tells us not a thing. The only guarantee put forward for this apparition is that Our Lady supposedly expressly willed that the Pope be informed. Let us be permitted to ask: Why? When Mother Godinho reports this event to the Holy Father, in such a rambling formula, at the age of seventy-six and thirty-four years after the event, we have every reason to believe she is making it up. No doubt this is unconscious. For a simple internal criticism of the letter shows that at the time Mother Godinho wrote it, she did not enjoy perfect psychic equilibrium. It is useless to explain this away, as does Father Messias Dias Coelho, by her total lack of culture. She knew how to read and write, and we find under her pen a good number of themes borrowed from what she had read, whether from Fatima or from other subjects. Saint Bernadette knew even less than Mother Godinho, and Saint Joan of Arc even less. Their testimony sparkles with good sense, intelligence, and the clear thinking of peasant folk. The same can be said of Sister Lucy in her Memoirs, which trace an extraordinarily lively, coherent and down-to-earth portrait of Jacinta.
2) « My secret» for the Holy Father. The confusion and imprecision of the secret Mother Godinho supposedly was given to transmit to the Holy Father – the total absence of clarity which she attributes, in passing, to Jacinta herself – is a clear sign that it is a subjective elaboration. Moreover, here is another telltale sign: if we reread the letter, we see that she has nothing to reveal to the Pope which really concerns him, still less anything to ask of him. Except one thing: recognition of the institute of Mother Godinho, because «the Blessed Virgin wishes this work to be the apple of the Holy Father’s eye.»
3) The apocalyptic prophecies. This, of course, is what drew attention to this letter before 1972. Since this date passed without them being verified, there is no longer any motive to give them the least credit. It is regrettable that this or that Portuguese author continues to present these texts as an integral part of the message of Fatima. 9
4) The mission to become a foundress. As for the mission of founding a new religious congregation, which Mother Godinho claims to have received from Our Lady through Jacinta, this also is surely an illusion.
Subsequent events themselves have demonstrated that. Charged with making known to another the mission she believed she had, did not Mother Godinho come to believe, little by little, that this mission came to her from Heaven as well? This supposed “secret” and this “mission” she claims in her letter, are they not a simple copy of those of Canon Formigao? In any case it seems that, by a process well known to psychologists, in this letter Mother Godinho came to transpose her own ideal of religious life, her own thoughts and imaginings, her own resolute desire to have a religious house at the Cova da Iria like the others – that is, she transposed her own thoughts onto the will of the Blessed Virgin as passed on by Jacinta.
Conclusion: On her deathbed at the hospital in Lisbon, Jacinta received from the Most Holy Virgin one and only one “secret”: the one destined for Canon Formigao. “The secret of Mother Godinho” appears to us an apocryphal text, a subjective construction elaborated from this authentic message which did not concern her. Under her pen, and in her imagination, diverse recollections are mingled in inextricable fashion: the plausible together with the incredible. 10
Of course, it is quite deplorable that the message of Fatima, so clear and limpid, of which Sister Lucy is the faithful and sure depositary, be saddled with this pseudo-message. Like a parasite, there is always the risk that it harm the living organism from which it lives. But did not Saint Francis have his Fioretti, more or less fantasy-ridden, and did not Our Lord Himself have the apocryphal Gospels? It is sufficient to be aware of these things and use a prudent criticism. In the final analysis, these regrettable adjuncts bring out more clearly by way of contrast, the supernatural character of the authentic Message of Fatima. The authentic message is proven by striking miracles and clear prophecies which were all fulfilled. We need only recall, for example, the way the great miracle of October 13 was predicted three months in advance, the prophecy of Russia’s role in spreading its errors and stirring up wars, the prediction of the Second World War, or the special protection enjoyed by Portugal. Among others, these are all so many sure guarantees which permit us to distinguish the perfectly credible statements from those which are not.
«THE SECRET OF MOTHER GODINHO» (APRIL 25, 1954)
We have seen how “the secret” reserved for Canon Formigao concerns a very precise object, and was passed on to the intended recipient immediately. If we consider the way it was transmitted, the content, as well as the undeniable fruits of grace it engendered, it comes to us with solid guarantees of credibility. 1 The same is not the case for the two other secrets which Mother Godinho claims she received from Jacinta, on the part of the Most Holy Virgin.
A nonexistent secret. Regarding the secret supposedly destined for Dr. Lisboa, which Mother Godinho herself said she was unaware of, Father Alonso puts forward a very plausible hypothesis: Jacinta, who was sick at the hospital of Lisbon, asked insistently for a visit from “Senhor Doutor”... but this expression was frequently used by the little seers to designate... Dr. Formigao! Thus it may have been a simple mistake in the names, Jacinta in reality having no secret for Dr. Lisboa. 2
“The secret of Mother Godinho.” That leaves only the famous secret supposedly destined for Mother Godinho herself, known to us only by the letter she wrote to Pope Pius XII, on April 25, 1954. When it began to be partially divulged, around the year 1970, this secret caused quite a stir: did it not predict frightful cataclysms for the year 1972? An announcement of future events predicted for a precise date always makes a great impression. Moreover, several Portuguese authors took this text very seriously. In 1971, Father Messias Dias Coelho published the integral text of it once again, with a commentary which tended to favour its authenticity. 3
Let us point out that at the same time, Father Alonso did not have any qualms about giving a decidedly opposing opinion. During the Third International Seminar on Fatima, from August 17 to 22, 1971, he was asked several times about this subject:
«“There is talk concerning a text of Jacinta for the year 1972. What should we think of it?” Response: “This text exists. It has been published twice by the revue Mensagem de Fatima, but it does not merit critical confidence.” Question: “Where is the original of Mother Godinho’s letter to the Pope? What is its content?” Response: “The letter is at Lisbon. As for its content, it is hard to say because the letter is long, but in general it deals with eschatological things. Finally, it is said that there will be a great calamity in the world in 1972.” Question: “Is it true that the year 1972 will be a year of great disasters? The texts speak of this date and no other.” Response: “This comes from Mother Godinho, but she attributes so many things to the seer that it is impossible that she really said all that.”» 4
Events have proven the Fatima expert right. The fateful year 1972 went by without anything to verify the prophecy objectively. That might have settled the matter, and we could let this document fall back into the oblivion it merits, as Father Alonso seems to have wished. However, since we propose to give “the whole truth about Fatima”, it seems necessary, to get to the bottom of the matter, to quote the entire text and present a point by point critical commentary. 5
« Prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, the humble and obscure Mother Mary of the Purification Godinho, who for forty years has worked at the foundation of an order of Franciscan Sisters, Claretians of expiation, beseeches Your Holiness to deign to give her and her sisters, who have been present at the foundation of this order, the necessary authorisation to realise their ideal, cherished for so many years and anxiously hoped for.
« For many years, I have been director of the orphanage of Our Lady of Miracles, at 17 Rua de Estrela, Lisbon, Portugal, and I am ever hopeful of the realisation of this ideal. I have lived in community with some women who have a decided vocation for the religious life, regulating their entire life and actions according to the rule of Saint Claire and Mother “Mary da Costa”, a rule we have all observed since 1916 without interruption; we have combined the active life with the contemplative life, and consequently we are not cloistered, although we very much wish we could be. And all the women who feel a true calling and wish to embrace the religious state in this community must be daughters of a legitimate marriage, they must be Catholics, they must give up everything they have in the world, they must be chaste and virgins both in soul and body, they must be humble and obedient, and practice all forms of charity, they are bound to observe silence, and they must always, day and night, apply themselves to perpetual adoration.»
In this introduction we have the essence of the letter. It is perfectly clear, while the rest of the letter is confused, incoherent and disorderly. In 1954, Mother Godinho desired to obtain directly from the Holy Father what her bishop, Cardinal Cerejeira, had always refused her, in spite of her repeated fervent requests: canonical recognition of the nascent religious community gathered around her. But does not this text alone suffice to justify the refusal of the Patriarch of Lisbon? Clearly, whatever her good intentions might have been, Mother Godinho possessed neither the clear-sightedness, or instruction, or any other qualities necessary to claim the role of Foundress of a great religious order.
Here there would have been nothing more than the banal and rather frequent case of a new foundation not approved by the Church, if Mother Godinho had not had, in 1920, the merit of sheltering the little seer of Fatima. And due to the fortuitous absence of Canon Formigao, she had the additional honour of passing on to him the message the Blessed Virgin gave him through Jacinta. Such had been the role of Mother Godinho, and this admittedly entitles her to a certain amount of respect. But to go from that to attributing to herself the heavenly mission, comparable to the mission of Canon Formigao, of founding a congregation of Sisters of reparation – this is quite a jump... Indeed we see how in her ideal of religious life, Mother Godinho in the final analysis attributes the idea to the Blessed Virgin Herself, through the mediation of Jacinta. Now, very curiously, she goes on to mingle with the idea of this congregation prophetic considerations of worldwide significance:
« I am the godmother of Jacinta Marto, the seer of Fatima, who made me privy to the following secret, which I have kept religiously for many years, but now as I feel death approaching, I wish to communicate it to Your Holiness. Under oath I guarantee that what I say expresses purely and simply what I heard from her, and which forms my secret. Here is the essential part. “Mother, tell the Holy Father that the world is troubled and Our Lady can no longer hold back the arm of Her beloved Son, Who is very offended by the sins committed in the world. If, however, the world decides to do penance, She would come to its aid again, but if not, chastisement would infallibly fall upon it, for its lack of obedience to the Holy Father.»
Is this last phrase the echo of an authentic revelation of Jacinta? If this were the case, it would be the only time Our Lady of Fatima developed this thought. For in none of the revelations which Sister Lucy received later on do we find a similar diagnosis for the cause of the chastisements threatening us. Heaven insists only on the offences against the Most Holy Virgin, and especially, as we will see, on the disobedience of the Pastors of the Church to the great designs of God in favour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 6
This mention of disobedience towards the Holy Father, on the other hand, appears closely related to what seems to be the dream, the idée fixe of Mother Godinho: a most intimate union of her community – which by the very fact would assume an exorbitant importance – with the Holy Father, or with the Vatican, directly, so as to compensate for the coldness and lack of understanding by the Cardinal Patriarch.
« Jacinta then asked me to tell the Holy Father and His Excellency, the Bishop of Leiria, that the house I occupy at Fatima ought to be called “the House of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima”, and that the sisters of this order, after their approval, were to take the name of “Claretian Sisters of Mother Mary da Costa”, and that they would keep united to the Vatican to prepare for the year 1972, because the sins of impurity, vanity, and excessive luxury would bring great chastisements to the world, which would cause great suffering to the Holy Father. “Poor Holy Father!” she would say.»
What a deluge of prophecies! At the moment these words were supposed to have been uttered by Jacinta, there was no building at the Cova da Iria except the tiny “Capelinha”. Mother Godinho had no house. There was no Bishop of Leiria yet, for the diocese still did not have a titular named for it. Nor do we grasp the necessity of informing the Holy Father of such insignificant details. Let us pass over the great cataclysm predicted for 1972. Let us likewise pass over the causes of the chastisement invoked here, concerning which Sister Lucy has never mentioned a word. As for the union of the Claretian Sisters of Mother Godinho with the Vatican for 1972, it was impossible, and for good reason. Indeed in 1960, when Mother Godinho died, the Cardinal Patriarch ordered the few religious living with her (all of whom, by the way, wanted to be in charge), to request admission into another community, or resume civil life. Thus the prophecy was not fulfilled at all.
« I could hardly believe these things; but Jacinta insisted, saying: “Godmother, tell the Holy Father that Our Lady wishes this work to be the apple of the Holy Father’s eye, try therefore to talk to him about it ”; and among other things she said: “Our Lady wants there to be at the Cova da Iria a house for Her, the Mother of God, and that the Sisters who go there imitate Her virtues, and expiate for the sins committed in other religious houses (sic).” Among other things Our Lady told the seer: “In this house there will be rigorous silence, only what is absolutely necessary will be said, and nothing more; nothing will be done without permission of His Holiness, and the religious who live there under Our Lady’s roof will imitate the virtues of the Heavenly Mother; they will have no contact with the world and they will live a very retired life, and it will behove them to pray particularly for the Holy Father, uniting all their penitential practices to the Vatican, for the intention of...” 7
« I, a Sister of Saint Francis, Maria of the Purification, to whom the seer Jacinta revealed these things, understood nothing of these things, but it seems to me that she meant that wars would stop in the world only when men also finished (sic).
« At this moment I said to Jacinta that the Holy Father knew very well what he had to do and that Our Lord and Our Lady would inspire him so that it would be superfluous for me to tell him what the seer related to me. But she went on talking, and she said that the triumph of Our Lord still had to come, but beforehand there would be many tears, because in the world His Holy Will is not being accomplished. And she told me that she was distraught at not knowing how to express it better, but she wanted to try anyway:
“ There is a secret of Heaven and another of the earth, and the latter is frightening, it already seems like the end of the world and in this cataclysm everything will be isolated from Heaven, which will become as white as snow.”»
Let us say unequivocally: it would be a waste of time to make heads or tails of these words. Mother Godinho goes on, continuing to jumble everything together:
« Our Lady said that we must pray much and perform many “mortifications of the senses” (give up many things) because this is very pleasing to Our Lord, that we must love Our Lord with all our heart and respect priests because they are the salt of the earth, and their duty is to show souls the way to Heaven. She also recommended often to the seer that I do nothing without the permission of the Holy Father and the Most Reverend Bishop of Leiria, and that she (Jacinta) ask me to tell Your Holiness, among other things, that Our Lady appeared to me here at the orphanage several times, and that she also appeared to the seer, before the latter went to the hospital of D. Estefania, and at this moment Jacinta felt such harmony that it seemed to her that she was already in the presence of God, and already enjoyed eternal glory for all eternity.»
This last paragraph is decisive: Mother Godinho herself also supposedly saw the Blessed Virgin! Whoever wishes to believe this may do so. But in any case, what a curious way of letting us know. Instead of simply saying: “I saw the Blessed Virgin, who gave me such or such a mission,” Mother Godinho wraps herself once more in the cloak of Jacinta: the Most Holy Virgin asked Jacinta to ask Mother Godinho to tell the Holy Father that Mother Godinho had herself seen the Holy Virgin several times in her house on Rua de Estrela, just as Jacinta had several times seen Her! What a mess!
« This long but loyal exposition which I have made, being concluded, the humblest of your servants casts herself at the feet of Your Holiness as she kisses your ring, full of respect.
Mother Maria of the Purification Godinho April 25, 1954»
The authentic document... For clarity’s sake let us point out that this document is not a fake, as certain authors affirmed. We know in fact that Mother Godinho had made a copy of her letter to Pope Pius XII. In July, 1983, we received firsthand the testimony of a priest who shortly before the death of Mother Godinho had this copy in his hand and recopied it exactly. He confirmed to us that the published version is perfectly identical with the original. 8
... of an apocryphal “secret”. That being said, following Father Alonso, and as another Fatima expert who knew Mother Godinho well advised us, «we have reason to be critical». Fatima rests upon unquestionable facts and testimony. The declarations of Mother Godinho, on the contrary, upon examination appear groundless.
1) The visions. There is no solid reason to take seriously the claim of Mother Godinho that she herself saw the Most Holy Virgin in 1920. An apparition which took place precisely when Jacinta was in her house. An apparition concerning which she tells us not a thing. The only guarantee put forward for this apparition is that Our Lady supposedly expressly willed that the Pope be informed. Let us be permitted to ask: Why? When Mother Godinho reports this event to the Holy Father, in such a rambling formula, at the age of seventy-six and thirty-four years after the event, we have every reason to believe she is making it up. No doubt this is unconscious. For a simple internal criticism of the letter shows that at the time Mother Godinho wrote it, she did not enjoy perfect psychic equilibrium. It is useless to explain this away, as does Father Messias Dias Coelho, by her total lack of culture. She knew how to read and write, and we find under her pen a good number of themes borrowed from what she had read, whether from Fatima or from other subjects. Saint Bernadette knew even less than Mother Godinho, and Saint Joan of Arc even less. Their testimony sparkles with good sense, intelligence, and the clear thinking of peasant folk. The same can be said of Sister Lucy in her Memoirs, which trace an extraordinarily lively, coherent and down-to-earth portrait of Jacinta.
2) « My secret» for the Holy Father. The confusion and imprecision of the secret Mother Godinho supposedly was given to transmit to the Holy Father – the total absence of clarity which she attributes, in passing, to Jacinta herself – is a clear sign that it is a subjective elaboration. Moreover, here is another telltale sign: if we reread the letter, we see that she has nothing to reveal to the Pope which really concerns him, still less anything to ask of him. Except one thing: recognition of the institute of Mother Godinho, because «the Blessed Virgin wishes this work to be the apple of the Holy Father’s eye.»
3) The apocalyptic prophecies. This, of course, is what drew attention to this letter before 1972. Since this date passed without them being verified, there is no longer any motive to give them the least credit. It is regrettable that this or that Portuguese author continues to present these texts as an integral part of the message of Fatima. 9
4) The mission to become a foundress. As for the mission of founding a new religious congregation, which Mother Godinho claims to have received from Our Lady through Jacinta, this also is surely an illusion.
Subsequent events themselves have demonstrated that. Charged with making known to another the mission she believed she had, did not Mother Godinho come to believe, little by little, that this mission came to her from Heaven as well? This supposed “secret” and this “mission” she claims in her letter, are they not a simple copy of those of Canon Formigao? In any case it seems that, by a process well known to psychologists, in this letter Mother Godinho came to transpose her own ideal of religious life, her own thoughts and imaginings, her own resolute desire to have a religious house at the Cova da Iria like the others – that is, she transposed her own thoughts onto the will of the Blessed Virgin as passed on by Jacinta.
Conclusion: On her deathbed at the hospital in Lisbon, Jacinta received from the Most Holy Virgin one and only one “secret”: the one destined for Canon Formigao. “The secret of Mother Godinho” appears to us an apocryphal text, a subjective construction elaborated from this authentic message which did not concern her. Under her pen, and in her imagination, diverse recollections are mingled in inextricable fashion: the plausible together with the incredible. 10
Of course, it is quite deplorable that the message of Fatima, so clear and limpid, of which Sister Lucy is the faithful and sure depositary, be saddled with this pseudo-message. Like a parasite, there is always the risk that it harm the living organism from which it lives. But did not Saint Francis have his Fioretti, more or less fantasy-ridden, and did not Our Lord Himself have the apocryphal Gospels? It is sufficient to be aware of these things and use a prudent criticism. In the final analysis, these regrettable adjuncts bring out more clearly by way of contrast, the supernatural character of the authentic Message of Fatima. The authentic message is proven by striking miracles and clear prophecies which were all fulfilled. We need only recall, for example, the way the great miracle of October 13 was predicted three months in advance, the prophecy of Russia’s role in spreading its errors and stirring up wars, the prediction of the Second World War, or the special protection enjoyed by Portugal. Among others, these are all so many sure guarantees which permit us to distinguish the perfectly credible statements from those which are not.
The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol. II, Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, is available for free on archive.org and linked HERE