MARY, OUR MOTHER

CHAPTER XXXV: TWO HEARTS OF WIT & WISDOM

The "DO YOU KNOW":
Once upon a time--way back in 1952 I was on a week-end retreat at Manrisa House, a Jesuit retreat home near New Orleans, LA. During the silent meditation time, one afternoon--I was thinking about a composition I had to write for the Catholic Evidence Guild speaking platform program. The subject: "The Message of Our Lady of Fatima."
Rather than write a running composition I simply decided to enumerate one by one the many words spoken by Our Lady, and summarizing her main requests. I called it simply: "Zero 1960."
The first words were: "DO YOU KNOW the requests of Our Lady of Fatima?"
In 1955, three years later, I attended a solemn Novena to Our Lady of Fatima at the Immaculate Conception Shrine (crypt in those days) in Washington, D.C., near the Catholic University. One of their Professors gave the homily. It was very beautiful on Mary--but not on the Fatima Message!
That did it! Right then and there, I decided to put into action my "Zero 1960" into a leaflet form for distribution on a large scale.
Then later--Marie Voelker, known as "the Maid of Orleans," a very devout apostle of Our Lady and Jesus, presented my leaflet to Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans, to obtain the imprimatur.
His Excellency was very pleased with it, but he threw out the title "Zero 1960" and simply named it the first words of the leaflet: "Do You Know."
Later on Bishop Burke of Buffalo, NY also a wonderful Marian Bishop, gave the imprimatur in 6 languages: French, Italian, German, Polish, Hungarian, and Spanish.
And--56 Bishops in the U.S.A. and 12 Bishops in Canada gave specific authorization to distribute the "Do You Know" in their respective dioceses, encouraging parishioners. In fact Archbishop Rummel of New Orleans sent me a personal letter, enclosing a $385.--check, made out to the Franciscan Fathers, Kenosha, WI, requesting 200,000 "Do You Know" Leaflets for his diocese!
The Fatima Shrine, Youngstown, NY was in those days the champion in its distribution, with Father Charles Barlasina, a tireless priest of the Barnabites; Father died practically a martyr--he was killed by a thief . . .
At that time--1960--11,000,000 leaflets were distributed. The price was "FREE--or 3 for 1 cent." One Sister in Texas wrote in her letter, "please send me 10,000, the free kind." Yes, the order was filled.
The Sunday Visitor, The Register, Immaculate, Marian Helper's Bulletin, Fatima Findings, Soul Magazine, and many more published the "DO YOU KNOW" verbatim, again encouraging the readers to avail themselves of the leaflets for mass-distribution. It ended up also in foreign countries, that finally 35,000,000 were distributed.
The Franciscan Fathers & Brothers, Kenosha, WI (now in Libertyville, IL) printed over 25,000,000 of them. The Blue Army, Washington, NJ printed the rest.
Mr. John Haffert, founder and lay-leader of THE BLUE ARMY encouraged to renumerate the sequence of the leaflet in the exact order of the apparitions as they happened--as Our Lady of Fatima spoke to the children.
Here is the leaflet [next posting]--also--after Therese Neumann (as you read in Chapter XXI)--insisted to add to the DO YOU KNOW the sign-up pledge.

--DO YOU KNOW--

* * *