Not only
did they all survive with (at most) relatively minor injuries, but they
all lived well past that awful day with no radiation sickness, no loss
of hearing, or any other visible long term defects or maladies.
Naturally, they were interviewed and examined numerous times (Fr.
Schiffer, a survivor, said over 200 times) by scientists and health care
people about their remarkable experience and they say "we believe that
we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and
prayed the rosary daily in that home."
More from patheos.com
You may have heard about Father Hubert Schiffer and the other seven Jesuit missionaries who survived the atomic blast. The priests lived less than a mile from the epicenter of the attack in Hiroshima; and for miles in all directions, every building was destroyed, completely flattened, and 140,000 living persons were killed instantly.
Except for the eight priests. Father Schiffer and his companions sustained no injuries, or only minor injuries. They all lived years beyond that day, experiencing no radiation sickness, despite being exposed to high levels of radioactivity. None suffered a loss of hearing from the explosion, or any other visible long-term defects or maladies.
Father Schiffer, who was only 30 when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, told 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 Mass in the early morning, then sitting down in the rectory kitchen for breakfast. His memories were vivid: He had just sliced and dug his spoon into a grapefruit when 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 harbor. Then he described the experience:
Here is an aerial photo of Fr. Schiffer’s church (in the foreground) and surroundings, shortly after the bombing. Standing in the street in front of the church are four of the Jesuits.
Asked
why they believe they were spared, when so many others died either
from the explosion or from the subsequent radiation, Father Schiffer
spoke for himself and his companions:
He died on March 27, 1982–thirty-seven years after that eventful day.
More from patheos.com
* * * * *
You may have heard about Father Hubert Schiffer and the other seven Jesuit missionaries who survived the atomic blast. The priests lived less than a mile from the epicenter of the attack in Hiroshima; and for miles in all directions, every building was destroyed, completely flattened, and 140,000 living persons were killed instantly.
Except for the eight priests. Father Schiffer and his companions sustained no injuries, or only minor injuries. They all lived years beyond that day, experiencing no radiation sickness, despite being exposed to high levels of radioactivity. None suffered a loss of hearing from the explosion, or any other visible long-term defects or maladies.
Father Schiffer, who was only 30 when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, told 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 Mass in the early morning, then sitting down in the rectory kitchen for breakfast. His memories were vivid: He had just sliced and dug his spoon into a grapefruit when 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 harbor. Then he described 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.”More details have been reported by a priest who once met Father Schiffer at the Tri-City Airport in Saginaw Michigan. Father Schiffer visited the state to give a talk before the Blue Army, an organization of pious Catholics which promotes the apparitions at Fatima. The priest recounted their conversation:
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: the railroad station and buildings in all directions were leveled to the ground.Father Schiffer and the other Jesuits were examined and interviewed repeatedly by scientists and others who could not understand why they had escaped injury. Father Schiffer reportedly said that he himself had been interviewed 200 times.
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. Many thousands were killed or maimed by the explosion. After the conquest of the Americans, their 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 devotion to the Blessed Mother, and his daily Fatima Rosary. He feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Mother which protected him from all radiation and ill-effects. (This coincides with the bombing of Nagasaki where St. Maximilian Kolbe had established a Franciscan Friary which was also unharmed because of special protection from the Blessed Mother, as the Brothers too prayed the daily Rosary and also had no effects from the bomb.)
Here is an aerial photo of Fr. Schiffer’s church (in the foreground) and surroundings, shortly after the bombing. Standing in the street in front of the church are four of the Jesuits.
“We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the rosary daily in that home.”Father Schiffer believed that the Blessed Mother had protected them from all radiation and illness because of their devotion to her,, and because they were living the message of Fatima. “In that house,” he said, “the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.”
He died on March 27, 1982–thirty-seven years after that eventful day.
No comments:
Post a Comment