Barral, May 10
& 11, 1917 Feast Day: Last
Sunday of May
Catholicism
flourished in Portugal since its beginnings in 1139 right up till the 19th
century. However, it was during this time, that Freemasonry became popular and
the people rebelled against the Royals and the Catholic Church. By the end of
1910, the monarchy was overthrown, and the Catholic Church was openly attacked.
Under the new Portuguese Republic all Church properties were seized,
monasteries and convents were closed, religious Orders suppressed, the Jesuit
educators were expelled from the country, wearing of clerical clothing, habits,
and any other outward signs identifying one as being Catholic, was banned from
public view; religious holidays and feasts were no longer to be celebrated; and
the ringing of church bells was prohibited. The land that was once a loving
child of the Immaculate Queen, now rebelled against her.
In 1911,
the persecutions culminated with the official separation of Church and State.
The man behind this Alfonso Costa, who served as Portugal’s Prime Minister
three times, boasted in his declaration:
“With thanks to this Law of
Separation, in two generations Catholicism will be completely eliminated in
Portugal!”
On September 3, 1914, one month after the start of
the First World War, Benedict XV ascended the Throne of St. Peter as the 258th
Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The first four years of his seven-and-a-half-year
papacy was plagued with anxiety and frustration as he tried, unsuccessfully, to
bring about the end of the war which he dubbed “the suicide of civilized
Europe.” With encyclicals, public exhortations, and pleading with the forces of
all sides, Benedict did all that he could to try and bring the fighting to an
end.
Exhausting all efforts for peace, Pope Benedict XV then called upon the
Most Blessed Virgin Mary for assistance. In his May 5, 1917 letter to the
Cardinals, the Pope ordered that the invocation “Queen of Peace, pray for us”
be added to the official Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Litany of
Loreto:
… And since all the graces which God deigns to bestow in pity upon men
are dispensed through the Most Holy Virgin, We urge that more then ever, in
this terrible hour, the trusting petitions of her most afflicted children be
directed to the august Mother of God.
Hence, we direct Your Eminence to make known to all the Bishops of the
world that it is Our fervent desire that mankind turn to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus – the Throne of Grace – and that recourse to this Throne be made through
Mary. Accordingly, We ordain that there be placed in the Litany of the Blessed
Virgin the invocation: Queen of Peace, pray for us.
From every corner of the earth – from the majestic churches and the
humble chapels; from the mansions of the rich as well as from the huts of the
poor; from wherever dwells a faithful soul; from the bloodstained battlefields
and war swept seas, may this pious and ardent invocation arise to Mary, the
Mother of Mercy who is all-powerful in grace!
To Mary may be brought every anguished cry of mothers and wives, each
tear of innocent children, each longing of generous hearts! May her loving and
most generous solicitude be moved to obtain for this convulsed world the peace
so greatly desired! And may the ages yet to come remember the efficacy of
Mary’s intercession and the greatness of her blessings to her suppliants!
Just five days after the Pope’s plea, Mary, Queen of Peace, answered. But
rather than answer directly to him, the Blessed Virgin was sent to an
unassuming Portuguese town called Barral. It was here where a humble shepherd
boy lived with his widowed mother and six siblings. The boy’s name was Severino
Alves, aged 10.
Severino was born in Barral, Parish of
São João Batista de Vila Chã, Ponte de Barca, on June 21, 1906. He was the son
of António
Alves and Cecília Francisca Valente.
On a clear day, May 10, 1917, at eight o’clock in
the morning, Severino was on his way to the hills with his sheep, praying the
Rosary, as he usually did while making his way, when he was startled by a
sudden flash of lightning and stopped in his tracks. After composing himself,
he was going to continue his way, but after a few steps he once again stopped.
He beheld a Lady he did not recognize, sitting on
the side of the road near some rocks, with her hands clasped. She wore a white
dress with a blue mantle wrapped around her. But what was so striking about
this woman was that her entire body radiated light, with her face being the
most beautiful he had ever seen. Severino was awestruck by her light and her
beauty and he fell to the ground, unable to take his eyes off her. The Lady
then disappeared.
Later that day, Severino approached the parish
priest to tell him of the mysterious woman he had seen. The boy, though having
a good reputation in the town as he was known to be well behaved and loved by
the locals, was not initially believed by the priest. However, the prudent priest
listened carefully and patiently to the boy’s detailed story. Believing the boy
was sincere in his intentions, he instructed him to return to the place of the
vision and, if the Lady returned, ask her to speak.
The next day, Friday, May 11, at eight o’clock in
the morning, Severino once again walked with his sheep to the hills. At the
same spot as the previous day, the Lady reappeared. She was seated, as before,
with hands clasped, wearing the same white dress and blue mantle, and still
radiating light.
Just as he did before, Severino fell to his knees.
As he gazed upon her, he worked up the courage to ask her to speak:
“Let she who didn’t speak yesterday, speak today.”
The Lady smiled and replied with a voice that
sounded of laughter and singing mixed together, a voice more pleasing than
anything he had ever heard!
“Do not be afraid, boy, it is I, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Tell the
shepherds of the mountains to pray the Rosary, let men and women once again pray
the ‘Star of Heaven’ which has been long forgotten, and tell them to approach
me in prayer: that I may come to the world and placate the war.”
After saying this, and leaving Severino enough time
to answer: “Yes, my Lady”, she continued to speak; now looking to the side:
“Such beautiful buds, such beautiful bunches.”
When Severino turned to see what she was looking
at, the Lady disappeared. He returned immediately to the town and told the people
what the Virgin Mary had said that she would help end the war if people prayed
the Rosary and resumed praying the forgotten prayer ‘Star of Heaven’, as in
years past. Since she spoke of the end of the war, the Virgin became known as
“Our Lady of Peace”.
To the questions asked, the boy always answered in
the same way:
“If you want to believe, then believe. If you don’t want to believe,
then don’t. I did my duty in telling you what the Virgin instructed me to do.”
Throughout the year, 1917, Severino Alves was
interrogated by various priests of the Archdiocese of Braga about the two
apparitions of Our Lady of Peace at Barral. Severino recalled the experience:
“Of course, they tried to make me admit to lying. When I refused to
recant my story, they then began to threaten me with a beating. They then put
their hands on me. I told them ‘You can be assured that what I saw is what I
said. And what was told to me by the Lady is what I said. Now, go ahead and do
as you want with me.’”
Later that year, as the government continued to
fight against the Catholic Church in Portugal, Severino was advised by
authorities to deny everything he said he had seen, otherwise he might be
arrested.
“Oh! Never! Our Lady told me to tell everyone to pray the Rosary and the
‘Star of Heaven’ to bring an end to the war, and I will say I didn’t see
anything?! Never! I will never deny these words she spoke to me! Never! If you
want to arrest me then go ahead and arrest me, if they want to kill me, let
them kill me!”
Severino was later collected by the Archdiocese of
Braga, and taken to the Major Seminary of Braga, not to study, but simply to
stay there. He was regularly subjected to interrogations about the apparitions:
what he had seen and what he was told.
He was then sent to the Jesuit Fathers’ College in
La Guardia, Galicia. He was there for two years against his will. He did not
believe he had a vocation to the religious life, and the only way he could
leave would be to run away. He made his escape one day, with the help of a
friend, and returned to Barral. He was left alone after this.
Like most of Barral’s youth, Severino went to
Lisbon seeking employment, where he found a job at a drug store. Sometime later
came the time to fulfill the Military Service. During the military physical
examination, it was found that he had typhus, and therefore would not be
allowed into the army, as he was most likely going to die soon. Years later Severino’s
daughter, Matilde, revealed that during her father’s illness, the Virgin came
to him once again:
“My father was dying from Typhus and he prayed to Our Lady of Peace
during this illness. She appeared to him and instructed him to drink a tea of
nettles and she would do the rest. He drank the tea and recovered the next
day.”
Some time after his recovery, he married a lady
named Delfina, who was from the Parish of Sampriz, Ponte da Barca. They lived
in Lisbon for a short time and six months after the birth of their first
daughter, they left the city and returned to Barral, where they lived for ten
years.
In 1954 Severino was again interrogated about what
happened on May 10 and 11, 1917:
“I swear by my daughter’s health that what I said in 1917 has to be said
again, because it was all true.”
Severino later returned to Lisbon where he once
again worked for his previous employer, at the drug store. For extra income, he
and his wife had a small vegetable garden. The profits from the sales of their
vegetables were offered to the building of the chapel of Our Lady of Peace in
Barral. The chapel was inaugurated and blessed on 15 September 1969.
There was one final interview on January 3, 1985.
Severino once again held firm that he indeed saw the Virgin Mary at Barral and
that the message she gave him was the truth. He died ten days later. He is
buried in the Parish Cemetery of Barral.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/OurLadyBarral
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