Chapter Seventeen
ADDED INCENTIVE
It may seem a slight diversion from our main theme, but it seems necessary to write here of the Sabbatine Privilege, which modernists and others tend to put aside at a time when it can be a tremendous incentive to fulfill the essential requests of Fatima: chastity according to one's state with use of the Rosary and the Scapular.
Pope Pius XI called the Sabbatine Privilege "Our greatest privilege from the Mother of God which extends even after death..."
This privilege, first promulgated by Pope John XXII and subsequently ratified by many other Popes, promises freedom from Purgatory soon after death, especially on the First Saturday.
Three Conditions
In 1324, when this "super indulgence" was first promulgated, the conditions were three: 1) Chastity according to one's state of life; 2) the Scapular; 3) the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin or, if one could not read, fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays.
All priests have the faculty to enroll in the Scapular and to commute the third condition to some other prayer or work.
In 1950, the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima asked Rome to substitute the Rosary for the third condition. Rome said that since Blue Army members were required to wear the Scapular and to say the Rosary, a request could be included on the Blue Army membership pledge to substitute the Rosary for the third condition for all its members.
That meant that for fulfilling the basic requests of Our Lady of Fatima, one could obtain this great privilege.
It would almost seem that this was scheduled in the plans of Providence because the first and most important condition for response to the message of Fatima is avoidance of sin. "Men must stop offending God," said Our Lady. "He is already too much offended." And Our Lady also said: "More souls are lost because of sins of impurity."
And the primary condition for the Sabbatine Privilege is chastity according to one's state in life.
Blessed Gifts of Our Mother!
Being a practical mother at Fatima, Our dearest Mother placed this primary condition in a positive form: She asked for the sanctification of our daily duties. And this is done quite simply by making the Morning Offering of the sacrifices needed to avoid temptation, with the two aids She offers: The Scapular and the Rosary.
Our loving, Heavenly Mother had already been encouraging us along this simple way of holiness for almost seven hundred years through the Sabbatine Privilege. It is a way which greatly facilitates God's final effort to draw us from the reign of Satan.
With its three simple conditions, this privilege offers us the assurance that we shall be saints before we die. How else could we be freed from Purgatory by the first Saturday after death if we had not by then become holy?
St. Alphonsus, Doctor of the Church, went so far as to say that if we do a little more than what is required for the Sabbatine Privilege, "may we not hope that we will not go to Purgatory AT ALL?" And, forty years after the death of the saint, his Brown Scapular was found perfectly preserved midst the corruption of everything else in his tomb.
Pere Lamy, who saw the coming triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, said: "As for Our Lady, Her kindness gets Her everywhere... The Blessed Virgin said again to me one day that those who have fulfilled the conditions of Her Sabbatine Privilege will be drawn out of Purgatory by Her on the first Saturday after death."
How Precious!
This was said in 1924, not long after Pope St. Pius X had given permission for the use of the Scapular medal adding, in the papal decree, "not excluding the Sabbatine Privilege." The Pope gave this permission for serious reasons, such as conditions in the trenches during the first World War. Pere Lamy said:
"How precious then is the Brown Scapular which brings us deliverance from such places of pain, for Purgatory is extremely painful. The Blessed Virgin told me that She thought it better to stay behind 15 years, dragging one's weight on earth, than to spend 15 minutes in Purgatory."
Also, we may remark: How precious is the virtue of chastity!-the one virtue which is the prime condition for obtaining this great privilege.
One of the strongest motives for wearing the Scapular (with an understanding that it is a sign of our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary) is that it is a great aid and safeguard for this beautiful virtue, especially when combined with the Rosary. Indeed, it has been said: "No one can wear the Scapular and say the fifteen decades of the Rosary daily with attention to the mysteries and remain in mortal sin."36
God's Final Effort Provides These Great Aids
And falling into sin does not bar us from this great privilege.
The condition of the Sabbatine Privilege (that we observe chastity according to our state of life) does not mean that if we commit a sin against chastity, we will lose the privilege. If we have a sincere intention not to sin, we are fulfilling the Sabbatine condition. We need merely go to confession and start again with that sincere intention.
The power of the Scapular and Rosary is to keep us in that sincere intention.
By the Scapular, we are consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As we wear it, the strings over our shoulders are like Our Lady's arms protecting us. The panel over our hearts symbolizes being beneath Her powerfully protecting mantle.
And when we pray the Rosary with awareness of this, we drive evil away. Sins against chastity become abhorrent. And if we should be snared by them, we will fly to confession. Thus we become saints, rejoicing in those words of the great Marian Doctor:
"And, if we do a little more than Our Lady asks...can we not hope that we will not go to Purgatory at all?"
Stop and think of that for a moment. Remember that it was said by a doctor of the Church. Remember he is canonized, and in the midst of the corruption of everything else in his tomb his Brown Scapular was miraculously preserved and is to be seen in perfect condition to this day. Then, consider this:
Certainly a "little more" than asked for the Sabbatine Privilege is the devotion of the five First Saturdays. Indeed, they remind us of this great privilege which is often called simply: The First Saturday Privilege.
This and other books by John M. Haffert
God's
Final Effort | Too Late? | The Day I Didn't Die