The History of the Apostolate of Fatima
To trace down the history of the World Apostolate of Fáma we need to go as far as to St. Mary of Plainfield, a small parish in the State of New Jersey, U.S.A. Why? Because it was its parish priest, Rev. Fr. Harold V. Colgan, that laid the foundations of this Marian Catholic movement. All started when Fr. Colgan felt very sick and was in hospital for long time without getting any better. It was then that he promised to Our Lady that if She cured him, he would consecrate the rest of his life preaching Her devotion.
The miracle happened and the parish priest of S. Mary of Plainfield fulfilled his word. Twice a week he would preach in his church about the Blessed Mother of God. Many were those who attended his sermons.
Spring time of 1947. The Bishop of Leiria blessed in Fáma, the statue of Pilgrim Virgin, which was destined to visit the U.S.A. The Message of Fatima was now entering the American mass media. Fr. Colgan, impressed by the revelation that Our Lady of Fáma had given in Fáma, thought that the best thing he could do was to spread it in his parish and make his parishioners to live it according to the requests of the Blessed Mother. To do this, he summed up the Message of Fáma in three main points:
- Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
- Daily recitation of the Rosary and
- Righteous observance of the one.s state duties.
The scope was to answer the requests of Our Lady and by doing so to speed the advent of Peace and the conversion of Russia, as She had promised in Fatima.
The campaign was straightway coroneted with the best success.
However, Fr. Colgan knew that it was not sufficient to have good intentions which could easily be forgotten as time went by. So, he thought of adding to the former three aspects already mentioned, other two, totally external to the message. The first was the signature of a little compromise to promise observance of Our Lady.s requests; the second, the use of an external sign, a blue coloured medal or a ribbon, to remember the promise.
The enrolment would be gratis and by no means would constitute a vow.
The little parish of S. Mary of Plainfield enrolled massively on this.
"We will be the Blue army of Mary and Christ, against the red of the world and of Satan", preached Fr. Harold from his pulpit.
Some days after, the parish priest of Plainfield invited the brilliant writer John Haffert, author of many books, to deliver a conference to his flock. Haffert spoke about the apparitions of Fáma. Soon he noticed to be speaking to an assistance extremely keen on what he was saying. In his mind occurred then the idea of extending such experience to other parishes and nations.
Such project was audacious, but neither Fr. Colgan nor Haffert were the type of persons to hesitate before the responsibility of the future.
Thus is born the Blue Army . World Apostolate of Fatima. From then onward, Colgan and Haffert will never be separated. One is the flame the other the thunder. But both plan and execute. Both suffer and rejoice. Both give everything they are and have . culture, prestige, money, and often their sleeping time, to the diffusion of the movement. Colgan has even sold his car to cover the first expenses.
In May of that same year, the humble parish priest of Plainfield went to the Vatican to present the project to the Holy Father, Pio XII, who received him and said: "As the world chief against communism I bless you and all members of the Blue Army". The foundation of the Blue Army was done.
Like a fire, it would now conquer the whole world. In 1950, there were already one million registered members. In 1953, five millions and nowadays its number goes beyond 20 millions spread in many countries around the world.
The extraordinary expansion of this movement in such a short period of time was due to the intelligent courage of Fr. Colgan and J. Haffert, who, since the very first hour, used all means, like the mass media, meetings, pilgrimages, movies and television programs to achieve the diffusion of the movement.
Today, the World Apostolate of Fatima is active and keeps growing because the Message of Fatima continues to be crucial in the building of a better world.