Denver Archbishop Says Act Of Consecration Prayer For Russia And Ukraine

By Anna Maria Basquez
BROOMFIELD, Colo. (CBS4) – Denver's archbishop, during a Catholic service in Broomfield, said an Act of Consecration prayer for Russia and the Ukraine, at the same time as Pope Francis in Rome and other Catholic world leaders.

Archbishop Samuel Aquila held a public Mass which opened with a discernment retreat at 11 a.m. Friday at Nativity of Our Lord parish in Broomfield. Aquila said the Act of Consecration with the rest of the world Catholic leaders at 11:30 a.m. MST and mid-service. The diocese encouraged people to visit their local churches, including Cathedral Basilica.

By definition, when something or some place is consecrated it is declared then to be sacred or holy. Many Catholics believe bread and wine are consecrated, or made sacred during Holy Communion, for example. In this case, the consecration today is known as a consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

By many theological accounts, big political concerns were foretold about Russia in 1917 by a series of six visions before three children in Fatima, Portugal, in an official miracle researched and approved by the Vatican and known as the Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima.

Wikipedia notes a statement account by the vision to the three children, which reads:

"When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

St. Padre Pio, a Catholic saint known for receiving a stigmata which in Christian tradition means marks corresponding to those left on Jesus' body by the Crucifixion, has been noted in several books as having stated before his death that Russia would be converted before the United States.