How the rosary made priests survive the atomic bomb

August 6 is an important date in history: The fateful day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in Japan. That day, one Monday, at 8:15 a.m., an American B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, dropped her bomb called "Little Boy", which fell at a predetermined detonation height of about 1,900 feet above the city. Everything was devastated, millions died. But a miracle also happened, a church, carcana to the detonation, was left intact. And not only that, the priests who were in it came out unharmed from the atomic bomb... their secret: the prayer of the rosary every day and their veneration of Our Lady of Fatima.

But also, every August 6th, the Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated in the Catholic Church. Commemorating the occasion on which Christ, accompanied by Peter, James and John, climbed a high mountain, traditionally identified with Mount Tabor in Galilee, and was transfigured before them, so that his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light (Matthew 17:2)

The Greek word for transfiguration is "metemorphothe", from which we get the word metamorphosis. So the transfiguration was a complete and impressive change in the appearance of Jesus, as his divinity shone through his humanity, in a way that completely overwhelmed the disciples. Its purpose was to prepare them for the reality of the crucifixion, so that having once seen, in some sense, his divinity, they would strengthen their faith. What does the Transfiguration have to do with the Atomic Bomb? Well, these priests had been configured to Christ through Mary by praying the Holy Rosary daily.

The great tragedy of the atomic bomb.

On that dark day in history, the Atomic Bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima exploded with a blinding flash, creating a giant fireball, which vaporized virtually everything and everyone within a mile of the point of impact.

It is estimated that up to 80,000 people were directly killed by the explosion, and by the end of the year, that number had risen considerably, due to injuries and the effects of radiation. More than two thirds of the city´s buildings were completely destroyed.

A miracle in Hiroshima.

But in the midst of this terrible slaughter something extraordinary happened: There was a small community of Jesuit fathers who lived in a presbytery near the parish church, which was located less than a kilometer from the point of detonation, well within the radius of the total devastation. And the eight members of this community escaped unharmed from the effects of the bomb.

[Image: Church remains intact after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan]

His presbytery remained standing, while the buildings around it, as far as the eye could see, were totally and completely destroyed.

Father Hubert Schiffer, a German Jesuit, was one of these survivors. He was 30 years old at the time of the explosion and lived to be 63 in good health.

In later years he traveled to tell of his experience, and this is the testimony recorded in 1976, when the eight Jesuits were still alive: On August 6, 1945, after morning Mass, they sat down to breakfast when, suddenly, they saw a flash of light.

Since Hiroshima had military installations, he assumed that there must have been some kind of explosion at the port, but almost immediately, Father counted:

"A terrible explosion filled the air with a great aftermath of thunder. An invisible force lifted me out of my chair, threw me into the air, shook me, hit me, and twirled me around.

Church and Priests protected by Fatima and the prayer of the Rosary.

Once the impact and the roar of the atomic bomb had passed, the priest stood up from the ground and looked around, but could see nothing in any direction. Everything had been devastated.

He had some very slight injuries, but nothing serious, and indeed subsequent examinations by US Army doctors and scientists showed that neither he nor his companions had suffered any harmful effects from the bomb. Together with his fellow Jesuits, Father Schiffer believed that they had survived because they were living the message of Our Lady of Fatima.

"We lived and prayed the rosary daily in that house".

There is actually a biblical precedent for what happened to the eight Jesuits, in the book of Daniel. In chapter 3, we read of the three young men who were thrown into the burning furnace at the command of Nebuchadnezzar, but who survived their ordeal and even walked through the flames, accompanied by an angel who looked like a son of the gods.

Miracle in Nagasaki.

After this first bombing, the Japanese government refused to surrender unconditionally, so a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days later, on August 9.

Nagasaki had actually been the secondary target, but the cloud cover over Kokura saved it from obliteration that day. The supreme irony is that Nagasaki was the city where two-thirds of the Catholics in Japan were concentrated, and so, after centuries of persecution, they suffered this terrible blow at the end of the war.

But in a curious parallel to what happened in Hiroshima, the Franciscan monastery established by St. Maximilian Kolbe in Nagasaki before the war was also not affected by the atomic bomb that fell there.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, well known for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, had decided to go against the advice he had been given to build his convent there. When the bomb fell, the convent was protected from the force of the bomb by an intermediate mountain. So in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we can see the protective hand of Mary in action.

Apparitions of Fatima.

The apparitions of Fatima in Portugal took place in 1917, when from May to October three children, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, and their cousin Lucia dos Santos, saw Our Lady six times, culminating in the miracle of the sun on October 13, when 70,000 people saw the sun turn in the sky and change colour successively, before falling to earth in a terrifying way. Many of those present thought it was the end of the world, but the sun resumed its place in the sky, causing great cries of relief.

The essence of Our Lady´s message of Fatima concerns conversion from sin and a return to God, and involves making reparation for one´s own sins and the sins of others, as well as offering up daily suffering and trials.

It also focuses on prayer and the Eucharist at Fatima, and in particular the Rosary, as well as devotion to the Five First Saturdays, which involves Confession, Holy Communion, the Rosary and meditation for five consecutive months with the intention of making reparation to Our Lady.

We must live the message of Fatima.

It is interesting to reflect on the theme of the transfiguration of Jesus which links these various events. The face of Christ shone like the sun on Mount Tabor, and in Fatima, Our Lady worked the great miracle of the sun to convince the huge crowd that had gathered there that the message she was giving to humanity was true.

Consider also that the poor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered from man-made "suns", exploding in their midst causing horrible devastation.

But in Hiroshima, the eight Jesuits who lived the message of Fatima, and particularly practiced the Rosary daily, were somehow transfigured, protected by God´s divine power, from the terrible effects of the atomic bomb.

Surely there is a message that encapsulates the story of these priests who survived the atomic bomb and their church that remained intact: Living the message of Fatima, in a world that is becoming more and more dangerous and that continues to be threatened by nuclear war, is as profound a need for us as it is for Father Schiffer and his companions. Praying the rosary every day can provide protection in many ways.

About the Rosary and Fatima.