The message of Fatima is closely related to Russia: “If they heed to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace” the Virgin Mary said on July 13, 1917. In 1989 the Armata Bianca – by previous agreement with the Bishops of the various Nations – organized the Peregrinatio Mariae with Our Lady of Fatima in the countries oppressed by the heavy yoke of communism. For the first time, after 70 years of persecution, Mary returned amongst her most tried children, welcomed with carpets of flowers, continuous pealing of bells and crowds of awaiting faithful, even if Her arrival was announced only a few hours beforehand…
Bulgaria 1990
We arrive in Sofia on July 27, 1990 and by gathering news items snatched here and there we can sum up the current political picture: the Communist party is now called “Socialist”, but nothing has changed… The presidential election has been dragging on for a long time without success and there is more and more talk of revolution. We have publicly employed Mary to bear witness to Herself in this land so that before She leaves Bulgaria, a President may be elected according to the heart of God and pleasing to the population…
Romania 1991
After the instructions from our Archbishop Mario Peressin, having made contact with the Nuncio Mons. John Bukowski, the Armata Bianca set out for Romania. Everything was ready: 300,000 rosaries, 200,000 images of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, 200,000 rosary leaflets in the Romanian and Hungarian language. At the last minute the bus breaks down…
Ukraine 1991
There were so many difficulties encountered in organizing the trip that we were on the point of giving up. We left making a pure act of faith, which was rewarded with true miracles of Providence. But the greatest gift was verifying the power of Mary who began the demolition of idols: as She went by, many statues of Lenin were knocked down…
Russia 1992
Our last trip to Russia lasted more than 40 days and was very different from the previous ones. It had something mysterious about it and only after some time did we understand the goal that the ways of Providence wanted to lead us to: we met some great witnesses of faith, the foundations were laid for Radio Moska Maria…
Belarus 1993
We entered Belarus on October 4, the feast of St. Francis, while in Moscow there was shooting. From the interior we followed the various stages of the riots. The best news was when Eltsin removed the Guard of Honour from Lenin’s mausoleum, in the Red Square. The Mother of Fatima is fulfilling the work of demolishing the idols of this Russian country…
Ukraine 1995
Ukraine 1996
Sister Ionella, ha Greek Catholic nun, Bucharest (Romania) (…) After a few days Anca, our interpreter, told us that sister Ionella was willing to meet us, which was very strange given the climate of clandestinity in which she lived. As soon as she saw us, she came towards us: “Are you from the Armata Bianca?” and she added with a smile: “I have been longing to meet the people for whom I had to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment…”
Cardinal Casimir Swiatek, Bishop of Minsk (Belarus) “I was arrested by the KGB on April 30, 1941 and segregated in the death cell: every night I waited for them to come and get me in order to kill me. On June 22, after the German invasion, I fell into the hands of the Gestapo, out of the frying pan into the fire, as they say. Having come out alive from the hands of the Gestapo, I was arrested by the KGB again and sentenced to 10 years of Siberia: the work was hard and rough, there were few meals and they weren’t good and the climate was very rough. When we used to cut down the forest, the temperature went as low as -40°: it was worse than northern Siberia because there were strong winds and a lot of snow with this wind and there was a lack of oxygen…”
Father Nicolaj Blaszko, Orthodox, parish priest of Kniagini (Belarus) “I consider this encounter with you as the great confession of my life; my confession before the whole world so that the world may know what we have suffered in order to bear witness to God. I couldn’t die in peace if I hadn’t made this great confession to the world”.
Zaporoze, approximately 2 million inhabitants, in the centre of Ukraine, it was chosen by Lenin to be the model city of the new atheist Russia: not even a little chapel dedicated to worship existed. Armata Bianca took upon themselves the burden of contributing to the construction of a church dedicated to God the Father of Mercy: Our Lady prepared the way to the Father…
While travelling through the various nations of the East with the Peregrinatio Mariae, Armata Bianca had encountered priests whose faith had been strengthened by suffering; they had extraordinary energy, but they were numerically inadequate compared to the work to be accomplished. How could we help them? The best solution was to set up radio stations that could multiply the voice of those few...
In agreement with the Superior General of the Capuchin Order, Armata Bianca has contributed in a significant manner to the foundation from scratch of the Capuchin Order in Romania. Currently there are 60 Romanian Capuchin Religious, among which 15 are already priests, they have four houses and they run the great Sanctuary dedicated to Blessed Geremia of Valacchia in Onesti
