A Fatima Bullet in Mary’s Crown?

Why St. John Paul the Great placed an assassin’s bullet in Our Lady’s Crown in Fatima, Portugal

One of the bullets that struck Pope John Paul II in 1981 was later encased in the crown of the image of Our Lady of Fatima, in the Sanctuary of Fátima, Portugal.

Mary, did you know? The trained assassin was certain his four shots were perfectly aimed and fired. Two struck the saint, then known as Pope John Paul II, in his abdomen and hand.

A third bullet wounded 60-year-old American Ann Odre, and the fourth hit the arm of 21-year-old Jamaican Rose Hill. St. John Paul the Great kept praying:

“Totus tuus,’’ meaning “Totally Yours.’’ He kept repeating theses words over and over. “Totus tuus. Totus tuus.’’

It was May 13, 1981:

• Precisely 64 years to the day and hour (5:19 p.m.) since Our Lady of Fatima made her first appearance to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal.
• Starting on May 13, 1917, and monthly through October 13, they saw the Virgin Mary, “brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun.” She spoke to them.
• She warned them of the perils to come, including their ascent into Heaven. Two of the three children, Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto, would die as small children in the great Spanish…