Proof of a miracle, an exaggeration, or an unholy FRAUD?

I wanted so much to believe in this one; it proved my worldview and seemed to provide that “in your face” evidence that even the most diehard opponent of religion could not deny. I began to research this story in order to post it and shove it all those stinkin atheists’ faces to prove that they were wrong.

I began my research into the subject to find the studies and research articles to prove the truth of this miracle. There was none, at least not outside of Catholic websites anyway and I began to question the whole story.

For all of you who may have missed this one, here is the Official Story:

Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima - August 6th, 1945
There was a home eight blocks (about 1 kilometer) from where the A-Bomb went off in Hiroshima Japan. This home had a church attached to it which was completely destroyed, but the home survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries who prayed the rosary in that house faithfully every day. These men were missionaries to the Japanese people, they were non-military, but because Germany and Japan were allies during WWII they were permitted to live and minister within Japan during the war. Not only did they all survive with (at most) relatively minor injuries, but they all lived well past that awful day with no radiation sickness, no loss of hearing, or any other visible long term defects or maladies. Naturally, they were interviewed numerous times (Fr. Schiffer, a survivor, said over 200 times) by scientists and health care people about their remarkable experience and they say "we believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the rosary daily in that home." Of course the secular scientists are speechless and incredulous at this explanation - and they are sure there is some "real" explanation - but at the same time over 55 years later the scientists are still absolutely bamboozled when it comes to finding a plausible scenario to explain the missionary's unique escape from the hellish power of that bomb.

Holy Souls

The OS presents the reader with many red flags which cannot be confirmed by the evidence or which are proven to be outright falsehoods when further investigation is done.

The 1st thing that jumps out is the claim that 8 Jesuits survived that day. Only the names of four of the survivors can be found, no matter how much one searches for the information. The four confirmed survivors are: Fathers Hugo Lassalle, Kleinsorge, Cieslik and Schiffer. Whatever happened to the rest of the surviving missionaries is lost to history. One would think that their information would be readily available through the Vatican in order to prove that divine intervention still happens. I know that the Vatican is reluctant to rule on cases of supposed miracles but, you would think they would have at least some mention of this story. Also, I can find no information on the Church where the missionaries resided: the Jesuit Church of Our Lady's Assumption in Hiroshima.

Another issue with the story is the exaggerated number of people killed in the nuclear attack; the OS says that half a million people perished but history tells a different story:

The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 380,000 earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack the population was approximately 255,000.

Source

It may be just the natural human tendency to exaggerate but, it does hurt the credibility of the storyteller when facts can be brought forth to contradict the supposed facts of the story.

The next thing that strikes me is the claim that the Jesuits were examined by scientists who were still unable to explain their miraculous survival 55 years later. I have done extensive searching throughout the web and have not been able to find even one single scientific paper written on the miraculous survival of the Hiroshima Jesuits. It could be that the studies were so old they were not posted on the web but, I think something like that, if it were still perplexing scientists today would have some trace on the internet.

What’s more, the claim that all of the Jesuits survived a long and healthy life with no ill effects from radiation poisoning seems to be untrue:

Father Kleinsorge loved Japan and its people. After the bomb, he hurried to prove that he had lived in Japan for a least five years, was over twenty years old, was mentally sound, was of good character, was able to support oneself, and was able to accept single nationality, the traits that were required to receive citizenship of Japan. He was accepted, and changed his name to Father Makoto Jakakura. Though he was now Japanese, his Japanese friends still thought him unshakably German.

A little while after he became a Japanese citizen, he became very ill, and went into the Red Cross Hospital for a year, where he was diagnosed with radiation sickness. When he was released, he took up resident in Mukaihara. A woman named Satsue Yoshiki became his cook, and grew to love him dearly. He once told her that he liked to read only the timetables of trains and the Bible because they were the only things that never told lies. He was very pleased with himself when he found a discrepancy in the timetables, making the Bible the only thing that never told lies.

One day he found he could not move and lived the rest of his life as a vegetable, with Yoshiki-san changing his diapers and bathing him. He died November 17, 1977, 32 years after the bomb dropped at the age of 70.

Survivors

Maybe he just didn’t pray hard enough that day?

Kleinsorge’s is the only account of one of the Jesuits becoming ill from the atomic blast but it sure does blow a big hole in the OS. Also, the claim that the Jesuits suffered only minor injuries from the blast does not seem to hold water as shown in another contemporary account:

At the far corner of the park, on the river bank itself, we at last come upon our colleagues. Father Schiffer is on the ground pale as a ghost. He has a deep incised wound behind the ear and has lost so much blood that we are concerned about his chances for survival. The Father Superior has suffered a deep wound of the lower leg. Father Cieslik and Father Kleinsorge have minor injuries but are completely exhausted.

While they are eating the food that we have brought along, they tell us of their experiences. They were in their rooms at the Parish House--it was a quarter after eight, exactly the time when we had heard the explosion in Nagatsuke--when came the intense light and immediately thereafter the sound of breaking windows, walls and furniture. They were showered with glass splinters and fragments of wreckage. Father Schiffer was buried beneath a portion of a wall and suffered a severe head injury. The Father Superior received most of the splinters in his back and lower extremity from which he bled copiously.

Yale Edu

The account does go on to recount the heroic efforts of the Jesuits to assist in the rescue efforts after the blast but, it does throw the claim that they all escaped practically uninjured to the wind. The survival of the Jesuits on that day was a minor miracle in itself and the accounts of their heroism after the blast certainly does show the heroic humanitarianism of the group. Unfortunately, the plain truth did not seem to be enough for some and they felt the need to add embellishments in order to further certain agendas. By creating these embellishments, they have put the whole episode in doubt and have offered an example of the world of dishonesty in an effort to spread religious devotion.

A similar thing happened in Nagasaki but, a more mundane and believable explanation was offered for this incident and those who survived there have not received nearly as much attention:

Also of related interest, a Franciscan Friary was built in Nagasaki by St. Maximillian Kolbe, and was built behind the crest of a hill - the Lord told him to build it there, and the hill sheltered it from the blast.

Rosary Miracle

Of course, there could be a more sinister explanation for the Jesuit’s presence in Hiroshima and their survival of the atomic blast:

In the late 1920s, the concept for large aircraft carriers [to accommodate the Zero] were also being drawn and work was initiated on Japan’s atomic bomb. In 1923, a massive earthquake stuck Tokyo causing widespread destruction. I believe this earthquake set the Japanese war effort back two full years in recovering and much of this design effort was relocated to Hiroshima, Honshu and Nagasaki. Hiroshima had much heavy shipbuilding/aircraft manufacturing and was a key site in development of Japan’s aircraft carriers as well as engine/weapons development. In addition, there was a large University for mechanical engineering.

As previously noted, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were probably not “random” targets for the drop of the atomic bomb to just demonstrate the bomb as has been stated all these years. These cities may have contained key [relocated] elements of the German design teams for both Japan’s atomic bomb effort including critical industrial capacity for making an atomic bomb as well as possibly working on very advanced radar and electronics for submarines and building naval surface combatants [carriers]. To protect key Japanese personnel [in later stages of war effort], the Japanese used hospitals to house both military and engineering personnel and relocated the patients to other small “clinics” [to spread them out]. The military personnel and engineers probably wore white uniforms to make it look good. Maybe it was no accident, the Shima Hospital was at the epicenter of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. There are many unanswered questions to this day as to why did German Jesuits come in Japan in 1921, along with so many other German designers!?

Speculation:
I never thought about it until now but there are a number of striking “coincidences” in 1921. It is not improbable that they [the German Jesuits] may have furnished key information on Japan’s war-making activities back to the Vatican [for years] and ultimately to US involving Hiroshima and other cities where a critical part of Japan’s industry was located in this timeframe. The German Jesuits could easily have interfaced with the families of the German designers and were technically astute. The Jesuits have long been actively involved in other country’s politics all over the world and teaching fundamental sciences, mathematics and philosophy at a University gives them access to a country’s brightest minds for the future!?….and who else would come and go virtually unnoticed?

Holy Souls

Many believe that the Jesuits are actually the espionage arm of the Vatican and their priests are used by the Vatican as spies and saboteurs around the world.

It is possible that the Jesuits stationed in Hiroshima were sent there by the Pope in order to spy on the Japanese atomic bomb program. Knowing what they did about nuclear weapons, they may have recognized that a single bomber appearing high over the city could be a sign of an imminent nuclear attack. The Jesuits may have fled to the safety of a secret bomb shelter underneath their rectory in order to survive the atomic blast. If they had known about the dangers posed by the radiation after an atomic blast, they may have treated themselves with iodine or some other substance in order to protect themselves against the effects of the radiation.

In later years, pious Christians learned of the survival of those Jesuits and created the legends surrounding their survival in order to promote devotion to the rosary. It would make sense that priests in a religious order in those days would have prayed the rosary on a daily basis as this was a common practice among Catholics during those times.

Primary source: How fables become facts

Some accounts put a Father Pedro Arrupe at the rectory along with the other four confirmed Jesuits who survived the nuclear blast.

He was living in suburban Hiroshima when the atomic bomb fell in August 1945. He was one of 8 among the German Jesuits who were physically located within the blast zone of the bomb when it occurred, and all 8 of them survived the destruction without any injury or even radiation sickness. As a trained doctor he headed the first rescue party to arrive in Hiroshima after the atomic bomb.

Wikipedia

This claim does not seem to be the whole truth though; Father Arrupe was Master of Novitiates at the Seminary, which was located about six kilometers from the hypocenter of the detonation. he couldn't have been in the rectory with the other Jesuits at the time of the blast. The above excerpt even acknowledges that he responded with and headed the first rescue party to arrive in the city.

Of course, this could be chalked up as yet another exaggeration of this story but, this is why I think it is important to bring up Father Arrupe; he later became the head of the Jesuit order, the Superior General of the Jesuits, know in some parts as the Black Pope; the shadow ruler of every secret society in existence if one believes some of the stories floating around out there.

The Jesuit General is the absolute, complete, and total dictator and autocrat of the Order. When he speaks, his provincials move. The provincials are his major subordinates. There are around 83 provincials right now.

As I understand it, the Jesuit Order has divided the world into 83 regions. Ok? For each region, there is a Jesuit provincial. There are 10 provincials in the United States. There is one for Central America. There is one for Ireland. They’ve divided up the world into these provinces.

So it’s old Babylonian provincial government, centered in Nebuchadnezzar or the Jesuit General himself; so it’s strictly a Roman form of government where all the states or provinces are subordinate to this worldwide sovereign.

The Jesuit General exercises full and complete power over the Order. He meets with his provincials. When they decide to start a war or an agitation, he gets the information from the provincial of that country, how best to go about this, the demeanor of the people, and then he uses legitimate grievances to foam an agitation—like the 1964 Civil Rights Movement. That was ALL a Jesuit agitation, completely, because the end result was more consolidation of power in Washington with the 1964 Civil Rights Act that was written by [the longtime President of the University of Notre Dame, the Reverend] Theodore Hesburgh.

The Jesuit General rules the world through his provincials. And the provincials then, of course, rule the lower Jesuits, and there are many Jesuits who are not "professed", so many of the lower Jesuits have no idea what’s going on at the top. They have no concept of the power of their Order.

It’s just like Freemasonry. The lower Freemasons have no idea that the High Shriner Freemasons are working for the Jesuit General. They think that they’re just doing works and being good people. But the bottom line is that the high-level Freemasons are subject, also, to the Jesuit General because the Jesuit General, with Fredrick the Great, wrote the High Degrees, the last 8 Degrees, of the Scottish Rite Freemasonry when Fredrick protected them when they were suppressed by the Pope in 1773.

So, you have the alignment with the Jesuit Order and the most powerful Freemason they had in the craft, Fredrick the Great, during their suppression. That is an irrefutable conclusion. And then, when you see the Napoleonic Wars, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars carried out by Freemasonry, everything Napoleon did, and the Jacobins, whatever they did, completely benefited the Jesuit Order.

It’s to this end that Alexander Dumas wrote his The Count Of Monte Cristo. The Count is the Jesuit General. Monte=Mount, Cristo=Christ. The Count of the Mount of Christ. Alexander Dumas was talking about the Jesuit General getting vengeance when the Jesuits were suppressed, and many of them were consigned to an island, three hours sailing, West, off the coast of Portugal. And so, when the Jesuits finally regained their power, they punished all of the monarchs of Europe who had suppressed them, drove them from their thrones, including the Knights of Malta from Malta, using Napoleon.

The Black Pope


It seems awful interesting that a future "Black Pope" was on hand to witness the very first nuclear attack in world history. It makes one wonder if the attack wasn't orchestrated by the order to act as some type of huge human sacrifice to the evil powers some believe the Jesuits serve and, after presiding over this sacrifice, Arrupe was rewarded with the leadership of what some believe is the most powerful secret organization on earth.

Of course, this could all be just wild speculation on my part and all this could be a big coincidence, right.

Figured I'd give this one a bump for those who do their ATS trolling during the daytime, in case you missed it.

Hmmm, A bunch of stars, a few flags and absolutely NO comments?


C'mon, you would at least think somebody would come along and call me an idiot for posting this.

Anyone, anyone?....

What did the carnivores eat on Noah ark? This one question makes your whole thread invalid =]

reply to post by dismiss god


I would imagine they (all the animals) were in a type of stasis/hibernation. In the dark, depths of the boat.
This feels like a bit of a topic change.

Originally posted by dismiss god
What did the carnivores eat on Noah ark? This one question makes your whole thread invalid =]

Not that I believe the bible but I'm pretty sure I heard/read somewhere that God made it so they were vegetarians while on the Ark...

reply to post by FortAnthem


I'd never heard this story but it does sound a bit off...
One point though..How is it you think everyone knew about the bomb when it was a pretty well kept secret??

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by FortAnthem

 

I'd never heard this story but it does sound a bit off...
One point though..How is it you think everyone knew about the bomb when it was a pretty well kept secret??

I am thinking that IF the Jesuits had been sent by the Vatican to spy on a secret Japanese atomic weapons program, they would know what an atomic bomb was capable of and may have recognized a single bomber high above the city as a sign of a possible atomic bomb attack.

If the Vatican and the Jesuits knew of a secret Japanese atomic weapons program, it is pretty likely that they may have known all about the US atomic program as well. If they knew about the US program, they probably knew how far it had progressed and were aware that the US had a working model ready to use against the Japanese weapons program.

Of course, this is all IF the Jesuits were really spies and IF there was a secret weapons program going on at Hiroshima. With the demolition of the entire city in the atomic attack, all evidence of the weapons program would have been destroyed and there is no way to tell today.

stumbled across this story while searching ats for Jesuit - Hiro/Naga connection

hadn't heard about these claims but they are obviously rubbing it in

as the Japanese churches were targeted as rivals to the Vatican / CC/ Jesuits

of course a story of 'survival' would masquerade Jesuits survive their attack on Japanese Christians.

its a sad world; WWJD?