Sister Agnes Sasagawa (Left), Our Lady of Akita by SICDAMNOME / Wikimedia Commons (Right)
CV NEWS FEED // The death of Sister Agnes Sasagawa on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary has renewed interest in the call to a greater devotion to the Holy Rosary the nun reportedly received through visions of the Blessed Virgin under the title of Our Lady of Akita.
Sister Agnes passed away on August 15 at the age of 93, according to the Catholic News Agency. Her death coinciding with the Feast of the Assumption of Mary has drawn significant focus back to apparitions of Our Lady of Akita the nun witnessed in 1973.
According to EWTN, in 1984, Rev John Shojiro Ito, Bishop of Niigata, Japan, officially authorized devotion to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Akita, “while awaiting that the Holy See publishes definitive judgment on this matter.” The Vatican has yet to officially rule on the authenticity of the apparitions.
After being born into a Buddhist family in 1930, Katsuko Sasagawa was baptized after drinking water from Lourdes she received from a Christian nurse, CNA reported. Sasagawa took the name Agnes upon joining the Handmaids of the Holy Eucharist in Akita, Japan.
Sister Agnes reportedly received three messages conveyed in visions from Mary, which contained warnings of punishment from God “if sins increase in number and gravity,” according to EWTN.
The message stated that “if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity…. greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before.”
The punishment would reportedly entail fire falling from the sky and the destruction of a “great part of humanity,” both the virtuous and the sinful, and leaving those alive in such a state that they will “envy the dead.”
The Blessed Virgin’s purported message to the nun also contained a warning of extreme conflict within the Church; “Cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops,” and priests becoming outcasts if they venerate the Blessed Virgin.
“The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son,” the message continued. “Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests.”
The reported message to Sister Agnes called for penance and prayer, with special devotion to the Rosary for the sake of receiving forgiveness from God:
With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls.
“The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness,” the message concluded: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
