Survivors of "Hiroshima!" by Father Hubert Schiffer, SJ
Early on August 6, 1945, a lone American B-29 super-fortress bomber circled in a vividly blue sky over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The unsuspecting inhabitants on the ground barely glanced at the plane. They were unaware of the deadly payload it was about to unleash on them, ushering in the atomic age with unimaginable death and destruction.
As a single bomb near the ground, a city died in an instant. Houses crumbled; people evaporated; an immense ball of fire shot skywards; and a terrible wave of super heated gas bulged out from ground zero, flattening buildings for miles.
Among the unsuspecting inhabitants of Hiroshima was Father Schiffer, a Jesuit missionary assisting the many Catholics of that city. On the morning of August 6, 1945, he had just finished mass and sat down at the breakfast table, when there was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that a fuel tanker had exploded in the harbor, as Hiroshima was a major port where the Japanese refueled their submarines.
Then, in the words of Father Schiffer:
"suddenly, a horrible explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me round and round like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind."
Next thing he remembered was that he opened his eyes and found himself on the ground. He looked around, and saw there was nothing left in any direction. The railroad stations and buildings in all directions were gone.
Yet, the only harm to him was a few slight cuts in the back of his neck from shards of glass. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with him. The small community of Jesuits to which Father Schiffer belonged lived in a house near the parish church, situated only eight blocks from the center of the blast. When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb, all eight members of the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed, while every other person within radius of one and a half kilometers from ground zero died immediately.
The house where the Jesuits lived was still standing, while buildings in every direction from it were leveled. Father Hubert Schiffer was thirty years old when the atomic bomb exploded right over his head at Hiroshima. He not only survived but also lived a healthy life for another thirty-three years!
Even more astonishing is that the story was to be repeated a few days later at Nagasaki, the second Japanese city to be hit by an atomic bomb. In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the survivors were Catholic religious. Most other buildings were leveled to the ground even at three times the distance, but in both cases their houses stood--even with some windows intact!
All other people--bar a handful of scattered mutilated survivors--even at thrice the distance from the distance of the Jesuits from the explosion were exposed to fierce radiation and died within days.
After the American conquest of Japan, U.S. army doctors explained to Father Schiffer that his body would soon begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. To the doctors' amazement, Father Schiffer's body showed no radiation or ill effects from the bomb.
All who were at this range from the epicenter should have received enough radiation to be dead within a matter of minutes.
Scientists examined the group of Hiroshima Jesuits 200 times during the next thirty years, and no ill effects were ever found.
The Jesuit say: "We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that house."
Father Schiffer feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Virgin, which protected him from all radiation and ill effects. Father Schiffer attributes this to his devotion to Our Lady and his daily Fatima rosary. He said: "In that house the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.".
Secular scientist are dumbfounded and incredulous at his explanation. They are sure there is some "real" explanation. However, over sixty years later the scientists still have not been able to explain it.
From a scientific standpoint, what happened to those Jesuits at Hiroshima still defies all the laws of physics.
Dr. Stephen Rinehart of the U.S. Department of Defense is widely recognized as an international expert in the field of atomic blasts. He said: "No way could a human have survived nor should anything have been left standing at one kilometer. At ten times the distance, about ten to fifteen kilometers, I saw the brick walls standing from an elementary school, and there were a few badly burned survivors. All died within fifteen years of some form of cancer."
For God, who made all matter and energy, it is simply a matter of willing and the laws that govern them are suspended. This is what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It also happened in ancient times to the loyal servants of God-- Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago. The story is told in the Book of Daniel.
Therefore, say your rosary daily.
Early on August 6, 1945, a lone American B-29 super-fortress bomber circled in a vividly blue sky over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The unsuspecting inhabitants on the ground barely glanced at the plane. They were unaware of the deadly payload it was about to unleash on them, ushering in the atomic age with unimaginable death and destruction.
As a single bomb near the ground, a city died in an instant. Houses crumbled; people evaporated; an immense ball of fire shot skywards; and a terrible wave of super heated gas bulged out from ground zero, flattening buildings for miles.
Among the unsuspecting inhabitants of Hiroshima was Father Schiffer, a Jesuit missionary assisting the many Catholics of that city. On the morning of August 6, 1945, he had just finished mass and sat down at the breakfast table, when there was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that a fuel tanker had exploded in the harbor, as Hiroshima was a major port where the Japanese refueled their submarines.
Then, in the words of Father Schiffer:
"suddenly, a horrible explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me round and round like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind."
Next thing he remembered was that he opened his eyes and found himself on the ground. He looked around, and saw there was nothing left in any direction. The railroad stations and buildings in all directions were gone.
Yet, the only harm to him was a few slight cuts in the back of his neck from shards of glass. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with him. The small community of Jesuits to which Father Schiffer belonged lived in a house near the parish church, situated only eight blocks from the center of the blast. When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb, all eight members of the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed, while every other person within radius of one and a half kilometers from ground zero died immediately.
The house where the Jesuits lived was still standing, while buildings in every direction from it were leveled. Father Hubert Schiffer was thirty years old when the atomic bomb exploded right over his head at Hiroshima. He not only survived but also lived a healthy life for another thirty-three years!
Even more astonishing is that the story was to be repeated a few days later at Nagasaki, the second Japanese city to be hit by an atomic bomb. In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the survivors were Catholic religious. Most other buildings were leveled to the ground even at three times the distance, but in both cases their houses stood--even with some windows intact!
All other people--bar a handful of scattered mutilated survivors--even at thrice the distance from the distance of the Jesuits from the explosion were exposed to fierce radiation and died within days.
After the American conquest of Japan, U.S. army doctors explained to Father Schiffer that his body would soon begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. To the doctors' amazement, Father Schiffer's body showed no radiation or ill effects from the bomb.
All who were at this range from the epicenter should have received enough radiation to be dead within a matter of minutes.
Scientists examined the group of Hiroshima Jesuits 200 times during the next thirty years, and no ill effects were ever found.
The Jesuit say: "We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that house."
Father Schiffer feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Virgin, which protected him from all radiation and ill effects. Father Schiffer attributes this to his devotion to Our Lady and his daily Fatima rosary. He said: "In that house the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.".
Secular scientist are dumbfounded and incredulous at his explanation. They are sure there is some "real" explanation. However, over sixty years later the scientists still have not been able to explain it.
From a scientific standpoint, what happened to those Jesuits at Hiroshima still defies all the laws of physics.
Dr. Stephen Rinehart of the U.S. Department of Defense is widely recognized as an international expert in the field of atomic blasts. He said: "No way could a human have survived nor should anything have been left standing at one kilometer. At ten times the distance, about ten to fifteen kilometers, I saw the brick walls standing from an elementary school, and there were a few badly burned survivors. All died within fifteen years of some form of cancer."
For God, who made all matter and energy, it is simply a matter of willing and the laws that govern them are suspended. This is what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It also happened in ancient times to the loyal servants of God-- Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago. The story is told in the Book of Daniel.
Therefore, say your rosary daily.
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