The Rosary that liberated Austria
Rosary Crusade · 1947–1955 · Father Petrus Pavlicek
Austria under Soviet occupation
At the end of World War II, Austria was divided into four occupation zones: American, British, French, and Soviet. The Soviet zone—which included part of Vienna—lived under increasing pressure. The possibility that Austria would follow the path of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, or Romania was very real. A state treaty that would grant the country its independence seemed impossible: the USSR blocked any agreement.
Father Pavlicek and the Rosary Crusade
In 1947, the Franciscan priest Padre Petrus Pavlicek (1902-1982) founded the Reparation Crusade of the Holy Rosary for Peace of Austria. Inspired by the message of Fatima - where the Virgin had asked for the prayer of the rosary as a remedy for the conversion of Russia - she organized pilgrimages and processions every 13 months. Participation was growing year by year.
En 1955, more than 700,000 Austrians - in a country of 7 million - they had pledged to pray the rosary daily for the peace of Austria. It was a collective prayer, sustained in time, without any political or military support.
The diplomatic miracle of 1955
On 15 May 1955, against any prognosis and without a convincing political explanation, the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of the Austrian State. It was the first time that the USSR voluntarily withdrew its troops from a country occupied since the end of the war. The last Soviet soldier left Austria on 25 October 1955. There wasn't a single shot.
Western political analysts were perplexed. There had been no Austrian concession to justify the change of Soviet position. No negotiator had provided for the agreement. Austrian Chancellor Julius Raab himself publicly recognized that the only explanation he found was supernatural.
The spiritual meaning
The Austrian experience was presented by Pope Pius XII as an example of the power of community prayer of the rosary. In his encyclical Ingruentium Malorum (1951), the Pope had asked for exactly that: the collective prayer of the rosary as a spiritual shield. Austria was the most visible demonstration of its effectiveness.
Father Pavlicek was beatified by Pope Francis on October 13, 2024, exactly 107 years after the last apparition at Fatima.
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