1944
The translation of the New American Bible begins.

Blessed Margaret of Hungary was Canonized a Saint.

Pope Pius XII publishes two Papal Encyclicals in April of this year, Orientalis Ecclesiae, the 15th Centenary of St. Cyril of Alexandria; and Communium Interprets Dolorum, on Prayers for Peace during the month of May.

Rome was liberated by the Allies from the Nazis and Fascists. American troops played a key role in the liberation of Rome.

The people of the United States collected 6,000,000 pounds of clothing for the people of Italy.

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin publishes his famous work, The Phenomenon of Man, this heretical work was banned by the Holy Office.

Chardin was refused Professorship at College De France.

On June 6, the famous D-Day, code named Operation Overlord. Three and half million Allied Troops stormed the Beach at Normandy and liberated the country that was at one time called, "The Daughter of the Church." Word was intentionally leaked to the German that General George Patton, who was the most feared Allied General by the Axis Powers, was going to strike Germany. Patton at this time was in England, and the Germans knew presicely where. With all the attention riveted on Patton, Generals Bradley and Montgomery proceeded with the plan and victory was soon achieved. (My dad served under Patton and was in England at this time).

The Invasion of Normandy was under the command of the Twenty-First Army Group, led by British General, Bernard Montgomery. He has two battalions under his direct command, the U.S. First Army commanded by General Omar Bradley; and the British Second Army commanded by British General, Dempsey. Bradley had command of the Utah and Omaha battalions. Dempsey had command of the Gold, June, and Sword battalions. The Nazis expected the invasion to be farther north.

During World War II, American fighter pilots reported they witnessed a large figure of a Franciscan priest appear in the sky. The pilots were flying over San Giovanni Rotondo, on a mission to bomb Axis Powers targets. The apparition of the Franciscan priest was Padre Pio of Pietralcino. He stood with out stretched arms, ordering the pilots to turn around. The attack mission was aborted. No bombs fell on that Catholic town that day.

1945
In the first few days of August, President Truman ordered the Atom Bomb be used to end the War. It was estimated that in order to defeat Japan, 250,000 American lives would have to be spent.

On August 6, the United States dropped the first Atomic Bomb on the Japanese City of Hiroshima.

Three days later on August 9, the United States dropped the second Atomic Bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

Pope Pius XII publishes his Papal Encyclical, Orientales Omnes Eccelesias, on the 350th anniversary of the reunion of the Holy See.

On September 2, Japanese officials formally surrender to the Alies aboard the USS Missouri.

The entrance gate to Auschwitz reads "work makes one free." The labor camps at Auschwitz used slave labor Jews, political prisioners, gypsies, and homosexuals. More than 1.5 million were killed through gassing, starvation, sickness, and torture in Auschwitz, Nazi Germany's largest concentration camp.

During the 1930s and 1940s German Nazi leaders established 22 concentration camps where Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, Communists, Slavs, and others judged undesirable, including Catholics, were imprisoned. Many prisoners were worked to death, shot, gassed, or given lethal injections. By the end of the War, more than six million people had died in concentration camps. The Holocaust was the Biblical name given to this cruel and inhumane crime administered by the Nazis. As you the reader may already know from studying the Old Testament, the Jews offered a holocaust or burnt offering to Almighty God. The intention of Hitler and the Third Reicht was the entire annilhilation of the Jewish race in Europe. There is no justice for this henious act.

CONCENTRATION CAMP PRISIONERS

On August 14, the Feast Day of the patron Saint of World War II, St. Maximillian Kolbe, Japanese Emperor and Shinto Divine Ruler, Hirohito, broadcates Japan unconditional surrender to the Allies. How fitting on this particular day, and what joy there must have been in Heaven, on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption and what would become the Feast day of the World War II Patron Saint.

HUMAN LOSSES The human cost of this Great War is difficult to arrive at an exact number. All the figures are estimations. They are not, however; that far out of line.

TOTAL ALLIED DEATHS, CIVILIAN AND MILITARY -44,000,000 TOTAL AXIS POWERS -11,000,000 THE MILITARY DEATHS ON BOTH SIDES IN EUROPE NUMBERED 19,000,000 IN JAPAN THE MILITARY DEATHS TOTALED 6,000,000

On December 8, the Feast of the Immacualte Conception, Pope Pius XII decreed in the Apostolic Constitution, Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, that Papal elections were to be decided by 2/3 majority plus one to invalidate any ballots cast by an elector for himself.