Sometimes the cup of iniquity is full and the people are ripe for judgment. In such a case it may happen as it did in the flourishing and extraordinarily beautiful city of Messina, Sicily, the third largest city in Italy. In the early morning of December 28, 1908, the city was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake and associated tsunami that killed about 60,000 people and destroyed most of the ancient architecture.
Only a few hours before that devastating earthquake, the unspeakably wicked and irreligious condition of some of the inhabitants was expressed in a series of violent resolutions that were passed against all objections.
The journal Il Telefono, printed in Messina, actually published in its Christmas issue an abominable parody, daring the Almighty to make himself known by sending an earthquake! And in three days the earthquake came!